Proper Ground for Tonearm and Turntable


Hello all,
My first experience with a high end turntable an Acoustic Signature Triple X has a ground on the plinth as well does the Tonearm have a ground cable attached to the RCA cables. I am getting a pop thru my amp when the needle hits the record even if the amp is muted. Should both the plinth and the Tonearm be grounded to the phonostage? What is the correct way to ground this to eliminate the pop?
128x128audiosaurusrex

Showing 4 responses by mijostyn

millercarbon, go to Sleeve City and get yourself a grounded sweep arm. The static you sense from pulling the record out of a sleeve was generated during the last play. Nothing like a nonconductive stylus rubbing a nonconductive groove for 20 minutes, a mini Van Der Graaf generator. You have to discharge the record while it is playing! 
Cartridges are naturally balanced devices. The tonearm is grounded to chassis ground of the turntable which is connected to chassis ground of the phono preamp. The minus terminals of the cartridge should be isolated from chassis ground or in other words chassis ground should not be connected to the negative side of the RCA cables. Having said this audiosaurusrex's symptoms are a bit unusual if the pop is not just the needle hitting the groove. As millercarbon suggests static electricity could do this and it might be worse if the turntable were not grounded. Zerostats are a serious joke as the second you put the stylus back in the groove static electricity is generated rapidly. The best way to discharge a record is by using a grounded sweep arm with conductive bristles and making sure it and your turntable are grounded correctly,
Sleep walker. ground has nothing to do with signal in a balanced set up. As you might notice most tonearms come with a separate ground wire not connected to the negative side of the RCA. it is like the shield on a balanced cable. Now some phono amps may have a common ground for signal and chassis. i suggest you stay away from them. Balanced outputs are the best with isolated chassis ground second. 
The Zerostat can temporarily reduce static which is regenerated as soon as the needle hits the groove. It is not my fault you have no concept of how static electricity is generated. I refer you to any high school science book. Functionally the Zerostat is stupid and a total waste of money. I am deeply sorry if you wasted your money on one. After you used your zerostat the static electricity was immediately regenerated as soon as your stylus hit the groove attracting dust smoke and god knows what else which your stylus promptly ground into the groove. Great way to ruin records. In the meanwhile Sleepwalker I suggest that you switch to digital media it is more fool proof.