Grounding cable gauge size

Nice…thanks for sharing design pics.  What are your box dimensions?  So just trying to understand the battery like set up.  Would your box be connected to a component on the copper banana so the aluminum draws the noise through the mix and then out the aluminum banana to the ground rod or duplex plug similar to a battery draw?  Keep us posted on results.  Looks intriguing! 

One is about 8x8x4. The other I thought I would experiment with longer and fewer runs of metal. It is closer to 15x7x4. The metal strips are all 2 inches and the MDF is 1/2", hence the 4 inch box depth. I was trying to have a greater amount of copper versus aluminum but not by much in the end.

I was not sure on running through the box as dead-heading is safer and avoids any ground loops. But I put it in out of curiosity and perhaps running to ground might add some performance. But if it does, why not just use a filter network instead of box full of dirt and minerals?

bugremachine,

The pictures made your boxes much larger than I thought they were. My DIYer is about 18" x 24" x 8".

Also, when you are completed try some brass spikes underneath.

ozzy

Agree with ozzy the boxes should be treated like any component regarding footers and proper shelf.

Fun project…Thought I would share my findings after several weeks of using and adjusting my 3 DIY ground boxes.  Now obviously each system and home electrical grid is different and will experience different results. My system is not super revealing high end and  I am blown away at what a little build effort, small investment and how experimenting with materials can make such an impact on sound quality.  Dead silence for a tube amp and tube DAC.  Clarity, separation of instruments,  depth of soundstage, bass definition all improved significantly.  Who would of thought you could get these results?  I built 2 6x6x6 each one is connected independently to a speaker negative banana. The larger 12x7x6  has one banana connected to my power condtioner chassis ground that all components are plugged into while the second banana is connected to the wall outlet ground only. Below is a list of building materials.  I kept the fill ingredients to a minimum which worked fine for me.  Lastly, my findings were using solid copper plates vs aluminum plates didn’t seem to make a difference, 11ga stranded ofc copper sounded better than stranded silver or 16ga solid silver (slightly fuller, richer, warmer sound to me), doubling the size of the box made a noticeable difference on the power conditioner. Sound improves with use as there seems to be a break in period.  Pics are on my system page.

Ground Box 6”x6” (2)

-  Made of scrape melamine covered in contact paper

- Copper plates, copper tape,  banana plug, bare solid copper ground wire, 

   11ga stranded copper speaker wire 

-  50 g Tourmaline fine stones

-  225g raw Tourmaline stones

-  50/50 volume mix of rock salt (4 lbs) and horticulture charcoal (2qt)  Connected one box to each speaker neg posts

Large Ground Box 12”x7”x6”

- Same as above with these additions

- 2 banana plugs

- Copper color aluminum plates (work as well as the copper and easier

   to cut and shape)

- 500 grams of natural tourmaline

- rock salt (8lbs), horticulture charcoal (4qts), graphite powder (2lbs),

   sand(quartz) (2lbs)

Connected large box to power conditioner chassis ground with power

    cord cable ground only connected to spade plug with hot, neutral 

    and ground wires twisted together.