Did anyone experience Audio Prism's Ground Control


Fellow Audiogoner's

I wonder if anyone has any input on Ground Control spade versions? I am curious about the impact of these pigtails on your system's overall sound?

I also have their quiteline filter (4pack) installed in my HT room and they have helped lower the overall noise floor.

My gear -
Krell Showcase Pre-Amp / Processor
B&W 803s and 804s (rear)
Marantz UD8004
Audience aR12
Audience Au24e speaker/interconnects.
PAD Power Cables
128x128lalitk
Has anyone compared the new version of the ground control
with the XHADOW connectors? If so what are the sonic
differences. Is it possible that the new version rolls
of the top maybe too much in certain systems?

I am also curious about the rca ground control on Naim
gear. Naim gear is said to be tristar grounded and I
am powering my Naim gear with the Audience pdc with had
this same grounding scheme. Would it be safe to even
try the rca gc on the Naim?
Hi Scott,
I can tell you what I have found in my personal system.

The reference GC provides more resolution than the standard. It does this without adding grain or emphasis, just more information retention across the FR bandwidth. Remember, this is all back half of the wave form coherence.

I find the reference GC's the most useful on my speakers, which are very high resolution items from Plant 10 Hi Fi, and are full range single driver systems aided by EnABL. I found using the reference GC's on the amplifier too closed the lateral sound stage down to just the width of the speakers, so the Audio Prism Debut gets the standard GC set. This provides a wall to wall floor to ceiling performance, from two 4 inch drivers!

The preamp is a borrowed solid state Nikko Beta l, with the typical mid 80's transparency and refinement and hashy high frequencies. A reference and a standard RCA are paired here, since the ground scheme is common to both channels and inputs and outputs. These RCA's are on the spare output jacks. The hashiness is gone and what is left is an extremely elegant, liquid, presentation, that I had no idea could be gotten out of a solid state preamp. The phonostage is still crap however.

My Sony SACD player also has this GC combination and both the Red Book and SACD are strongly benefited, with the usual SACD slight darkness and strain having been eliminated. All of the Red Book tendency to harshness on guttural voices and most high frequency information has been transformed, back into the music values it originally came from. Even the underlying hardness to the sound has been mitigated, though not entirely.

I cannot imagine any scheme where the GC's would interfere with your Naim's grounding scheme. I have heard musings about Naim products requiring Naim cable loads to remain stable. Not sure this is true at all, but the GC has so little capacitance and so little inductance and is on the return side of the signal path in any event, that I have difficulty in imagining any damaging circumstances arising.

My system is distinctly high performance, from what are now upper mid fi components. I am quite happy with the entire package and while I was just as happy before GC came along, I couldn't stand going without. I have tried. Do note that I am the inventor of these things, so I undoubtedly have a personal slant, but I am trying to provide you with what I have found. Ozzie has a number of GC's in has system and may have a few things to say too.

Bud
Thanks for the response Bud.

So, are you saying that the reference gc basically sounds
the same as the standard gc in terms of sound staging, bass
response and smoothness but offers more low level detail?

Also, is it recommended to use an rca pair? Are some inputs
or outputs better then others?
Well, not exactly. The reference GC provides quite a bit more detail. It does appear to close down the sound stage width for some systems The net effect being much more information retained, in those areas covered by note and transient specific internal gradient information, and more wide band low amplitude coherence in general.

The standard GC provides the same sort of information retention, but it is not really close to the reference units in retaining as much of the specifics pointed to above. They don't either of them have any sound character at all. Whatever level of resolution your system is currently capable of, these two will help retain the back half of the wave form of that level.

Having said that, most modern day systems have a tremendous amount of information, in the signal side of the electronics. It is the lack of care for the audible properties of grounds that GC is rectifying.

I realize it is hard to grasp how the back half of a wave form might be important. We aren't adding anything to the characteristics you are already familiar with. We are just making what you have far more complete than it is without some form of attention, to the audible portions of a proper ground system.

