Audio Component Grounding and Interconnection - Page 4

21st April 2010, 12:00 PM
David Davenport diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Raleigh North Carolina	Audio Component Grounding and Interconnection This article focuses on audio system design for the DIY enthusiast implementing a stereo system for home use. There is a lot of information available for designing audio circuits, but precious little on interconnecting those circuits into a total audio system to achieve maximum performance.... Click here to read the entire article Last edited by Variac; 2nd April 2011 at 12:07 AM.

24th March 2012

merlin el mago

diyAudio Member

Indispensable article, I newbie like me understood perfectly.

30th April 2012

sjs

diyAudio Member

Very nice article, simultaneously clear and comprehensive, which is some feat.

In 4.7 you cover grounding transformers e.g. AC mains transformer frame to safety ground, and tube output transformer isolated from the chassis and the frame attached to the power common, and secondary -ve to power common. It could be useful to also cover other common ironwork on tube amps, such as HT chokes (frame to power common?), anode choke load (frame to power common?), interstage transformers (frame to power common?) etc.

7th May 2012

David Davenport

diyAudio Member

Good point - I'll keep this in mind for a future update.

Dave

14th August 2012

billyfromthehil

diyAudio Member

I never knew that I knew so little of all there is to know about Grounding equipment.
After hooking up an Active crossover incorrectly and blowing an amplifier after power up while adjusting cross over frequencies I began to take a serious look at the issue of Grounding.
Before -in my audio world, everything just worked out but I was typically only hooking up consumer grade home audio units.
As I have gotten into vintage tube gear and pro audio equipment the need for knowledge has increased far beyond my ability to consolidate all the theories into one place and create a meaningful and (somewhat) concise overview. This article has done that. I found it after scouring the Web - Rane, Peavy and other sites for bits and pieces. This ties much of the needed info together in a meaningful way without too much painful maths.

RANE has some great articles on grounding. Specifically concerning Cables and what should be done at the termination RCA to 1/4" or XLR depending on the type of equipment involved.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together

6th September 2016

SandroN

diyAudio Member

My SE amp (L' Amp - https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/diyau...-part-1-a.html) was done with star-grounding. Transformer has 2 secondaries, so I've built 2 PSU (1 for left and 1 for right). Their ground go to star. RCA shield from each channel input and its bias ground go to local references (source of FET).
- With inputs shorted, the amp is super silent (mute).
- With open inputs, almost mute.
- With RCA cable + open ends, almost mute.
- With RCA cable + 2k resistor in each end, mute.
- If the resistors at RCA end (left and right) share the same "ground", audible hum is generated. This occurs with any source connected to the amp (CD player, DAC, etc) because their RCA shields are connected to ground.

Where is my error?

Obs.: I tried loop breaker to star point, earth to star, no earth, all without success.

7th September 2016

David Davenport

diyAudio Member

Hello SandroN,

Two thoughts:

First, you might ask the folks who post to the L'Amp forum how they wired their amplifiers.

Second, Can you post a schematic diagram with the physical way you have the power and ground wired?

Dave

11th October 2016

pattakosn

diyAudio Member

Hi, I know I shouldn't be posting on a dead thread but I would like to say a big thank you for this article! In fact this is such a useful article that I would argue that this thread is always new!
Thanks again