[Tangram1]

I have seen a couple of Tripoint installations in the past, but not as familiar with the tech as passive ground filtering devices. The installs I saw were not wired from the Tripoint unit to chassis of components. IIRC the components were plugged into the Tripoint device. But there could be other install options. Or they may offer different designed devices.

With passive ground box devices, my experience with them Have shown me what best practices are. I suggest others to try and experience it for themselves so they will know.

They are passive, the mains cable leading to the unit is only connected to the ground At the wall. On the signal ground solutions website they advise to experiment trying both.

 

[cdacosta]

Who has tried:

* Magnetite AC cable wraps?
* or modded interconnects (XLR balanced or SE RCA) so that the cables are filtered with a ground box?
* or modded AC power cable so the power cable is filtered with a ground box?

If you have tried any of the above, how did the wraps or mod(s) effect performance of the cables? Any specifics of what you did would be helpful.

 

[Dandoudou]

If you have tried any of the above, how did the wraps or mod(s) effect performance of the cables? Any specifics of what you did would be helpful.

I have Magnetite for the Wraps, and new connectors and AliX cable for the grounding box for about 10 days.
But I did not have time for the tweaks.

 

[cdacosta]

I have Magnetite for the Wraps, and new connectors and AliX cable for the grounding box for about 10 days.
But I did not have time for the tweaks.

I think you are saying you have the parts or materials to try the Magnetite AC power cable wraps and build ground box cables. But have not built or installed any of it yet, correct? I am and sure other are also, curious to know how the Magnetite cable AC power cable wraps work for you? Also if you have compared the ground cables I recommend to others you may have on hand or are using?

 

[Dandoudou]

I reported two weeks ago about my tests of grounding cables with the Audioquest wires for loudspeakers.
I have parts and material for more cables, and for wraps. I'll try them soon, and will report.

 

[EDhaenens]

I have my basic setup of ground boxes nearly ready and will report about that first in the near future. Next plan is a modded fake odin rca, a modded real furutech FA-13s rca and a modded fake valhalla power cord for use on a lps feeding my modem.

 

[cdacosta]

I have my basic setup of ground boxes nearly ready and will report about that first in the near future. Next plan is a modded fake odin rca, a modded real furutech FA-13s rca and a modded fake valhalla power cord for use on a lps feeding my modem.

Look forward to reading about your adventure through those projects.

 

[EDhaenens]

Look forward to reading about your adventure through those projects.

I love these boxes so much I will be outfitting a friends home with these too. In the end I will be a DIY ground box pro! All thanks to you Cdacosta.

 

[EDhaenens]

Guys, I allready posted this but anyone with a Furutech or Furutech-inspired cable or power cable with a built in filter like the nanoflux or flux 50, try wrapping the magnetite bag around the filter in the middle, the gains are astonishing.

 

[cdacosta]

I love these boxes so much I will be outfitting a friends home with these too. In the end I will be a DIY ground box pro! All thanks to you Cdacosta.

Glad I was able to help in your audio journey! Now that you are starting to really get into these devices, see how everything about their construction matters? As an audiophile, DIYing them is interesting huh?

I am glad you followed my advice and followed my recipes and instructions pretty much exactly. Now you have a baseline to explore and experiment.

What I am hoping for, is for audiophiles and hobbyists that have tried passive ground boxes to share their experiences. Whether really positive experiences or if they got nothing out of these devices. Whether they are my DIY or retail units from China, Entreq, CAD, etc. From my experience these devices can offer audio systems incredible performance gains. But there is nuance and best practices that do make a big difference with how this type of device will perform. By having you and others sharing their experiences, will flesh out other possible ways to tweak or improve this device.

 

[cdacosta]

Guys, I allready posted this but anyone with a Furutech or Furutech-inspired cable or power cable with a built in filter like the nanoflux or flux 50, try wrapping the magnetite bag around the filter in the middle, the gains are astonishing.

Have you tried the Magnetite AC power cable wraps on other power cables yet? If yes, what did that do?

 

[DecentLevi]

So I went with a new idea of placing a large slim bag of magnetite powder under my power strip to see if it does anything positive. This is my secondary power strip for mainly non-audio accessories. My main system is fed by a multi-thousand dollar power conditioner, Aliexpress aftermarket cables and a few cable wraps.

Being a mainly non-audio AC path, I was surprised this made a difference! Details are popping out with even more life than before and quite a magic vivid organic experience! This is of course on top of innumerable of other system tweaks.

Do note this is a magnetic compound so I would discourage placing it any closer to components with complex circuitry of any kind. And I have already moved that power supply shown farther away from the bag that you see.

Update on the concept of using a flat bag of magnetite under power strip. Initial impressions were added detail, extended listening showed it may have emphasized the highs a bit. Wrapping it around instead to the actual cable leading to the power strip seemed to make an improvement, Even though this is mainly a non audio power source.

Tips and general guidelines on modding cables to have a ground box cable to attach to a passive ground box.

* I recommend modding cables you already like. By adding a ground box to filter the cable (and usually also component output stage or power supply), will only improve on the performance of the system. I have yet to experience any negative effects of filtering a cable. I have also never experienced the mod to do nothing. Meaning the modded cable has always improved system performance.

* Remember to allow time for burn-in of the new cable (wire and connector) and ground box to settle in. Likely immediately you will hear a sonic upgrade, but takes time for it all to settle in.

* I recommend the first cable to mod is the main interconnect between DAC and amp. This is a system transformative mod.

* When modding an interconnect (XLR or RCA) or digital SPDIF RCA, use one 14ga. 6N copper OCC stranded wire for the cable. The ground box cable is wired to Pin 1 (ground) of the XLR and negative on a RCA connector. Add the ground box cable to the source side of the cable. This way the output stage of the component and cable is filtered.