As for the RCA units, in my tube preamp which is off having some radio frequency oscillations squelched, the reference RCA all by itself was exactly what was needed to free up the sound from a slightly slow, very sweet and clear character. All that occurred was a sense of agility, quite a bit better rendition of instruments within their performance space and greater wholeness to the entire sound. Everything sounded complete, in comparison to no reference RCA. The standard RCA had an effect similar in character, but not in degree of information completeness, and the resulting depth of field illusion. In that case, there was no narrowing of the sound field, with either of the two.

My recommendation is to go slow. If you have a CD player, or outboard DAC with an available input or output, that is contiguous between channels, try the standard RCA there first. If you like the change, try another on your preamp, again with the same stipulations about contiguous grounds.

Before you do either of these I would suggest a pair of the standard GC lugs on your speakers. If you decide to move to the reference units, these standard lugged units can go on the other end of your speaker cable. I don't think you will find you need more than this. However, once in place the changes wrought by the RCA units will be much more effective and available.

Almost all modern audio gear has contiguous grounds, with only some outboard Dac's (Peter Daniels comes to mind) having proper ground planes, with separate channels and power ground separate from signal ground.

Since there is a money back guarantee on these things, I am sure you will know if you are satisfied within the 30 days allowed.

Bud
Thanks again Bud.
The last thing I need is decreased width so
I will consider trying the standard gc's.

Interestingly, the positive effects that
Ozzy described are the same that I am experiencing
with the Audience PDC power center which is
designed to give proper grounding especially for
Naim gear. So, I am now a firm believer in proper
grounding. My system is finally sounding like real
music and not just electronic sound.

As for my dac and transport, I don't have any spare
rca's. I do have the Naim xs integrated and a
Cary 300b sei sing ended triode tube amp that I could
use the rca's on.

So on the spades, how long do they take to run in?
Also, is it best to start with only one rca or do
you need a pair?

So, for my pre
Hi Scott.

The single, or pair, RCA question is answered by how the strip grounds are handled in any piece of gear. If they are separated into two channels then two equivalent RCA's are needed. If the channels are not separate then one may do the trick. It may be worth getting one of each grade to experiment with, but only if you have common ground between channels. You may have to peer inside to determine this.

Look on the RCA jacks for input and output. If they all go to the same buss, for both left and right channels, then trying two different RCA's out will be worth while. Doesn't matter where you put them either, input or output, in either case.

These take about 4 hours to work through the charge stabilization period. You will get tonal vividness immeadiately, and it will increase for a period of time, but the sound will start of some what sharp and almost monaural. The GC's will gradually open up to even tonal character and reasonable stage width, only to snap back to the previous state.

With every one of these "breaths" the stage will get wider and deeper and they will stabilize at a very wide, very deep sound stage, with considerable 3 dimensional control within those spaces.

You can take them off for about two days and they will recharge within minutes. Keeping them attached will hold their charge state for quite a bit longer, but not running the system for a month will have them go through a good portion of the breathing again. When taking them to some other system, they will will need about 20 minutes to take control.

Thanks for your comments on the ground system and it's benefit. Most EE's just ask me how I can justify any sort of expense for grounds? Noting that they have never seen any data supporting that need. I just smile, knowing they will continue to provide me with satisfied customers, once their Ground Control issues have been dealt with.

Bud
That's interesting. My Audience PDC is going through
this same kind of break in pattern. It should be fully
broken in in about 3 weeks. At that time I will definitely
give the spades a try.
Hi Ozzy,

Are the 3 sets of ground controls you have in your system the standard ones, not the reference version?

Bud,would you recommend then just putting the standard GC's on the amp so the soundstage doesn't shrink and the reference at the speaker? I live in Canada, so with shipping, etc would like to get it right the 1st time.

Thanks, Greg
Moonguy, Yes, I am using the standard Ground Controls. Soon I will be trying the RCA versions.
Moonguy,

I cannot make recommendations, only tell you what I have ended up with.

The speakers are EnABL/d Fostex Fe 127 eN drivers in Fonken prime boxes, from Planet10 HiFi in Canada. Very high resolution and sonically invisible to begin with, so the extreme specificity that the Reference GC's provide just aided with definition.

These things will resolve everything, right down to -90db, that the motor structure can pass and the entire sound stage illusion is behind the back of the boxes. Without the standard GC on the amp, this combination suffers from a less than wall to wall sound stage. Not closed down in any specific way but the illusion is of a smaller performance space, within a large space, with echos and such hinting at the larger space.

