really? .89c ground lifters?

The way it is done in pro-audio situations is to make sure the heart of the system (in a pro audio system: the mixer, in a home system: the preamp) is the only thing that is grounded. Otherwise there is a good likelihood of a ground loop between the amp and preamp.

The concern is that you could get into some serious shock hazard, which is why so many advocate not to do it. And it is true that if the equipment is properly designed, you won't have any serious ground loops to begin with.

The caveat is 'properly designed'. I've seen about 10 different ways of grounding used in various brands of equipment and some methods work a lot better than others.

Add to that the fact that buzz is a rather crude manifestation of a ground loop, IOW you can have a ground loop and no buzz, just a loss of detail and an increase in background noise. So the more adventurous audiophiles may take things like this into their own hands- Albert is a great example of that.

So if you are going to be lifting grounds, I agree with Albert. Just keep in mind that there is the potential of shock (no pun intended), but personally I have never seen this actually manifest (I've done this a lot in my own system) in over 30 years. All it takes is once though! So although it may help, its not recommended. So if you attempt something like this, just keep in mind you are at your own risk.

Why any manufacture of audio equipment today would still be designing and building their audio equipment using the old out dated AC safety equipment type of grounding beats me.

Double insulated type AC power wiring in their equipment would not cost that much more to produce.

I must assume from some that have posted here no one that lives in an older home that has only 2 wire receptacle outlets, (no equipment grounding conductor), has audio equipment that has three wire plugs.

UL should require all manufactures to build their audio equipment with double insulated power wiring or the manufacture would not get the UL label.

I must assume from some that have posted here no one that lives in an older home that has only 2 wire receptacle outlets, (no equipment grounding conductor), has audio equipment that has three wire plugs.

My home was two prong plug when I moved in and never had a noise problem. Over the years as my AC was upgraded and the three prong plugs of audio gear were actually connected to ground, I began to have problems.

When I say problems, realize that having done photography for various audio manufacturers and reviewed equipment for PFO as well as my audio groups testing, I've had a heck of a lot of equipment connected here.

Ralph is right that grounds are done many different ways on various pieces of audio gear and sometimes all you need do is change preamp or amps and the problem pops up.

No one has mentioned electrical phase. Many stereo systems are connected to both phases (or sides of the supply transformer outside) with ground shared. Good way to get hum and very difficult to get rid of.

Again, equipment dependant. I'm sure some of you are connected this way and have zero problems.

I again want to reiterrate that removing grounds is not only unsafe, it is irresponsible and the potential is not for electric shock, but for death. People are minimizing what could happen here. As an Electrical/Electronics Engineer, I am telling you that lifting the ground and you become a better ground than the house ground and electricity will take the easiest path to ground and that becomes you. There are many ways posted to find the faulty equipment. Please do so and fix the problem, do not lift grounds. Remember, "Accidents" happen when you do not expect them to. Lifting a ground in my opinion and getting severely shocked or causing a death is not an "Accident" you were asking for it by lifing the ground. Also, the load in your home should be balanced on each phase. Having all of your high power equipment on one phase will overload the wiring, cause it to heat up (IxIxR) losses and cause the insulation to fail causing a major electrical fire. Imagine having one outlet or several outlets in series back to the panel on one phase. You now have a 10, 12 or 16 gauge wire w/neutral caring all that current. Is that wire rated for the maximum amount of your equipment? If not, no electrician worth their salt would allow this. Having your equipmen balanced on each phase is the proper way and having several independent outlets run to each phase with their own neutrals is the proper way. Example would be if you have mono amps for your speakers. One proper way is to have separate outlets for each amp run back to the panel and another outlet run to the panel for the lower powered equipment (pre-amp, turn table, tuner, cd player, etc., which should be combined via a conditioner, or multiple outlet device.

Enjoy and stay safe

The following paper, by Bill Whitlock of Jensen Transformers, presents a good explanation of why equipment connected via unbalanced interfaces (i.e., rca cables) is inherently prone to the kinds of problems that have been mentioned, and presents some approaches to dealing with these problems that do not involve lifting safety grounds:

http://www.jensen-transformers.com/an/an004.pdf

Regards,
-- Al