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In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: It’s mad, mad, mad... electricity.
Post Subject: Reference to GroundPosted by Paul S on: 2/22/2009
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It is confusing, but the NEUTRAL is not only "referenced to ground", but in properly-designed components it is THE reference to ground. Too bad most commercial hi-fi gear splits any and all grounding, at any point in any circuit, between the neutral and the 3rd, or "ground" wire. The 3rd wire is supposed to be there only as a fail safe, to bleed off stray current that is "not supposed to be there". Unfortunately, there are innumerable ways for current to find and use any extra path to ground, and new routes too often include signal paths or PS modulation.
If the PP2000 is a 120V device with a 3-prong plug, then it has 2 references to ground within its chassis, depending on how it is configured, and thus it MIGHT be possible for it to contribute to a ground loop or loops. How it winds up using either or both ground connections will be determined not only by its internal configuration but also by the configurations of each and every piece hooked up to it, along with the ultimate configuration of the super-circuit this creates.
It is no wonder that hum threads are many and long at various hi-fi boards. Sourcing and rooting out ground faults is a Royal PITA. The general idea is to get ground reference low, at just one point. Good Luck with that. The reality is that many systems can effectively benefit from some careful bleeding via another very low impedance ground connection.
Paul SRerurn to Romy the Cat's Site