I have found the same dual, standard / reference GC, to be the best use of RCA GC's for preamp, FM radio, CD / SACD player and most recently, an M Audio 610 box that I am starting to use as an interface to a computer based sound source.

In case you missed the notice on the other thread on GC's here on Audiogon, there is a review that deals with the RCA reference GC's on Stereo Times here. http://www.stereotimes.com/

Bud
Well I just posted my Review of the Ground Controls in the standard and the Reference versions in spades and RCA.
For those of you scratching your heads, like I was, here is Ozzies review thread.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?raccs&1280171827&&&/AudioPrism-Ground-Control-Tweak

Thanks Ozzie, those are kind words indeed.

Bud
Review of the Audioprism Ground Controls.

First, the Standard Ground Controls.
Spades

First set
Well I finally have one of the Ground Control spades installed for about a week.
I will admit that these little things donÂ’t look like much but they do provide a marked sound quality improvement in my system.
Music seems to be much more relaxed or natural sounding. The soundstage is deeper and wider. Vocals are very nice and defined closer to the real thing.
I liked the Ground Control device so much that I ordered another set for my Bi-wire speakers.

Second Set
Now that I have installed the second set of Ground Controls on my biwire speakers (Andra 2), I canÂ’t believe how clear and defined the bass has become!
This product should be standard with all speakers!
How can I invest?

Third Set
I just got my third set of the Ground control units. I now have 2 sets on my biwire speakers and a set at my Amp end.
I canÂ’t believe how much improvement these little items have made in my musical enjoyment.
The bass has become much stronger and defined. So much so that I had to turn down the setting on my JL Audio sub. Cymbals crash and shimmer much more like real cymbals. Vocals sound much more relaxed and real.And the soundstage is very deep and wide. I canÂ’t say enough good things about these little Ground Controls.
The ONLY negative is they could be cheaper for what they appear to be made of. But sound quality wise the cost is cheap compared to the sound quality improvement.
Way better than HIFI fuses. Way better than most interconnect and power cable upgrades.

The Reference Ground Controls
Spades

The Reference GCÂ’s cost quite a bit more than the standard GCÂ’s and they use the premium Shadow connectors. I first tried the Reference spades on my Andra 2Â’s on the upper part of the Bi-wire setup. On the bottom I was still using the standard GCÂ’s.
The music lost the wide soundstage. Also,the treble and bass became much weaker. Not a good sound.It was almost like an impedance mismatch. I then tried the Reference spades at the Amplifier end with the standard GCÂ’s now on both the top and bottom on my Andra 2 speakers. The soundstage was a little better but defiantly not as good as when I used all standard GCÂ’s.
So, off the Reference spades went banished forever from my 2 channel setup.
I then tried them on my Home Theater setup on some B&W speakers. Now there, the Reference spades sounded great! Very strange indeed.

Ground Control Reference
RCAÂ’s
So, I then tried the GC Reference RCAÂ’s. I first inserted one in one of my two Cary 306 Pro CD Player outlets and let it play for several days. This time nothing bad happened to the sound, but nothing good happened either.I noticed no change with the Reference Ground Control plugged into the outlet on my Cary CD Player.I then tried that Reference GCÂ’s into one of my unused inputs on my Pass Labs Preamp.
Eureka! There was added resolution and a livelier presentation. Still strange indeed.

Summary

So, there is my experience with these small strange items. When they click with the equipment you will think you have upgraded to an ultra $$$ System. The Music becomes lively, toe tapping and makes Music sound as real as I have ever heard on any system.
The Ground Control Reference units though costlier are more a hit or miss on potential improvements.
Of Course everyone's system is different so the GC's may perform differently, but definatly worth a try to see if the magic they can provide will be created in your system.

Well next, I will be adding a standard GC RCA to either (again) to my Cary CD player or perhaps side by side in my Pass Labs Preamp input where the Reference RCA is already inserted. I may even try it into my Pass Labs Amplifier since I am only using the balanced inputs and the RCA inputs are unused (just as with my Cary and Preamp).

