Grounded vs. ungrounded power cord

This comes up often enough. PS Audio offers(ed) a removable pin PC for just this purpose. An engineer friend runs all of his equipment without grounding plugs. Claims it is much cleaner sounding. Another friend runs his recording studio entirely without grounding pins for the same purpose of cleaner sound.

Last time this came up, several responses addressed fire potential and other dangers of Biblical proportions. Homes were wired for decades WITHOUT 3 pin outlets and all of them did not burn down so it is an interesting question.

Celtic66, beat me to the PS Audio reference. But it raises the question why all cable manufactures can't provide that option in the male plug? I think it is a great idea as in some enviroments removing the ground pin reduces or eliminates hum. Just a thought....but then, most of mine die of loneliness....

I think insurance is the biggest concern. If you DO have an electrical fire your insurance company may decide that your defeating of the safety grounds means they don't need to pay you for your losses, whether or not your actions actually caused the fire.

Guess it all depends on your tolerance for risk. There are safe ground loop breaking circuits published using a low value resistor and a diode bridge that can solve noise problems without defeating the safety ground.

The third terminal is there for personal safety only .