2. tech-talk
  3. 130275-16074

A New Ground -- Benefits of introducing the Synergistic Research Active Ground Block SE

Dedicated ground solutions are not a novel idea but over the past year it seems everyone has been coming out with their version. For a few months I’ve been thinking about introducing one to my system and had considered Entreq, Telos, Nordost and others. Although I have a bunch of Synergistic Research (SR) kit I had dismissed their older basic ground block as too rinky dink -- however when I heard about the new Active Ground Blocks I thought that could be the way to go. The Active Ground blocks are smallish devices with a mains connection and a plethora of outlets for grounding cables to every component. They incorporate a range of the latest SR UEF tweaks
http://www.synergisticresearch.com/isolation/ground-isolation/active-ground-block-se/

While the blocks alone are quite expensive ($2995) you will also need to lay out for connections to all of your components -- ideally the HD links. In my case as I have two distinct zones in my system I needed two ground blocks and 13 links -- quite an outlay

Question is is it worthwhile? Most certainly yes. The impact of implementing a full grounding solution in my system was one of the most profound changes I’ve experienced. It’s not a change that can be described in the usual audiophile terms of dynamics, frequency response, transparency etc. Instead it’s a shift in the wholeness, the verisimilitude, the gestalt of what you are hearing. Probably this is most obvious in a couple of places. Firstly is in background washes of sound (e.g. classic synth backings, or massed strings, or the whoosh that opens "Private Investigations") -- which now take on a scale, texture and clarity that had previously been completely masked. Secondly in vocals where a whole level of shading, nuance, breathwork, and subtly inflections are now audible. This is not simply more "detail" or a "reduction in the noise floor" it’s as if things which you did not know previously existed are suddenly there, as they had been all along

The effect is enhanced the more things you ground -- obviously all active components but even stands (my GPA stands are conductive so I connect a basic ground link to the bare metal inside the stand posts -- the surface metal is varnished and non conductive).

While I obviously can recommend the SR products I imagine any ground solution will bring similar benefits and would strongly suggest that anyone with a high resolution system explore some form of ground solution

ps For those in the now the music to accompany this review is A New Ground

128x128folkfreak

Showing 2 responses by lewm

lewm
12,429 posts
 
I should add that I have a pair of amplifiers (not my Atma-sphere amplifiers), where the chassis is one and the same with audio ground. Every audio ground, everywhere, is connected to the chassis. Thus it was impossible to separate the two without major surgery. So what I did was to use the back to back diode trick between the ground pin on the IEC connector and the chassis. So the chassis stayed with the audio ground, but it is isolated from earth ground by the diodes. The amplifiers went from "iffy" in terms of hum and noise, to dead quiet.

If you’re working with vintage equipment, you would be confronted by a similar dilemma quite often, I think.  Because that's how they did things back then. (These are Beveridge direct-drive amplifiers, designed and built 47 years ago.)
lewm
12,429 posts
 
Whart, It seems to me that your problem can be solved by the tweak that Ralph recommended further up the thread.  Where Lamm has re-installed the connection between the PCB audio circuit ground and the chassis, place a 10- to 100-ohm resistor, or I use Ralph's alternative suggestion, "back to back" high current diodes.  To do the latter, you may need to do some additional reading; it's not quite as simple as it sounds. But what is simple is the resistor trick.
More to discover