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A New Ground -- Benefits of introducing the Synergistic Research Active Ground Block SE

Dedicated ground solutions are not a novel idea but over the past year it seems everyone has been coming out with their version. For a few months I’ve been thinking about introducing one to my system and had considered Entreq, Telos, Nordost and others. Although I have a bunch of Synergistic Research (SR) kit I had dismissed their older basic ground block as too rinky dink -- however when I heard about the new Active Ground Blocks I thought that could be the way to go. The Active Ground blocks are smallish devices with a mains connection and a plethora of outlets for grounding cables to every component. They incorporate a range of the latest SR UEF tweaks
http://www.synergisticresearch.com/isolation/ground-isolation/active-ground-block-se/

While the blocks alone are quite expensive ($2995) you will also need to lay out for connections to all of your components -- ideally the HD links. In my case as I have two distinct zones in my system I needed two ground blocks and 13 links -- quite an outlay

Question is is it worthwhile? Most certainly yes. The impact of implementing a full grounding solution in my system was one of the most profound changes I’ve experienced. It’s not a change that can be described in the usual audiophile terms of dynamics, frequency response, transparency etc. Instead it’s a shift in the wholeness, the verisimilitude, the gestalt of what you are hearing. Probably this is most obvious in a couple of places. Firstly is in background washes of sound (e.g. classic synth backings, or massed strings, or the whoosh that opens "Private Investigations") -- which now take on a scale, texture and clarity that had previously been completely masked. Secondly in vocals where a whole level of shading, nuance, breathwork, and subtly inflections are now audible. This is not simply more "detail" or a "reduction in the noise floor" it’s as if things which you did not know previously existed are suddenly there, as they had been all along

The effect is enhanced the more things you ground -- obviously all active components but even stands (my GPA stands are conductive so I connect a basic ground link to the bare metal inside the stand posts -- the surface metal is varnished and non conductive).

While I obviously can recommend the SR products I imagine any ground solution will bring similar benefits and would strongly suggest that anyone with a high resolution system explore some form of ground solution

ps For those in the now the music to accompany this review is A New Ground

128x128folkfreak
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
3,650 posts
 
folkfreak,

Well, I do own the SR "rinky dink" ground version you refer to. I personally like it very much. You don’t have to buy the $$$ SR links I made my own.

SR uses the 2mm banana plugs which is rare and hard to find. But, I found adapters that can convert the 2mm input to accept the standard 4mm banana size which opened up the possibility to use all kinds of quality wire to use. I am using mostly pure silver wire.

I find that SR does come up with clever items for audio but there pricing is way out of line for the materials used.

Of course this is my own humble opinion.
ozzy
folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak OP
1,149 posts
 
Sorry @ozzy wasn’t trying to denigrate the old grounding blocks just that I was looking for something with a connection to the wall like the Telos so when the new SR came along it seemed just the ticket

Regarding cables do you find that they are very sensitive to how they are dressed? That’s always been my experience with the grounds for my FEQs and now with the new leads. They have to be off the floor, no loops, away from active power cords etc
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
3,650 posts
 
folkfreak,

"regarding cables"...
Not really. I actually have a bare 12 gauge 4 nines pure silver wire going from the SR grounding box to the outlet wall. The other leads that I am using are inside teflon tubing.
Also, contrary to what SR says I have found grounding to a outlet outside of the system to be better.
ozzy



atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
I did a survey of a number of grounding systems by interviewing the owners and having them do a few tests (as best as I can make out, these were similar to the SR, but none of them were SR units).

What I found was that in audio systems where a grounding system made an improvement, universally there were also bugs in the way that the associated audio equipment was grounded, which is why the grounding boxes were helping.

Just my opinion of course, but if the manufacturers of the various products (amps, preamps and the like) in those audio systems were to fix the bugs in their products, the result would be even better and at worst just as good as the (IMO rather expensive) grounding system add-ons.

My conclusion was that if a grounding box was helping, that was an indication that the associated equipment had design flaws in their grounding implementation.

 
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