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Is cheater plug safe with grounded monster power?

I recently plugged in a new amplifier into my monster power HTS-2600 and experienced a loud speaker hum. Applying a cheater plug to the amp outlet on the HTS-2600 completely eliminated the hum. My question--and excuse my ignorance--is whether it is safe to use a cheater plug to the amp outlet of a power station that is itself properly grounded? Although the temptation to continue using the cheater plug is high because of improvement in sonics, I am not comfortable because I think the amplifier without a ground to the power station would not be protected even if the power station is grounded. Am I correct in my logic? I thought a cheater plug was only safe when used with old 2-pronged outlets to allow use of 3-pronged plugs and attaching the cheater plug wire to the screw of the grounded outlet?
number1cuban
rex
245 posts
 
According to a study done by Iowa State University, 2/3rds of household electrical fires begin in the plugs or cords of household appliances and electrical devices.

The point of all this ties back to the original question about hum. The point is: defeating a safety ground is STUPID. STUPID. It's even more stupid if you or a family member is injured or killed, or your house burns, because you took the lazy, ignorant path of solving ground loop problems by using an illegal "cheater" plug or other illegal methods of defeating a safety ground.

Ultimately, if someone chooses to put his family/neighbors at risk out of laziness, there's nothing anyone can do to stop him. However, I think it's the height of irresponsibility to come here and advocate illegal, potentially dangerous practices and call them safe.

Speaking of red herrings: A fire caused by an electric space heater igniting combustible material is NOT considered an electrical fire.
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
Ok, I know less than most here. In most cases gfi's are in the kit. bath. Therein the closeness and potential dangers of water/ contact with said faucet / and said appliance/and you as "middle-man". I'm not going to try it but I'm sure your 2 prong toaster/and you---will trip the circuit breaker within the gfi.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Household appliance including mainly portible heating devices?

Again you exaggerate, even if in caps. Many audio and video devices with three pin wall plugs have no connection in the device of the grounding wire. All cd players that I have checked, both of the preamps I have, and the phono stages lack any chassis ground. The primary reason is gound loop problems.

How precisely would you cope with ground loops, oh superior one?

It is circuit breakers that are the primary electrical protection. It would be really stupid to put a penny into the fuse box as people used to do before breakers.
gregadd
574 posts
 
For a discussion of groundloops and how to solve them go to:

http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/index.html
If I enterd that wrong just type groundloop into your internet browser.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
This gives a good explanation of what the problem is and why it exists, but it is mainly for AV systems. It does suggest starting with the amp only in the system. You will probably not have much hum. Then you add until you get hum. Guess what you then deal with the problem, which probably means ungrounding that component.

It also suggest plugging everything into one power strip. This is in effect star grounding and will usually cause no problems.
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