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Connecting the ground wire makes the music less lively ?

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Posted on December 17, 2014 at 07:08:59
Plinius_Fan
Audiophile

Posts: 422
Location: Singapore
Joined: August 4, 2006
 Friends,
Lately for some strange reason I heard hum from my TT setup. When I connected the tonearm ground wire to the phono the hum was gone. Thats the good news. The bad news is, when I heard the music with the ground wire connected, it sounded less lively, less palpable. Some vitality was taken away. When I remove the ground wire the life in the music is again back, just that the background hum is audible during silent passages (thats irritating). Has anyone else heard this effect ? Is there a solution to this problem ?

My phono stage is very heavy and can't be moved around. I have to say this problem is quite disturbing because either way there seem to be a serious compromise which is not really the fault of the components.

 

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The only possible reason:, posted on December 17, 2014 at 08:26:11
Bry
Manufacturer

Posts: 5610
Location: S. Florida
Joined: July 21, 2005
 When you ground the tonearm, you create capacitance between the arm wire and the arm tube. The difference should be small, but might be measurable with a MM cartridge. With a MC cart, it should make no difference at all.

The only other things I can think of:

Is the increased hum changing your perception of the music?

Is there a possibility of some other grounding issue where the TT is closing a loop? When the table is disconnected there should be no contact between TT ground and any of the cartridge leads or earth ground.

EDIT:
One other suggestion, try connecting your ground wire through a resistor (100-5K ohms). There may be a value which eliminates hum, and isolates the TT from the preamp a bit.

 

RE: Connecting the ground wire makes the music less lively ?, posted on December 18, 2014 at 03:45:25
jeromelang
Audiophile

Posts: 2303
Joined: February 2, 2001
 Most cables have directionality.

Even if just used for grounding purpose.


Is the ground cable a separately-run cable?

 

Yes it is a seperate cable. , posted on December 18, 2014 at 05:32:49
Plinius_Fan
Audiophile

Posts: 422
Location: Singapore
Joined: August 4, 2006
 Na

 

Have you tried a different phono cable?, posted on December 18, 2014 at 06:33:10
EdAInWestOC
Audiophile

Posts: 6828
Location: Glen Burnie, MD USA
Joined: December 18, 2003
 Just a thought...maybe this has something to do with the shielding and the effect it is having on the signal transfer. The very low level of a phono cartridge output can be effected by such effects.

It is possible that the phono cables shielding is too close to the signal wire and maybe we are losing some of the transfer this way. This is related to the other poster who recommended the capacitance effect but the effect of the shielding is more of a electromagnetic thing.

Ed
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof

 

I have not heard that effect, per se ..., posted on December 18, 2014 at 09:09:44
rickmcinnis@dogwoodfabrics.com
Audiophile

Posts: 3040
Location: Atlanta
Joined: December 15, 2003
 But wonder if what is happening for you is similar to the effect many hear from shielding?

If one does not need shielding better sound will result with using as little of it as you can.

I have heard the same effect as you describe. I, too, would rather live with some noise and retain something lively.

Nonetheless finding out how to remove it could lead to something interesting. To add to Bry's suggestion I have used a SMALL value cap in series with the ground wire to eliminate hum at times. One never can never be sure what causes these things ...

 

Another observation:, posted on December 19, 2014 at 07:23:19
Plinius_Fan
Audiophile

Posts: 422
Location: Singapore
Joined: August 4, 2006
 I noticed that when I switch off the motor of my Garrard 301 the hum changes. It becomes thinner and slightly less prominent. Does that mean it is something to do with the Garrard motor grounding ?

 

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