Need newbie explanation on grounding components.

Hi Darryl,

People on this site have done all of the above, so don't feel bad about being confused. Some people have completely designed and installed a dedicated power line for their audio system, so they arranged for a seperate ground at the same time. They weren't necessarily having ground loop problems...they were just trying to minimize any sort of potential electrical interference and keep their audio power source as pure as possible.

Are your outlets properly grounded?? (you can easily tell if you have some sort of surge protector or line conditioner...they usually have a "ground OK" light on them) IF they are...plug everything in "as is" and see what happens. Are you having any ground loop problems that are causing a hum?? If not, don't worry about a thing. If you are, the most logical step is to methodically go step-by-step and figure out which two (or more) components are causing the loop. Once you discover the source of the loop, you can use a ground-lifiting "cheater plug" on one of the components. That should break the loop and end the hum. Some people recommend using cheater plugs and lifting the ground on all components except for one...this should eliminate any potential for loops and still leave the system grounded (all the components are hooked up via interconnects, so they should share the single ground).

Things get more complicated if your outlets aren't grounded properly. If that is the case, some of the situations you mentioned may be necessary. I'm sure someone else on this site can help you with that, because I'm not the least bit qualified.

Darryl the hum-hunting game is basically a process of elimination. Begin with your amp (or receiver, or integrated) plugged into AC with speakers only connected, no input cables connected yet. If clean, then next add the preamp only, no AC connected, no sources connected, see what happens. If amp-only is not clean then begin trying some of the ideas that you've read about. Continue adding connections & eliminating the hum (via tweaks) as it may occur. That's the basic process.
I assume from your post that you've having some hum problems & you don't know exactly why (welcome to the club). Please experiment & make some notes, then if you're still stumped you may shoot me an email & we'll best discuss your specifics via a phone call. Click on my username to initiate email contact & simply follow the hyperlink.

I had some hum once. I tracked it down to a pesky pre-amp. When I replaced the pre-amp the hum went away. You can imagine how ticked I was after adding three dedicated circuits with dedicated neutrals and an isolated ground.

Being an electrician by trade the circuits only ran me about $100.00 in material and half a day in labor.

My point being the cleanest power in the world won't always help your hum problem.