tt ground to phono section. solid copper?

erik_squires said:

jea48 is kind of mostly right.

It’s not a safety ground, so practically any gauge will do, but ...when it connects at the phonograph preamplifier’s chassis I believe, which in turn should connect to the earth through the preamp’s AC plug, when present.

The equipment ground is not involved.

The Earth does not possess some magical, mystical, power. It does nothing for the SQ of an audio system. Same for the safety equipment ground. The purpose of the equipment ground, when used, is to provide a low resistive path for ground fault current to return to the source neutral conductor.

erik_squires said:

Yes, and the safety ground is connected to the chassis of the equipment it goes to. The screw/thread/ground connector next to the turntable input is connected to what, exactly? :-)

The screw/thread/ground connector next to the turntable input is connected to what, exactly? :-)

Technically? To the signal ground of the phono preamp. The signal ground is connected to chassis.

The fact that the preamp may also use the safety equipment ground, that is also connected to the chassis is irrelevant. The safety equipment ground is there in the event of a hot to chassis ground fault.

The whole audio system could consist of equipment that uses double insulated AC power wiring and doesn’t use the safety equipment ground at all. Including the TT, no equipment ground. Where is the earth connection now? Disconnect the TT ground wire from the ground terminal post on the phono preamp and a buzz will be heard through the speakers. Reconnect the ground wire, no buzz.

Jim