I spoke to the owner/tech of the only authorized Sunfire service center regarding the grounding design of their amps. He said in a Sunfire amplifier that the chassis, power and signal ground are connected together.
We discussed my ground-loop situation with the preamp and he said he would try to contact Bob Carver to find out the reason for this design and if it can be modified.
In the meantime, I found this on Pass Labs website...
In order to minimize ground loop issues Pass Labs never manufactures equipment with signal ground and chassis ground contiguous.Regarding the noise produced by the CDP thru the power line, I purchased a Tripp Lite isolated power strip since it is intended for computers and digital devices.
By separating signal ground and safety grounds, connecting units together should never cause ground loop issues; however, not all manufacturers follow this line of thinking.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000513O4/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza
My findings...
- Furman and Tripp Lite both plugged into Blue Circle conditioner.
- Atma-Sphere preamp w/ Audience PC plugged into Furman,
CDP w/ Audience PC plugged into Tripp Lite.
The result was high-pitched noise was still present thru the system.
Next, I swapped preamp into Tripp Lite; CDP into Furman...
The result was high-pitched noise eliminated. Preamp is no longer using a cheater-plug, but there is low-level hum due to the amp.
I've been playing CDs for 3 days and there has been no noise from the CDP.
I don't understand why the digital noise is eliminated with the preamp in the Tripp Lite, but it works and CDP sounds smooth w/o the Jensen transformer.