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component grounding

So this whole thing about grounding audio gear. There are millions of pieces of vintage audio gear out there without ground plugs. In fact, many don't even have a polarized two prong plug. Yet search as I may, I can't find one situation where someone was killed or seriously injured from an ungrounded piece of audio equipment. I've been in the HiFi business for over 50 years.....Never saw a recall or a warning or anything until recently. This past year I built a Bob Latino ST120 Tube Dynaco clone amplifier. I was surprised to see a lampcord power cord with no ground. When I inquired I was told by many to not ground it as it wasn't necessary and might introduce hum......Can someone show me documented case where injurie resulted from an ungrounded piece of equipment?

rbertalotto
bobpyle
64 posts
 

Safety is of prime importance, but you are not getting the best from your audio if it does not have a grounding system.

frentec
2 posts
 

In the UK, we have 230V, but for the last 50 Years it’s been mandatory to use the 3 prong plug with an internal fuse, most appliances are supplied with an IEC Plug on the equipment end & a moulded fuseable plug on the other, these leads shouldn’t be no more than a meter (3 feet) long, all tv’s & similar equipment are usually fitted with a figure 8 cable with 2 conductors & a 3 prong fuseable plug, so potentially dangerous. I have some US gear here Audio Research which is supplied with a UK 🇬🇧 Compatible Lead of really good quality, I also have a 120V Theta Dac, which is supplied with a three prong 🇺🇸 lead, but equipment is fused, I now live in France which has 3 prong 230V receptacles, but not fused, but everything has to have breakers on both + & -, no more than 3 sockets on each power line, there appear to be no cases where anyone has died in either case, but I am surprised. You see on social media sites that in Countries such as India, there appears to be plenty of cases where people have been zapped to Death.

hshifi
572 posts
 

Hello,

As said above a lot of people float the ground. It prevents noise from ground loop hum especially on single ended equipment. Also, by having the ground plug only connected to the wall and not the component provides some type of RFI/ EMI protection. I bought a Nordost Purple Flare figure 8 power cord for my BlueSound Node 2i. I bought a cheater that turns a three prong EIc into a figure 8. I then plugged in my Nordost Blue Heaven which is grounded. Their was a definite improvement over the sound. At a Nordost/ Ayre/ Kef show at my local audio store I asked the Nordost rep about it. He said the cables are the same except for the ground wire and the figure 8 end. I tried it several times and had the sam sound improvement each time. I think Paul at PS Audio has talked about only connecting the ground or shield cable on the starting side. The interesting thing is the ungrounded Nordost Purple Flare still uses a three prong plug on the wall side even though their is no ground wire in the sheath. So not using the ground but using it as a shield. 

oliver_reid
71 posts
 

The new Arcam Amp I just got  (I am in th US) has a US mains style cable and plugs but the ground prong is absent, and the power socket on the amp has no ground element..

 

 

jea48
4,451 posts
 

The new Arcam Amp I just got  (I am in th US) has a US mains style cable and plugs but the ground prong is absent, and the power socket on the amp has no ground element..

The Arcam Amp AC power wiring is certified Class II, double insulated AC power wiring.  It doesn't require an EGC.

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