Worthwhile $5 Tweak

Swampwalker: Thanks for making me aware of that. I just provided a link to their website and didn't even know that they had further info as to part numbers to purchase it from Rat Shack.

As to your cable tv signal degrading over time, corrosion seeping into the connectors might be part of it, but my guess is that it has more to do with the cable itself decaying. Unless manufacturers use what is called a "Type II" jacket, the plasticizers in the jacket of the cables leech into the dielectric between the center conductor and the shield. This causes signal degradation due to altered impedances, increased dielectric absorption and higher levels of signal leakage. Using some type of a 100% foil shield between the dielectric and outer jacket can drastically reduce the situation, but it is not a cure all. Short of using a cable with a Type II outer jacket, a foil shield and waterproofing all of the connections along the way, the only solution is to replace the coaxial lines every couple of years. Good luck telling this to your Cable Company : ) Sean
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If you guys are getting better sound from lifting the grounds, there's a reason for it - something is up with your AC. Lifting the ground is a band-aid solution, not really a wise move - better to fix the root of the problem than half-assed things like cheater plugs. I have used those in the past but don't any more. A good power conditioner (ideally a balanced power setup, like Monster HTPS 7000 or Equitech 1.5Q or 2Q) should cure most of those things, if not all of them.

Good tip on redoing the main house ground - I will probably do that soon. Sean, thanks for the info on Coax seal. Looks like good stuff.

-Ed

Ed_sawyer, as far as I know, everybody has roughly the same amount of dirty AC/dirty grounding issues. Unless, of course, one lives near power station, industrial plant, etc..

I'm using Foundation Research LC-1's and LC-2 dedicated in-line conditioners for each of my components which are purported by some (including me) to be one of the best conditioners in the biz. And they do not have the drawbacks found in some to many other power conditioners.

Needless to say, floating the ground still helps.

You could own a nice Porsche 911, but the gas, gas tank, and gas lines are still dirty, and hence you would still reap the benefits from a gas filter and possible fuel additives.

Even though some gas stations advertise how clean their gas is, every single internal combustion, gas-powered engine in this world reaps performance benefits from the use of a gas filter.

I view electricity in much the same way.

-IMO

Stehno: While i agree with what you are saying regarding filtration, why doesn't the manufacturer build adequate filtering into each component that they make ? There is NO reason that outboard filtering should be necessary. That is, IF these "mega-buck" components were actually designed and built to the level that they lay claim to.

Besides all of that, most "filters" are actually some type of tuned low pass or band-pass circuit that simply shunts the out of band energy to ground. By removing the ground from the majority of these devices, you either negate their performance benefits or at the very least, cripple them. There are ways to make a filter that doesn't require an external source of grounding, but i don't know of anybody doing this. It requires more space, parts, heat dissipation and obviously more money. As such, i don't think that we'll see anybody racing to produce such a product as it is profit and hype that drives the high end industry, not performance. Sean
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Sean, some mfg'ers in the high-end do exactly that. But apparently they filter out the offending frequecies (the effects) rather than the cause. And then even an excellent line conditioner may sound inferior when paired with such a component.

I would highly recommend reviewing the bottom half of the below thread:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ymisc&1050555107

Specifically, look for MusicFirst's postings. He is the distributor for Foundation Research and has some interesting, even very keen comments about high-end components, line conditioning, and the execution thereof.

As for your other points, unlike you, electronics are not my area of expertise, so I really can't comment much there. I only know what I think works and then try it and/or buy it.

Sean, as for your last statement about profit and hype that drives the high-end industry, not performance?

Profit is what makes capitalism work. Ain't nobody doing nothing for free, right?

And yes, there are certainly some to many who create or ride the hype for what they can get out of it. I can think of some popular line conditioners and amps that are among them.

But that's human nature. Care to discuss political parties and/or affiliations?

But then again, there's a whole underground audio market with their honest performance-oriented engineering that helps keep things somewhat in check. I think.

-IMO