Associated gear
Cary 306 Pro CD Player
Pass Labs XP-10 Preamp
Pass Labs X350.5 Amp
Eggleston Works Andra 2 Speaker
Synergistic Research Powercell, Apex Interconnects, and speaker cables
Okay, I have had the GC spades on my DeVore Super 8's for about a week now and I am getting the same results as Ozzy. A very nice improvement in sound stage width and front to back layering with a more relaxed and palpable presentation.

Like Ozzy, I too have the SR Power Cell SE, Apex ic's, and Tesla pc's. However, I have found that the SR Power Cell, as good as it is, would increase the sound stage at the expense of added glare. So, I now use an Audience PDC for my integrated amps. This gave me a wonderful sound stage that is relaxed with perfect pitch and the GC spades have taken this to the next level.

Ozzy, have you tried the standard GC rca's yet? I am also curious if you are running your amp into the PowerCell.
Scottmac62, Yes, I now have 3 of the RCA's standards and one of the RCA Reference.
I also just got some new interconnects to demo, so everything is a little mixed up.
But for now what I can tell, the RCA Ground Controls add still more depth and realism. However, they were not plug and play with immediate improvement.
No, these guys needed to be plugged in and played for a couple of days to break in ?
I will very shortly try putting Ref + Standard on the same component and in various locations.
Anyway, I believe the RCA's add to the Spades improvement. So, perhaps the Speaker Ground Controls sort of set up the foundation.

On my SR Powercell, I still like having my Pass Labs Amp plugged into its own dedicated SR Tesla outlet/circuit with a Noise Destroyer also plugged into that outlet.

The Amp sounded pretty good plugged into the SR Powercell. But, I also had many other items (like my Home Theater items) plugged into after overall using only one dedicated outlet/circuit.
But, IMHO, the Amp sounds better with more dynamic's plugged into its own power source.
Just an update.
I now have 4 sets of the Ground Control speaker spades.
One at Amp and two on my Bi-wire speakers and a set on my Supertweeters.

I also have 4 of the RCA's.
One on my CD Player, Preamp, Amp and one of the Reference RCA's that I am still experimenting with.
I have tried it on my LCD TV, and Blue Ray player. Both of these places seemed to improve in picture quality.
I also tried it on my Squeezebox Touch but there it seems to add too much detail.

But, overall there is am improvement and no downside with all of them being used.

I just ordered a standard set of ground control spades for my bi - wire Martin Logan Odyssey's which I will install for the stator panel.

If I experience what Ozzy did, I will do the other set on the speakers, the amp and rca's as well. I will keep you guys posted after I have them in for a while. I found a source up here in Canada for them.

Cheers
Moonguy, Welcome to the strange world of the Audioprism Ground Control's.
You'll be surprised at your first glance as to how small they are.
But, you will be impressed with the sound improvement.
The ground controls are a keeper!! I was surprised at the difference of just having one set on the negative post for the stators of my Martin Logan Odyssey's.

The music was more natural, better flow to it,better soundstage and air.To put it bluntly, it sounds more real. I consider these things a bargain for what they do for the price.

I will be adding another set for the bass on the speakers and at the amp also, then experiment with the rca version of ground control.
Moonguy, Congrats! Hard to believe that something so small and simple could make such a difference.
Bud sure knew what he was doing.
Thank's for your information Moonguy. Yours are the first ML drivers I have heard of having Ground Control being applied to. I will be interested to hear how the GC's woek on the bass units and amplifiers.

Bud
Bud,

Do you think it would be possible and beneficial to
incorporated the ground control into a
high end set of headphones?
I'm using the standard model on the tweeter/mid connections and the the reference model on the bass on the Vandy 3A Signatures. Tried the refs on the back of the amp for a while but they make the most difference to my ears on the speakers. The sound is more open and easier with them in place. A worthwhile tweak IMHO.
Hi Scott,

I would be surprised to find that the standard GC's worked well with headphones. I would think that a modified device would work well though. I have them on my phono cartridge and tape deck heads and preamps. These are special designs of course, using far less of the materials than the standard GC's are built with and hand tuned to suit the particular purpose.

