Stupid question about power cables ...

Honest1- the reason that your amplifiers are "safe" is that the ground goes to the chassis of the amplifiers. Remember, grounds are installed for safety reasons, not for "audiophile" reasons - IF you are not going to ground the power cord at the component end - then you should not have the ground connected at the outlet end. If you are worried about future use of the power cord, snip off the ground pin at the wall plug end. Just my two centavos....

Rja - PS Audio has that kind of cord with the detachable ground prong.

BTW - congrats to all - 8 posts and no one called it a chord!

Takefive says that by connecting the ground at the male end it acts as a drain shield ... it may help block some RMI, may not, but that it can't hurt.

Regarding that 3rd pin.. The proper way to hook everything up is to use that 3rd pin on the preamp, and then no 3rd pins on anything else. Also - get a VTVM. With only the component being test, plug it into the wall using a "cheater" (a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter you can get from the local hardware store. If one spade is too big - file it down) (no interconnects attached)measure the leakage from the case to a ground (screw on the outlet, radiator, etc). Unplug the power cord from the socket, and reinstall it 180 degrees reversed (upside down). Measure the leakage again. Use the plug in the position that has the least leakage. Mark with red nailpolish the right side of the plug, and put a red dot on the outlet on the right side. Do this for all your components. It may be that you have to use the cheaters to keep the plug in its proper orientation, but don't. They sound terrible. Instead, saw off the ground (3rd) connection, or remove the plug and install another with the correct polarity. This will minimize gound leakage and really open up the sound of your system.