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Post by puffin on Oct 7, 2020 8:09:12 GMT
I installed a ground rod/spike about a year ago. It is only for signal grounding and goes nowehere near the mains PE. I used it for a while and wasn't sure if it made any difference. WIth all the rain we have had recently I thought I would give it another go and plugged it in to a spare phono socket on the pre-amp (shield only connected to rod) and it has silenced a noisy mechanical hum from the one transformer that does it. So it must be doing something?
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Post by John on Oct 7, 2020 8:29:56 GMT
It should make a difference in my system grounding makes the biggest difference in my DAC and Tinkerboard
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 7, 2020 9:11:30 GMT
Sounds like it is working.
The rain increased something good
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Post by puffin on Oct 7, 2020 10:34:21 GMT
Sounds like it is working. The rain increased something good I have been told that you should water them regularly!  |
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 7, 2020 15:05:29 GMT
Sounds like it is working. The rain increased something good I have been told that you should water them regularly! Oddly enough I have heard that before ! |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 7, 2020 20:40:43 GMT
I used to water the ground rod in my old house. I don't bother with a ground rod now, the house ground measures quite well and I use grounding boxes to control noise.
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Post by puffin on Oct 11, 2020 13:06:13 GMT
I have just read the thread where Martin posts the results of his noise-sniffer tests. Interesting stuff. I just wanted to say that the ground rod is doing something. I had listened for a few days and felt that there was a softening/smoothing? of the sound and deeper but less impact in the lower frequencies. The rod cable needs an adaptor to connect it to the preamp which I removed as I needed it for something else. When I next listened I forgot until I went to turn everything off after the session. Everything was sounding just about right to me.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 11, 2020 14:27:49 GMT
For all of us this is akin to black magic
One day we will find out what all this hidden science is all about
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Post by MartinT on Oct 11, 2020 16:49:21 GMT
For all of us this is akin to black magic One day we will find out what all this hidden science is all about Not really. The sinking of noise on the ground plane, whether analogue or digital, to a local ground is well understood. Perhaps acceptance of just how much noise there is, even up into the GHz territory, is not so widespread. |
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Post by puffin on Oct 11, 2020 17:17:07 GMT
For all of us this is akin to black magic One day we will find out what all this hidden science is all about Not really. The sinking of noise on the ground plane, whether analogue or digital, to a local ground is well understood. Perhaps acceptance of just how much noise there is, even up into the GHz territory, is not so widespread. Brings to mind the persona of Catweazle and his "Electrickery" |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 11, 2020 17:36:31 GMT
It takes test equipment worth the best part of £100k to see the 'magic', but it's certainly there.
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Post by edward on Oct 11, 2020 19:19:00 GMT
Interesting thread and I hope I can ask a related question please? We hope to move (sometime in late November or early Dec - offer for new house accepted). One of things I hope to achieve is to find out what the quality of the leccy supply and where necessary improve it for audio purposes (including an earth spike). Beyond knowing how to wire a plug I have no knowledge how stuff works. So with that in mind what would I ask a sparky to look for and what would I instruct the sparky to do. Dedicated ring? Dedicated consumer unit? Unswitched sockets? Could the sparky refuse to add an earth spike (grounding rod)? I'll anyway be wanting to install ethernet in the house. cheers |
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 11, 2020 19:31:55 GMT
Sparky to wire in a dedicated Consumer Unit for the system.
6mm twin and earth to one or two sockets for the system only
Unswitched sockets
Sparky hopefully knows best on the earth
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Post by edward on Oct 11, 2020 20:03:53 GMT
Sparky to wire in a dedicated Consumer Unit for the system. 6mm twin and earth to one or two sockets for the system only Unswitched sockets Sparky hopefully knows best on the earth Ooo, that sounds pretty simple Mike, thanks. Is there a way to check the quality of the leccy (from an audio pov)? Don't mind paying a specialist. Don't bother with an earth spike (grounding rod)? |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 11, 2020 20:49:06 GMT
Dedicate 60A radial is best, with unswitched sockets to feed the system. They should leave you with a master switch and breaker for that circuit, and will also measure the ground impedance as part of the installation. In newer circuits, the neutral is bonded to earth along the route, so don't mess with it. Quality-wise, you need specialist equipment (or a regenerator with display) to measure THD on the sinewave.
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Post by edward on Oct 11, 2020 21:11:10 GMT
Dedicate 60A radial is best, with unswitched sockets to feed the system. They should leave you with a master switch and breaker for that circuit, and will also measure the ground impedance as part of the installation. In newer circuits, the neutral is bonded to earth along the route, so don't mess with it. Quality-wise, you need specialist equipment (or a regenerator with display) to measure THD on the sinewave. Cheers Martin (and Mike). |
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 12, 2020 7:21:20 GMT
Are you going to have a dedicated listening room Edward, or are you taking over the living room?
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 12, 2020 9:27:02 GMT
Sparky to wire in a dedicated Consumer Unit for the system. 6mm twin and earth to one or two sockets for the system only Unswitched sockets Sparky hopefully knows best on the earth Ooo, that sounds pretty simple Mike, thanks. Is there a way to check the quality of the leccy (from an audio pov)? Don't mind paying a specialist. Don't bother with an earth spike (grounding rod)? Good oh Not sure what checking the quality of the supply will give you, apart from depression You might be able to persuade Tony at Coherent to look you over. He can also point out no cost, low cost and high cost items to improve sound quality. He also knows about earth spikes from a sound quality perspective. Just about no sparkies would know anything about that |
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Post by edward on Oct 12, 2020 16:06:11 GMT
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 12, 2020 17:16:00 GMT
RA used to do earth bits. Spikes too I think
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