Headphone amps might be a place to try, but I would only recommend a standard RCA, perhaps plugged into an RCA to tip and ring plug adapter. I have made tip and ring GC's for an M Audio outboard DAC that worked quite well, but we haven't elected to make a niche product like that available.

I can probably get authorization to build and sell prototypes and special production orders. I haven't yet asked about this format for GC's. I am under some legal constraints about what I can and cannot do with GC's, just to get them to market.

Bud
I couldn't help but wonder since the ground control
has such a profound effect on my DeVore Super 8's.
My main headphone amp is the Naim headline 2 without
the rca's. It has a 4 and a 5 pin plug. So, I don't
see an option here.

I am looking at some high end phones which can
be rewired. Not sure if I will end up with
Sennheiser HD800, Beyerdynamic t1 or a Grado.

Not sure what a tip and ring plug adapter is.

I was wondering if it would be safe to try using
an rca y adapter on my dac with the rca ground control
on one and my ic on the other. I would like to try
one on my dac, but I do not have any unused rca's.
I am sure you can use an RCA Y adapter to apply a GC RCA unit. Make it the shortest adapter you can find, one with the least metal and dielectric possible.

For that matter you could also use a Y adapter for the headphones, with a tip and ring male plug attached to a female RCA and plugged into one of the Y's. I have no idea how this would sound, but no harm can come from trying it out. You may need two RCA GC's to make this work, unless the particular headphone has a common ground / return wire, rather than separate ones for each channel.

A tip and ring plug comes in a variety of sizes, 1/4" mono, stereo and balanced stereo, with similar types available for mini-plugs. These are just the official name for the plugs usually found on the end of your headphone cables.
Thanks Bud. I will have to look into this when I decide on which headphones to buy.
Tonyjack,

Thanks for the info Tony. I will have a pair of subs coming on line in a few weeks and I will try your tip about the reference GC's on the woofers, with standards up top, which is what I currently have, with two reference's on the amp.

Bud
Hi all,
After following this thread for a while and reading the various reviews of the GCs online, I finally decided to try a couple of pair on my biwired modified Apogee Duetta Signatures (for those not familiar w/these, they are full range ribbon panels from the late 80s). And the results are in keeping those already reported by Ozzy and others---soundstage more defined, deeper, and wider; each performer better defined in his/her own space; a cleaner, clearer sound that has more impact, texture, and a more solid foundation.

These things are definitely keepers.

Well done, Bud. A great device.
Rlxl,

Thank you for your kind words. I am pleased to hear from a large ribbon aficionado. Seems that all that is left is a large horn system. Maybe I can talk Romy into insulting me?

I will of course invite you to look into a pair for your amplifier/s At that point, the RCA's begin to make a noticeable difference, especially when applied to a commercial CD player without an out board DAC (assuming aanyone but me has such a device any more). I have also found them to indespensible for solid state electronics of all kinds and could not be parted with my Nikko Beta 1, so long as it has the RCA GC's attached.

Thanks to everyone for trying them.
Bud
Budp,

I've been very happy with three pairs of Audio Prism's Reference Ground Control Spades on my speakers. However, they did not work well on my fully differential solid state amplifier. My fully differential CD/SACD/DVD player, with a tube output stage, goes directly into the amp without a pre-amp. Would the Reference or Standard RCA versions on the digital output (RCA coaxial) and on the video output (RCA) be beneficial for audio quality.

Best Regards,
John
Hi John,

Under no circumstances should you ever put a Ground Control on a digital ground connected RCA!!!!!!!! Seriously. I am not sure that a fully differential CD etc player would respond any better than did your amplifier to one of the RCA GC's.

We will likely market a set of speaker cables early next year, using the same materials technology the GC's utilize. So, you might save your money for those, they will be absolutely neutral and immune to anything except being draped over a power transformer.

Otherwise, enjoy what you have and perhaps take a peek at Planet10hifi.com. I am sure you have speakers you love, but the EnABL process and Mark Audio drivers, in a cabinet made in Canada, designed in Britain, with workmanship better than the Chinese cabinets and far more musical, might be something to investigate for the future. I can promise significant removal of all of the obstructions to music that speakers force onto us with this combination.

