Entreq ground conditioners - what's the theory?

I also think Alan has figured out a rather extreme method for manipulating Ohm's Law

Ohm's Law is immutable and cannot be 'manipulated'. This may be a poor choice of words but in the context it did not appear so. Ohm's Law is the foundation principle of electricity and electronics. Were it possible to 'manipulate' it, a new branch of physics would be created!

Also just a FWIW: So far all the schemes in audio that have made the claim of using 'quantum physics' have all been scams. Again, perhaps a poor choice of words to explain something else. But if a manufacturer starts using 'quantum physics' to explain to you how their equipment works, that would be a good time to turn around and run as hard as you can.

From what the UK rep has to say, grounding happens in two planes, the component itself, and the signal itself, and it is the latter where emi/rf is likely a severe limiting factor.

This statement is what I was getting at regarding the chassis as opposed to the circuit ground. However I should point out that if the two are grounded to different circuits, for example the chassis is at AC wiring ground and the circuit is at the ground potential of the stake in the garden, you could possibly damage the equipment if the two potentials are somehow significantly different. If so, the damage may result in loss of electrical/fire protection.

Most houses are already at the same ground potential as a stake in the yard (both our shop and my house are like this- you can't measure any voltage or RF voltage differences between the two, likely because the buildings' foundations are in very intimate contact with the earth). If you really are concerned about this, IMO you are better off having an electrician run a fused wire to the ground stake from the ground of your breaker box.

Now RF is still can be a problem, but IMO you are better off grounding the things that can re-radiate RF; ungrounded gutters (I have seen corrosion on the joints of gutters act as primitive diodes, causing the gutters to detect the radio signal and vibrate from its energy), metal screens in stucco, perhaps metal window screens near the audio equipment. Harry Pearson used to have terrible problems with RF at his home many years ago, until it was discovered that there was a metal screen in the ceiling of the structure. Once grounded the RF issues were gone.

Atmasphere: Ok, I think you're right about my poor word choice. Let me see if I can fix that. I don't think Alan is really in the business of 'manipulating' Ohm's Law (and let me say that no one would think that it's somehow mutable less than I...or for that matter, Alan either, I believe) so much as he appears to actually be 'applying', or rather 'exploiting', it in brand new and innovative ways. By innovative, I mean that this is how he has arrived at a way to actually lower resistance throughout the system (as well as the home). Realize, that, up until now and going by the book, the ONLY way to do that has been by the designer's choice of metallurgy...and again, apparently, not anymore. That was all I was really trying to get across, but I can see now how the way I worded it above might've seemed like a possible red flag...and to somebody, I suppose, maybe it still is, but for the moment that's ok.

But, a number of years ago, I suppose I might have agreed with you about almost anything with the name "Quantum" attached to it. But, since then the number of products claiming to benefit from quantum physics only seems to have risen. We see them here in these pages: Bybee devices, W.A. Quantum chips and Marigo Dots among them. In my mind, these that I mention at least have not been "proven" to be a scam, not by what I've seen, anyway. I'm sure somewhere, some of such products may very well deserve that category, but, from what I can gather so far, not all of them. And while it may come as a surprise to anyone concerned, over the last 3 years I've been steadily buying Alan's products, now to the tune of about $10,000. Although I've pretty much reached my financial limit with all that at this point, there was never a purchase from him I ever regretted. I can assure you that I didn't wake up one day and decide that I was going to drop 10 large ones on anything. But, after the first 2 or 3 thousand or so, I began to think in terms of, first, using the purchases to fix a number of problems with performance and then, later on, I intended to continue to buy more stuff from him until I began to encounter evidence that I had pretty much reached the limit of what his stuff would do - until I felt I'd reached some point of diminishing return. I never reached it. That never happened, period. Never even came close, really. Each and every purchase brought about a whole 'nother level of performance in varying ways. Alan, BTW, has kept on coming up with new designs and I'm sure I could bleed myself dry if I made it a point from here on out to continue to try to keep up with him.

Then I finally began to get it. Electrical noise is basically infinite. No matter how much the individual product you made could reduce it, you could always make another additional product to reduce it even more. So, from there, it was just a matter of my own preference - that and striking the balance between a (very) high level of performance and financial self-preservation. But, I'm enjoying emensly where all that has finally come down for me. Atmosphere, my friend, your concern for my susceptibility to quantum scams is noted, but I seem to be doing just fine and don't feel inclined, at this point, to be running anywhere just yet. Peace.

Ivan, there is one device known as the 'Intelligent Chip' that was most definitely a scam. Not sure if that is the same one that you mention above. Neither the Bybee or the Marigo dots rely on any quantum effects, and if their advertising says so, I would take it with a grain of salt.

You are right that there is always electrical noise. The question is really how much of an effect you are able to have on it by correct grounding. It turns out that you can indeed have an effect. However, this is why I mention correct ground schemes in your actual amp/preamp/whatever as this is where the grounding will yield the greatest benefit.

If the equipment uses a poor grounding scheme, it will be prone to all sorts of external effects such as RF, ground loops and of course alternative grounding. What I am getting at here is sort of like snuffing out a match as opposed to trying to put out a forest fire. If you can snuff the match and not burn the forest, you will be a lot better off. The same applies to correct grounding in audio equipment, but what strikes me as odd is that many 'high end' audio designers don't seem to be grounded (pardon the expression) in the principles for effective grounding.

Atmosphere, come to think of it, I may have been wrong to include the Marigo dots, but, no, the WA Quantum chips and the Intelligent chip are 2 different things (but, as I said above, there are certainly quantum scams to be found out there). From what I've read (interviews with Jack Bybee, reviews and, yes, the advertising) Bybee devices do employ quantum physics. Dunno if every word of all that is true, although I don't feel I'm qualified to openly dispute it. Disputing things at this point is not really my goal with all this. I'm still trying to pick up on a lot. I think I see what you are getting at though, but I still see plenty of room for both viewpoints (house grounding and component grounding) to be included. It's your last statement above that sums it up for me..."but what strikes me as odd is that many 'high end' audio designers don't seem to be grounded (pardon the expression) in the principles for effective grounding". I would say that, in all likelihood, is a fair assessment. But, for that very reason, the overall problem remains intractable. How much of the gains to be had can be derived from proper home grounding and how much from proper component grounding? For the present, there seems to be no real way for consumers to confidently, and correctly with a minimal amount of effort, ensure that their components use truly correct grounding schemes (to snuff out the match)...even though, like you say, many manufacturers should likely know better. OTOH, new grounding technologies for the home (the forest) are beginning to emerge and I believe they can in part help compensate for gear with inferior grounding schemes. And, in my mind, it may even be possible that they are going beyond that, but it's still unclear to me. While whether or not the real theoretical goal should be home grounding or component grounding, is, to me, largely intractable, it is not irrelevant. But, from necessarily a practical standpoint, maybe the best hope may lie with the forest. Neither on its own gets rid of all noise, but it does seem to be a big step forward.

Atmosphere, just wait'll ya get a load of the Super Intelligent Chip. By the way, the original Intelligent Chip was the big hit of CES way back in 2005.