Connecting the ground wire makes music less lively


Friends,
Lately for some strange reason I heard hum from my TT setup. When I connected the tonearm ground wire to the phono the hum was gone. Thats the good news. The bad news is, when I heard the music with the ground wire connected, it sounded less lively, less palpable. Some vitality was taken away. When I remove the ground wire the life in the music is again back, just that the background hum is audible during silent passages (thats irritating). Has anyone else heard this effect ? Is there a solution to this problem ?

My phono stage is very heavy and can't be moved around. I have to say this problem is quite disturbing because either way there seem to be a serious compromise which is not really the fault of the components.
pani
Phonograph cartridges are a balanced source. That is why the ground wire is needed, as it is the ground of the balanced system. The thing is, when employed as a single-ended source, the capacitance of the interconnect plays a bigger role when the ground cable is connected.

By running a balanced preamp that ignores ground at its input, you get around this problem. Truly balanced systems tend to be very cable-immune.

If you don't want to replace your preamp, you might have to consider a lower capacitance cable between the arm and preamp.
I'm wondering if the liveliness you describe is low level noise coming through the ground connection.....
try to look at the Garrard ground...it is usually just 2 prong cable. The ground should be from the motor bracket. That may help with the hum...the liveliness may be some combination between these two grounds....