Did anyone experience Audio Prism's Ground Control


Fellow Audiogoner's

I wonder if anyone has any input on Ground Control spade versions? I am curious about the impact of these pigtails on your system's overall sound?

I also have their quiteline filter (4pack) installed in my HT room and they have helped lower the overall noise floor.

My gear -
Krell Showcase Pre-Amp / Processor
B&W 803s and 804s (rear)
Marantz UD8004
Audience aR12
Audience Au24e speaker/interconnects.
PAD Power Cables
128x128lalitk
Vett,

I have quite a bit of Rick Cullen Modified PS Audio equipment, the PCA2/HCPS preamp, GCA500, two separate power plant premier power plants, one for analog, one for digital, several duet conditioners in various places, all PS Audio premier SC silver/copper power cords throughout, silver IC and speaker cabling, Pioner SC-09TX reference surround receiver, Pioneer BDP-09 Blu Player, PS Audio PWT and PWD Digital playback system, all silver HDMI cabling, two JL Audio F113 subs, Pioneer KURO Pro151 60" plasma, 4 Swan 6.1 speakers, C3 center, all equipment on Aurios Pro isolation bearings. Alternately, I have a MESA Engineering Baron tube amplifer. Lastly, I have Walker Audio Reference Plus HDL'S on all speakers. Front L/R speakers are bi-wired, back speakers bi-amped.

I have the GC's standard and reference RCA on my preamp/SC-09, standard RCA's on my inputs to my amp, and reference GC's on all speakers. I am awaiting a shipment of one ref RCA and one regular RCA to place on both my PWD and BDP-09 alternately, for now and see how it goes. The last set of RCA's are burning in now on the SC-09 and preamp and should be settled in by this weekend sometime.

My personal results have been that Bud's version worked much better for me in tandem than did EVS version. But, that is just my system. I understand many others have used the EVS to great improvement. I will post more once the most recent RCA's settle and I get a good handle on the final results + playing around with them in/out.
Scottmac,
Let them settle in for a while. Bud says several hours. In my system I hear changes in sound stage, image tightness, to bloom, then tightness then settle + changes in harmonics over a period of several days. Typically, so far, the improvement was in my system most seen on the 4th day. I hear no decrease in harmonic richness with the ref versions. In fact, the instrumental color is superb. I did note, in mine, so far, that using the standard and ref models in each component yields the best results. Remember, that is my system, and each varies. The harmonic warmth is retained as well as a purity and open, detailing that is really superb. Images are tight, spot on and in surround that is intriguing to me. Remember, though, as of now I still have several days for the last set to settle in for final judgment and determination of sonic changes. While I am watching TV in surround right now I hear the sound altering a lot and sound staging as they settle in per Bud's comments on their "cycling". I should have a good handle on them by Sunday night.

odd
Ozzy is absolutely right. I am using both the ref and standard on one of my inputs to my SC-09 receiver in my HT section on one of the 7.1 analog input sections. I use all digital input to the receiver so any would do fine.

I have not experienced the elevation in upper mids Ozzy has, just an extension of the extreme top end which opens up the sound immensely with low level details which are extraordinary. The upper mids are as warm and flat as ever. Same with sound stage. Mine did not decrease at all. Remained open, huge and deep on musical presentations and for movie tracks it opens up the sound to a huge open sound field from top to bottom. Remember, though, I use the Walker Audio Reference + HDL's on all my speakers which could alter results from what others have found. The Walkers and AP's work synergistic and on different levels. I am not the only one reporting the use of both together to super results. So, I may be a bit of anomaly that needs to be kept in mind here.

Odd
According to Rick at EVS, sometimes tying the little buggers to the speaker cable with some soft cotton string at their top and bottom ends, or otherwise keeping them from resonating, has cured the "hardness" that some people are experiencing.

Worth a try I guess.
Thanks everyone for your input.

Bud,

Yes, they do have the gold ground petals.
I burned in my standard rca on my cary amp for hundreds of
hours since I had some new tubes to burn in. I then
let it settle in for about ten days on the Naim. So,
they were settled in. I think what is going on is that
Niam's forte is star grounding. So, i think that adding
another star ground is overkill. I did however, finally
add a standard rca to my dac via a rca y-adapter and have
let that settle in for a day. Now this is a different story. For vocals and acoustic music it a dream come true.
Vocals now have that presence that i have experienced with
single ended tube amps, but with so much more air and decay
trails that let you hear the recording studio. So, there is
more depth and a maybe a little bit more width. There is also more detail, but in a very organic presentation.
I found the standard spades to have more effect in increasing width in my system. The only downside i have at this point is that i am getting too much mid bass weight on certain types of music. However, my system is already tuned this way.

Ozzy and Oddeophile.

Are you using an HDMI connection for your HT? I tried the
rca on my Denon center channel 7.1 input and did not really
notice much. I also have a standard spade on my Gallo nucleus center channel speaker. I was really hoping to get
that organic mid bass bloom quality that i got with my dac,
but so far no luck. I will have to experiment with my bluray and dvr.