Grounding cable gauge size

Ralph,

I also had a residual noise when I used your Atmashere amps. It is inherent in tube amplifier designs.

With all due respect, you really need to try this type of grounding before you comment. It would probably surprise you, as it did me.

ozzy

I’m surprised just reading about it. Because while I have tried different grounding and heard differences they were never anything to do with wire type or gauge and the differences I heard were never anything like this. However, I have also seen so many experienced listeners like you hear things that, however unlikely really are there, that I no longer doubt these kinds of things. Because of this I would be looking for ways to understand what is going on long before I would be looking for ways to explain it away.

So just to get this straight Ozzy you are now running 16g solid (not stranded?) silver wire, from amp chassis ground, to some kind of star grounding box and then direct to earth ground?

Actually, the chassis ground is not a good place for this type of grounding.

I am using a ground wire attached only to the rca, xlr, bnc, spade lug,etc. ground on the components only. Seems like it should be the same but in function it is not. Then with the ground leads they need to go to some type of grounding sink.

There are many of these available. My DIY tries to duplicate mother earth. That is with a magnetic pad at the bottom of a sectioned off earth section then with many minerals, crystals, metals etc. etc on top mixed with a few other liquid chemicals.

The more of your system that can be connected this way the deeper the sound image goes. It is quite pleasant and impressive.

ozzy

Grounding the speakers is best done at the amp speaker outputs than at the speaker inputs. Results in a quieter, purer sound.

ozzy

I also had a residual noise when I used your Atmashere amps. It is inherent in tube amplifier designs.

With all due respect, you really need to try this type of grounding before you comment. It would probably surprise you, as it did me.

Its true that tubes are noisier than solid state. But you should not get any buzz if things are going well- just hiss. I run my amps on horns and I'm not particularly keen on buzz, nor do I get any. There are a good number of things that can cause buzz in a tube amp- for example leakage in the filament/cathode elements of the tubes, where noise can be injected into the audio circuit, or swept resonance between the inductance of the secondary winding of a power transformer and the capacitance in the junctions of the power rectifiers (of course that can happen in solid state amps too). Neither has anything to do with ground!

You might want to look at this page; of particular interest is page 20:

https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://centralindianaaes.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/indy-aes-2012-seminar-w-notes-v1-0.pdf

Grounding is a far more complex topic than most people realize! I love the comment he makes about grounding in aircraft, not having to drag a ground wire around- its a good point.

At any rate I'm not contesting that you hear a difference or that it might be an improvement! Instead I'm simply pointing out that because that is so, it points to something amiss in the grounding scheme of the equipment you're using. Its a common problem in the audio world; I've seen amps that are currently in production that have grounding schemes from the 1950s before grounded outlets were a thing; others that have IEC connectors but the ground connection isn't hooked up. I've no idea how such products could be shipped overseas, since they are a bit more draconian about such things in Europe and even China; relatively speaking in the US its a bit of the Wild West in this regard.