Entreq ground conditioners - what's the theory?

Davehrab got it right. In order to pass safety requirements the equipment must be grounded. The problem is that if the electronics are grounded, ground loops can result, which usually results in a buzz of some sort.

So if the designer is using good engineering practice, the circuit grounds of the equipment will not be the same as the chassis ground. However the circuit ground does benefit from the shielding of the chassis; in order for the chassis to not introduce noise, the circuit ground is set up so that it floats at the same potential as the chassis ground, even though they are isolated.

I have found that this is not a common practice in high end audio! But for equipment that is grounded properly by design, such grounding devices like the one this thread is about will have no effect on the gear at all.

Sorry to pop any bubbles, but if you are using such devices to good effect, it simply means that the manufacturer(s) of your electronics have not done their grounding homework. It quite literally is that simple.

Sorry to pop any bubbles, but if you are using such devices to good effect, it simply means that the manufacturer(s) of your electronics have not done their grounding homework. It quite literally is that simple.

Ralph, the following manufacturers need to hire you as a grounding consultant:

AMR, Neodio Stahl-tek, Koda, BMC, Tube Research Labs, Gryphon, Accustic Arts, Tom Evans, Hovland, ASR, Emm Labs, Hovland, Karan, Exemplar, H-CAT, Boulder, Audionote, Gaku, Esoteric...just to name a few.

I guess we are faced with two paradigms here: suffocating, reductionistic thinking from a 1950s engineering textbook or a brave new frontier where all the answers or solutions for "noise" are not fully elucidated. I have repeatedly bumped into the former in regards to wire. Wire should not make a difference the engineers say...just pure audiophile witchcraft. The experiments we all know from the 80s clearly demonstrated that right? Well, newer measurement tools (http://www.stereophile.com/rmaf2010/nordost_and_vertex_measurements/) demonstrate changes in jitter with changes in cords, power conditioning, etc. Obviously there is more to the equation here.

It would be interesting to use that same software to measure effects of these magic grounding boxes, etc.

Ralph, Miguel at Tripoint loves a challenge. The next time you are at a show and have a room, an after hours demo is in order!

Agear, having had some experience with some of the manufacturers on your list, I have to agree. Others on that list did their homework.

FWIW, very few if any manufacturers from the 1950s got their grounding right. I work on Ampex stuff all the time; I hate to say it but their approach was really flawed. As you look at equipment that has been made over the decades, its pretty obvious that grounding was something some manufacturers understood and others didn't. That holds true in spades today.

That is why some people get benefit from exotic grounding schemes and others do not. So why harp on this? Simply because if manufacturers could get there ducks in a row, their equipment would perform better without a need for an exotic ground.

Power cords can have plenty of measurable effects and I have talked about the physics about why on other threads. Similarly, power conditioners can really help too (although most high end audio power conditioners are so much junk- the best one ever made was made by Elgar, model 3006, which embarrasses anything offered to audiophiles). It can put out a distortion-free 60Hz sine wave at full load of 28 Amps.

Ivan, the video changes are telling. Tripoint users have made similar observations. there's more to this than erroneous grounding schemes. Unless of course pioneer or Sony engineers are also clueless. Self-promotional hubris perchance?

You can sort out easily enough if the equipment is properly grounded by using a DVM. Connect one lead to the chassis and one to the center pin of the IEC connection or power cord. You should measure a short.

Then connect to the ground of the input and output connectors. You should not see a short- but some nominal resistance. I've seen a lot of power amps where input ground and chassis ground are the same thing. Such a unit will be sensitive to the earth ground. I've seen others where the chassis seems to float relative to the inputs. Again, there will be troubles with ground.

It does not matter who made it. What matters is whether its set up right.