Entreq Silver Tellus grounding/earthing system


Hi A'goners, I'd like to tell you all a little about this component which has taken noise elimination in my system to a whole new level.
I run a Trans Fi Salvation/Terminator tt/arm, ESCCo modded Zu 103 cart into a Tom Evans Audio Design Groove Plus SRX phono, Emm Labs CDSA SE, Hovland HP200/Radia pre/pow, and Zu Definitions Mk4 spkrs. This set up is (now) effortlessly dynamic and transparent.
I live in a semi industrial area with broadband on in every apartment, internet booster stations and light engineering nearby.
It became apparent some years ago that apart from the hours of midnight to 5am, I could not rely on a good sound, and research led to conclusion that mains borne noise was likely the culprit.
This led to my first partial success, the installation of the Burmester 948 mains conditioner/filter 7 years ago. This resulted in an immediate reduction in noise and increase in transparency/delicacy ie a major improvement, even in daylight hours. BUT it became apparent over time that dynamics were seriously pinched, and the conclusion I've correctly drawn is that peak current demand was restricted by the unit compromising the power amp output.
This led to my next upgrade, and now real progress: an 8kVA pro studio Westwick 8K balanced power transformer. Now I got all the previous improvements with no current restrictions to the power amp - transparency AND NOW dynamics in spades.
But as with all things audio, the awareness of the Entreq grounding/earthing system piqued my interest further in eliminating mains issues. Entreq are a Swedish audio engineering company with a couple of decades experience, and provide a variety of mains and interconnect products.
The Entreq Silver Tellus is a wooden box, the size and weight of a small power amp. It contains inert minerals and a grounding plate. It's a passive device ie NOT powered from the mains, and sits adjacent to the system. In my system, one Apollo Eartha interconnect runs from one of 4 terminals on the back of the Tellus, to an unused input of my preamp. It is possible to connect another 3 components to a single Tellus.
In effect, it provides an ADDITIONAL earth/ground to the system, NOT replacing the existing protective earth. This then provides an uninterrupted drain for RF/EMI/other hash from the system to the Tellus.
I was expecting a minor improvement at most. What I wasn't expecting was a transformation of the system.
Firstly, soundstage deepens dramatically, so much so that the stage seems totally independent of the spkrs. Phenomenal reduction in noise really enhances the blackness between notes, and brings micro detail to the fore. This reduction in noise has the amazing side benefit of relegating vinyl surface noise way into the background. The overall effect is a fantastic increase in dynamics and transparency, taking what balanced power brings to the party and sending it off the scale.
Vitally, the nature of the system sound hasn't changed, since the Silver Tellus enhances performance, doesn't change it; in many ways is the best system wide upgrade to optimise performance I could make.
My conclusion from the last 7 years is that noise is the major limiting factor in my system, and the installation of Westwick 8k balanced power ($7000) and Entreq Silver Tellus/ Apollo Eartha grounding/earthing ($3000) has led to improvements that even a total overhaul of the system and buying new at 5x the cost could not surpass.
If anyone is getting frustrated with their system, address the mains first before you go down the merry-go-round of endless component upgrades.
In the UK, Kog Audio are the go-to guys for Entreq. I have no affiliation, just an extremely content audiophile, now so much closer to the end point on improving my system.
spiritofmusic
G'guy, the chain of command from base level up is, I believe: Minimus, Silver Minimus, Tellus, Silver Tellus and Silver Tellus w/add on Atlantis box.
Minimus supports 1 component only, so if one was to restrict to a single grounding lead to eg preamp, this would be the choice, with the Silver Minimus having a greater performance envelope. Tellus supports up to 6 components, silver Tellus up to 8, with the Atlantis add-on box supercharging the effects of Silver Tellus.
If you were to stay at one component only, my recommendation would be to stretch to the Silver Tellus, and if you want to consider grounding your whole system eg pre/monoblocks/cdp/dac/phono/subs/distribution block, go down the Tellus/Silver Tellus route.
I am not sure what to get. According the the entreq website the minimus can handle "several" components. I was thinking of trying it on my Dac/cdp and integrated amp. Would the Minimus work for this setup?
Yes, it is a little confusing. Basically each different box has a different number of grounding terminals on the back, each terminal able to support up to 2 grounding leads ie ground up to 2 components.
So, the Minimus has 1 terminal which means that your integrated amp AND cdp/dac can be connected (if cdp and dac are separate, then obv. not all 3 can be connected to Minimus). Silver Minimus will also support 2 max, but with better results due to higher quality of unit.
The only issue here is that analog and digital components are best connected to separate ground terminals, which means that Tellus (6 components max on 3 terminals) or Silver Tellus (8 max on 4) will still be most practical choice. Minimus will always restrict you to max 2, and those are best both analog or both digital.
Quite a few customers start off however with a Minimus/Silver Minimus, usu. just to preamp to get the biggest idea of grounding positives, and add on extra Minimus/Silver Minimus at later date if they want to extend the grounding options, or onto Tellus/Silver Tellus.
Guys, please contact Fraser on the email contact I posted 12-11-13, he'll be able to give you definitive answers to tech qs. I can help out with user experiences.