Short Out Plugs

Hi this is an interesting discussion but is there a difference in sound when using shorting plugs?

Thanks Sean. I'll take a look at the silicone I just bought. I may omit this step completely. Sws2 I don't know yet but I am going to find out. The engineer's at Theta thought enough of this procedure to mention it in the manual. Could someone tell me if it is safe to use these plugs on an amp or a dac before I try it? I do enough smoke testing at work. I'd like to avoid it at home if possible:~)

Since you asked here is a quote from my Theta Casa Nova
manual. " The Casa Nova can be susceptible to excessive RF. Shorting plugs in all unused inputs will improve the sound quality and may reduce the susceptibility to RF induced anomalies".

You can only "shunt" inputs, NO outputs !!! As to shunting the inputs on an amp, that might be tricky. They might be wired in parallel. Shunting one set would in effect short the signal going into the other input to ground. This could either result in a loss of sound or "bad things" depending on how the individual components were built.

As a matter of safety, i would strictly shunt inputs on a preamp. Since each input on a preamp is selected individually and none of them would share common signal paths, that SHOULD be safe ( so long as it was not an under-designed piece of junk ). As to shunting ANYTHING else, i would first contact the manufacturer and find out if it was "safe" in their opinion. Better to be safe than sorry.

As to Sws2's questions, it should lower your noise floor and help the sound to come from a blacker background. You might also be able to reduce crosstalk between sources, but this would depend on the device being used. Sean
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One quick continuity test and mission accomplished. Thanks everyone for the good advise on this thread. I built 12 short out plugs for under $12.00. I think I'll do my other pre-amp just for the Halibut. You know I even think I noticed a difference. That is my cheapest tweak to date. Thanks again.