Bud
Hi John,

I don't mean to scare you. The RCA GC's to a DAC ground appear to affect the cable load and the clock looses sync and the bitstream quits. This to an external DAC with the RCA on that digital ground. Unplugging the RCA solves the problem in about 2 minutes and nothing further occurs. In my Sony SACD etc player, an external PCA onto the spdif with no external DAC connection also shut down the player. I had to turn it off to get the unit to reset. No further problems. So, the GC's don't hurt anything, they just make em mad.

As for the video application, I have been told that plugging an RCA into a video player is helpful. I don't know anything about these devices so I have no cautionary words. Blacker Black and more vivid colors were claimed in both conversations. I am a bit skeptical, but again, I have no experience here.

Bud
Just an update.
I have found that using a Reference RCA along with a standard RCA on my Cary 306 Pro CD player provides the best of both of the RCA qualities.
That is, large deep soundstage and precise highly detailed imaging.
In addition to those two RCA ground controls I now have one on my Oppo BP-83SE, one on my LCD and one on my Squeezebox Touch.

Note:
I removed the RCA ground controls from my Preamp and Amp; there they provided little if any value.

I also have the 2 sets of spades of standard ground controls on my Andra 2 Speakers along with a set on my Amp.

On my Home theater speakers, (B&W) I have a couple of sets of the standard spades. Soon to aquire a few more to complete that system.

Bud, I still say you are a Genius!
Ozzy, which version of the GC on the LCD did you use and what were your observations of adding it? I just ordered a full complement of the reference GC's for my speakers to begin checking out the benefits. I ordered the banana versions as my spades are rather large to begin with and I dislike stacking spades on speaker terminals.

Has anyone tried an RCA GC on their powered subwoofer(s)? I have two JL Audio Fathom F113's I would also wonder if adding them to would benefit in the bass arena?

Many thanks. Just beginning my foray into the GC world...

Richard
Oddeophile, I'm thinking that the Ground Control RCA's are best used on front end equipment.
Such as a CD Player,Squeezebox Touch, Blu Ray player and yes a LCD TV.
The TV is a tough one though. I have gone back and forth between the Ref and the standard RCA and still cant decide which is better. Right now I would say the ref. I have it plugged into one of the video composite inputs. But I suppose any input would suffice.
The improvement is a slightly sharper picture with more depth and deeper colors. And of course then the TV Audio is sent through my Multi channel Receiver where that is also improved.

I also own a JL 113 Sub but have never tried a GC on it.
Yet...

Ozzy,

I read you have 2 rca GC on your Cary cd player. I am running XLR wires , so I assume you only need 1 GC on the negative rca out jack. Would that be correct?

Can you tell me where you put the other rca GC on your Cary, beside the rca out and what degree of improvement you noticed using 2 GC rca versions on your Cary.

Thanks
Moonguy, I am using the RCA type Ground Controls on my Cary. The Cary has both Balanced and RCA's out. The balanced outputs are sent to my Preamp leaving the RCA's open to be used with the Ground Controls (left and right channel).
I found the Ref RCA to be highly detailed with a somewhat narrower soundstage than the standard RCA. So, using one standard and one Ref RCA provided the wider soundstage with more detail. If I were to use only one RCA on the Cary I would use the standard.
I also prefer the stanadard spades on my speakers.
Ozzy, great. Thanks! I would say one crisis at a time (i.e. on GC on one thing at a time for the great experiment). My speakers GC's are supposed to arrive tonight so this may be interesting. I wish they had come on Friday so I could have really played with them on Sat. night with the HT going gangbusters, but tonight should give me some ideas. Thanks so much for your kind support.

I would be most curious about a GC on a JL 113. Having two would be interesting. I have also read time and again using RCA GC's on front end equipment using one of each is the way to go (ref and standard). I just hope these don't squash the sound stage. In talking to some folks with a system similar to mine they did not experience the squashed soundstage with the ref series on the speakers. crossing my fingers...