* When modding a power cable, add the ground box cable to earth ground on connector. For power cables use the dual twisted (11awg) 6N copper OCC stranded wire. Add the ground box cable to the side you want to filter. Does not matter if the power cable has a shield, whether it is a floating or connected shield.

* Use Furutech Nano Liquid if you have it.

* If you want a more professional look and want sleeving for the ground box cable, use cotton sleeving. PET sleeving or Techflex will add a slight smearing effect.

* I recommend to only use solderless connectors for the mod or ground box cable termination. Solder will degrade performance. The clone Furutech solderless RCA, banana, spade and FI-50 connectors perform well, are easy to work with and are inexpensive. See included pics of the cables that I modded for examples of finished cables. These cables are in my system.

I read this and a few brief questions came to mind. Are you no longer recommending connecting both sides of a cable for your cable grounding box hack? It seems you only do both sides for interconnects. Have you tried it on both sides for other types such as AC cables?

And about AC cable grounding. I thought that was said to put your system at risk of a power surge. Has that been determined to be safe? For me I've been using a grounding box for AC, but that has only been connected to the specifically designed output port of the iFi AC iPurifier.

 

[kenincalgary]

I did the xlr IC mod per cdacosta's input. Rather than spending the time, energy & materials on an Ali-X thing (the sample I have isn't very good) I modified some relatively pricey Chord Co. Anthem Reference ICs.

The first step replaced the soldered Neutrik connectors with the recommended EIZZ units at the female end while attaching the ground box cable. With just this mod, and the ground cable dragging along as an antenna, this gave a surprising (to me) upgrade, like going up a level on some brand name cable brand's hierarchy. Replacing the connectors at the other end reinforced that improvement, so for the price of connectors and a bit of work I was very happy with the result. In the old pre-ground box days that would have been considered a major improvement (actually, it is regardless).

Then I plugged in the box and someone opened the picture window. The impact has been well described here so I'll leave that out. I had another box meant to go on an ac cable but just for the hell of it I plugged it into the xlr box, having 2 in series. The system jumped another level and I had no intention of moving it. Those 2 boxes combined were 24% of the total weight of the amp & pre.

So I finally built a 3rd box and looked forward to hearing what it would do with an ac cable. Just for the hell of it I plugged it into the xlr group and now have failed again to treat an ac cable with a ground box. A 4th box is underway, I wonder where I should put it?

 

[cdacosta]

Update on the concept of using a flat bag of magnetite under power strip. Initial impressions were added detail, extended listening showed it may have emphasized the highs a bit. Wrapping it around instead to the actual cable leading to the power strip seemed to make an improvement, Even though this is mainly a non audio power source.


I read this and a few brief questions came to mind. Are you no longer recommending connecting both sides of a cable for your cable grounding box hack? It seems you only do both sides for interconnects. Have you tried it on both sides for other types such as AC cables?

And about AC cable grounding. I thought that was said to put your system at risk of a power surge. Has that been determined to be safe? For me I've been using a grounding box for AC, but that has only been connected to the specifically designed output port of the iFi AC iPurifier.

Wrapping power cables outside of the system I have not tried, interesting, will try it. Want to try or experiment with wraps on SMPS cables, have not done this yet.

I do not follow or understand these two questions. Also what you do mean by "cable grounding box hack"?:
"I read this and a few brief questions came to mind. Are you no longer recommending connecting both sides of a cable for your cable grounding box hack? It seems you only do both sides for interconnects. Have you tried it on both sides for other types such as AC cables?"

Well it seems Entreq and CAD are now also suggesting filtering AC earth ground. Since the minerals do not seem to catch fire, seems safe.

 

[cdacosta]

I did the xlr IC mod per cdacosta's input. Rather than spending the time, energy & materials on an Ali-X thing (the sample I have isn't very good) I modified some relatively pricey Chord Co. Anthem Reference ICs.

The first step replaced the soldered Neutrik connectors with the recommended EIZZ units at the female end while attaching the ground box cable. With just this mod, and the ground cable dragging along as an antenna, this gave a surprising (to me) upgrade, like going up a level on some brand name cable brand's hierarchy. Replacing the connectors at the other end reinforced that improvement, so for the price of connectors and a bit of work I was very happy with the result. In the old pre-ground box days that would have been considered a major improvement (actually, it is regardless).

Then I plugged in the box and someone opened the picture window. The impact has been well described here so I'll leave that out. I had another box meant to go on an ac cable but just for the hell of it I plugged it into the xlr box, having 2 in series. The system jumped another level and I had no intention of moving it. Those 2 boxes combined were 24% of the total weight of the amp & pre.

So I finally built a 3rd box and looked forward to hearing what it would do with an ac cable. Just for the hell of it I plugged it into the xlr group and now have failed again to treat an ac cable with a ground box. A 4th box is underway, I wonder where I should put it?

This may be a weird question but I think it will hold some context as to how "you feel" about the balanced interconnect mod. I do not think most would believe the performance jump that modding a good XLR balanced interconnect cable, and having a ground box filtering the component output stage and interconnect offers.

Your Anthem interconnects were about $1200? Please correct me if I have the pricing incorrect for the Anthem interconnects. After modding the interconnects by replacing the connectors to solderless and adding a ground box, the performance level of the system changed. What would "you say, or think" the pricing would be of the modded or new interconnect based on the new performance? What would you expect it to be after hearing what it does after the mod? Idea here is to give others context of the performance difference of the two (before vs after mod) interconnects.