to Ground or not to Ground ??

[Jerome W]

Hello folks,

A few weeks ago, a major controversy took place in the french McIntosh forum.
A few users stated that the ground of the power installations of our homes is polluted and carries all the problems due to "bad power". So they removed it from their plugs !
As a result, their components are no more earthed, something which is supposed to be very dangerous and forbidden. They all say that they rediscovered music since then : dynamics, richness and fullness of the sound, a night and day difference. The only negative point according to them would be to take some small electric "shocks" in their fingers when they touch an appliance.

Most of the members said they were just crazy.
Including one member, who is an electrical engineer. I can't give his name because he makes this filter on order, only for friends and he does not want to refuse orders and be unpleasant. Let's call him Mr. X.
He said that he found a much better solution than removing ground. He designed an electronic passive filter which has 2 features :
- a filter with individual filters according to the power requirements of the components, using different Schaffner filters for sources, preamps, amps...
- the removing of what we call in french "mass circuits currents" : only one component of the system is connected to the ground : he choose the preamp.
All other components share the ground of the preamp, by the ground of the analog cables. This way, he "unifies" the ground on all the system.

My friend Jean Marc had a filter designed this way by X. He told me that the difference in sound he got was of the same magnitude than when he inserted the RP1 in the system !!! he kept telling me all the time that I should contact X and have one made for me.
After all, my main upgrade to be done was on the electric circuit. I already have dedicated lines and WireWorld power cables but I felt I could do more.
So I asked X to design to me a filter for all my components and 2 separate filters for the monoblocks.

I received them a few months ago.

Believe it or not, but the difference in sound just let me with no word.
Suddenly, the sound was like removed of all stress and strain. Peaceful.
Silences were darker. Voices fuller and clearer. And the bass, my God !
Overall I had more improvement in my system than what I got with the RP1.
Much more like going from the C220 preamp to the C1000 !
An other way to explain what it does is this :
Did you notice that your system sounds much better at 11 pm than at 2 pm ?
probably because the ac is less polluted at night. Well, now my system sounds all day long like in the middle of the night !!

One of the nice result is that I do not get anymore small electric shocks when I turn on one of the component like I used to. I surely had a ground problem before and this design resolved that.

What are your opinions about that story ?
Do you know of an other device doing the same thing ?

[chessman]

Jerome ... I think, but do not absolutely know, that you are describing the effects of direct current on the AC line. I use a power conditioner for just that reason. Also, a "unifed ground" would seem to eliminate the problem of differing ground potential, a root cause of the dreaded (in USA 60H) hum. Whether it is a good idea to address in the manner you describe I leave to someone who really knows, like Dan.

[djwhog]

Should always have a ground, if it is noisy then you have sad wiring. And still even with good house, office wiring etc, one should still use a line conditioner.

Depending on where you live electricity is like a water line, dirty and contaminated.

It is the gas in the tank of your car where it all starts. So it makes sense some would not ground if the line is noisy it tends to lessen the noise, but that is the caston the arm for the broken leg...

[jdandy]

Jérôme.......Studying your photos, it appears the Schaffner EMC/EMI filters do not pass the ground to the electrical outlets, but do ground the filter case, and each filter case to the enclosure. If the European 240 volt outlets pick up their ground connection from the chassis of the enclosure when they get mounted, then the grounds would continue to each component through the chassis. If the 240 volt outlets do not pick up ground continuity from the chassis enclosure, then the components powered through such a device are ungrounded from what I can see in your photos.

The Schaffner filters in your boxes effectively filter from dc to 400Hz according to Schaffner's online data. That seems like very low frequency filtering when most of the harmonic distortion that is typically present on power lines exists in the range of 10kHZ to 100kHz from what I have read.

The entire purpose of earth grounding any electrical component or appliance is to provide a path to ground in the event of a short circuit so that the rush of current will blow a fuse or open a circuit breaker to cease current flow. With a component chassis ungrounded there is the potential for a hot wire to be shorted to the chassis, thereby energizing the chassis and making you the path to ground for current flow when you touch the component. This is dangerous even at 120 volts ac, let alone 240 volts ac.

Ground wire conductor sizing is done to ensure that the ground wire is of sufficient current carrying capacity to handle the full load of a direct short based of the circuits over-current device (circuit breaker or fuse). A smaller gauge ground wire might melt from the rush of current before an over-current device trips or a fuse blows. This is the reason why it is not wise to rely on the small signal return conductors or braided shield as a ground path for the electrical main circuit. The small signal wires capacities to handle full load current in the event of a dead short to ground are insufficient for life safety.

Without actually seeing a circuit schematic for the filter devices you are using I cannot make a solid determination about the safety of the devices. Using any 120/240 volt component without proper earth grounding is unwise at any time, in my humble opinion.

[Jerome W]

Thank you for your answers my friends.
I will try to have Mr. X react here to explain more closely his appliance.
But i can grant you that there is no danger in any way in his design. That's his job and he's the first one to say that appliances must be earthed.
What I can say for sure is that it does something incredible on the sound !

[tdelahanty]

+1 to what dan said. If you are in doubt about the grounding of your system, you can use a digital VOM to check for good grounding between components. Use the AC scale on auto (for proper range) and touch the chassis of each component to all others. this will tell you if there is any dangerous voltage between components.

Furman pays close attention to noise on the ground line of their products and employs proper design to eliminate this problem while ensuring proper ground.

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jérôme.......

The Schaffner filters in your boxes effectively filter from dc to 400Hz according to Schaffner's online data. That seems like very low frequency filtering when most of the harmonic distortion that is typically present on power lines exists in the range of 10kHZ to 100kHz from what I have read.

Dan,
you made very good points but I'm most curious by this one....
Will check, thanks !