Best,

Odd
Ozzy, got the ref banana's yesterday. These are a mother to install... tight as heck. But, after 2 hours of burn in they seem to definitely improve the soundield and as of my initial review so far do not seem to limit sound field or dynamics. But, this is preliminary at this point. I will do a full on test on Friday night when I have time to spend with full blu-ray hi def, etc. However, I did note cleaner, more detailed mids and high end in the short time I spent with them last night, and on a movie I watched on USA channel - Shoot 'Em Up, a fun flick for disbelief, but a blast to watch (I caught the tail end), I was surprised by the additional, what seemed to me to be, presence in the soundtrack even on compressed cable HD feed for Dolby Digital. The end title hard metal soundtrack came through with much more shear balls than the last time I watched this on the same channel a week or two ago, and had more instrumental separation. Suprised me. Then, I had to hit the hay for today's early start into the office.

Question on the LCD - have you tried both at the same time?

Thanks, Ozzy.

Best,

Odd
Oddeophile, The Ref will not limit or reduce the soundstage , but the standard will increase it.
The Ref seem to add more center presence and more detail. I prefer the standards, but that is just me with my equipment.
Sometime though, you should try a set of the standards for your own reference,

I havent tried using the RCA Ref & Standard GC's together on anything but my Cary Pro 306.
Thanks Ozzy. One thing I don't really need in my system is sound stage increase at least in width as it is wall to wall now. If it increased further it might diffuse the sound stage too much. I may try a set of the standard GC's here down the road for the amp end to see how that works.

How did the Cary Pro 306 work out using both ref and standard RCA GC's on it?
Oddeophile, So far, I like the effect with using both the standard and the ref RCA's on my Cary Pro.
But, having both the ref and standard on hand to try in different places is a plus.
Agreed. Something I plan on in the upcoming months. Over the past 3 days my reference GC's on my speakers (I had to obtain 4.5 pairs since I bi-wire and bi-amp my main front and rear speakers) have continued to improve and now have pintpoint clear clean imaging that has blown me away so far. I plan on doing some critical listening on well known material this weekend. For now, I have heard some things that are striking and very welcome. No negative affects at all. All positive. When was the last time you picked up a tweak that was all positive??!!

In my set up there was no question the addition of the second GC for the woofers on the main speakers added to the improvement. I have heard of some folks with mixed results - some feeling not needed while others agree with what I am hearing there was a discontinuity between the frequencies near the crossover where it was clearly audible what had been improved on the upper drivers vs. the woofers. Adding the additional reference GC to the woofers and voila'! Almost instant improvement.

So far, so good and color me happy. More to follow of course as I get a chance to really listen to some well known material compared to what I have had time to deal with so far the past few nights.

I do feel there is additional improvement over time beyond the one hour break in, however. At least to me last night seemed somewhat smoother, more detailed and relexed even over what I heard the second night (night before).

So far, well done Audio Prism!
Received 3 sets yesterday of the EVS Ground Enhancers.

These look very similar to the Ground Controls except without the spades or bananas. Mine have just a straight wire that I placed into the hole on my speaker spade lugs.

I am using these Ground Enhancers on my Home theater system along with several of the Ground Controls.

Well, immediately I noticed much more presence in the surround channels along with more weight and definition.

Thus far, I consider EVS Ground Enhancers to be the equal in sound improvement to the Audioprism Ground Controls.
I am waiting to get mine Audioprism, according to manufacturer, speakers provide the most effect and next is the cd. Does anyone know if you have a speakers like the Verity with monitor and woofer in separate cabinet and connected by jumpers, should I connect the GC to the woofer unit or monitor unit.
Alleung,

For your first pair, I would recommend that you get the Standard Ground Control and put them on your midrange. Then another pair for your woofer.

With that experience you could try a pair of Reference at your amplifier terminals, keeping in mind that you will have 30 days to evaluate them. You can then move the GC's around to see how they affect your system differently.

Bud
Reference Lacee Inquiry about DIY Ground Control. Yes, 5-7/8 inch loop of multi-stranded cable works fine. Seems to have benefit (more or less) on various components.
Hightechredneck

Just as it should. Keep in mind that we are fooling around with a fairly Hi Q manipulation of some very subtle field effects. Anything that you do to increase surface area vs dielectric material in that wire loop will have an effect upon the sound. Heck, just removing the plastic knob from you speaker terminals will have an audible effect. Not all of these will be "beneficial".

Bud