Hi Darryl,
People on this site have done all of the above, so don't feel bad about being confused. Some people have completely designed and installed a dedicated power line for their audio system, so they arranged for a seperate ground at the same time. They weren't necessarily having ground loop problems...they were just trying to minimize any sort of potential electrical interference and keep their audio power source as pure as possible.
Are your outlets properly grounded?? (you can easily tell if you have some sort of surge protector or line conditioner...they usually have a "ground OK" light on them) IF they are...plug everything in "as is" and see what happens. Are you having any ground loop problems that are causing a hum?? If not, don't worry about a thing. If you are, the most logical step is to methodically go step-by-step and figure out which two (or more) components are causing the loop. Once you discover the source of the loop, you can use a ground-lifiting "cheater plug" on one of the components. That should break the loop and end the hum. Some people recommend using cheater plugs and lifting the ground on all components except for one...this should eliminate any potential for loops and still leave the system grounded (all the components are hooked up via interconnects, so they should share the single ground).
Things get more complicated if your outlets aren't grounded properly. If that is the case, some of the situations you mentioned may be necessary. I'm sure someone else on this site can help you with that, because I'm not the least bit qualified.
People on this site have done all of the above, so don't feel bad about being confused. Some people have completely designed and installed a dedicated power line for their audio system, so they arranged for a seperate ground at the same time. They weren't necessarily having ground loop problems...they were just trying to minimize any sort of potential electrical interference and keep their audio power source as pure as possible.
Are your outlets properly grounded?? (you can easily tell if you have some sort of surge protector or line conditioner...they usually have a "ground OK" light on them) IF they are...plug everything in "as is" and see what happens. Are you having any ground loop problems that are causing a hum?? If not, don't worry about a thing. If you are, the most logical step is to methodically go step-by-step and figure out which two (or more) components are causing the loop. Once you discover the source of the loop, you can use a ground-lifiting "cheater plug" on one of the components. That should break the loop and end the hum. Some people recommend using cheater plugs and lifting the ground on all components except for one...this should eliminate any potential for loops and still leave the system grounded (all the components are hooked up via interconnects, so they should share the single ground).
Things get more complicated if your outlets aren't grounded properly. If that is the case, some of the situations you mentioned may be necessary. I'm sure someone else on this site can help you with that, because I'm not the least bit qualified.