[Hooster]

Currently, TA ZH1ES RCA out carrying both signal and ground out as the chassis is not grounded into earth.

Existing chassis power connector is a 2 pin connector instead of 3 pins connector.

We tested it by grounding the TA-ZH1ES chassis into Mac amp which those chassis is grounded into earth pins, it produces a clean sound.


 

 
I would go for it, immediately. Grounding the chassis to give a clean sound is a no brainer. Also safer.

 

[Whitigir]

How difficult was this to do? Was it expensive? I was interested in this unit but after recently upgrading my power cord at great expense (which is great btw) the two pin arrangement would not work for me anymore. To be honest until I viewed this thread I didn't even realise Sony had used this kind of 2 pin set up.

Well, it is not that difficult. Just unscrew the screws, then you will find the wires behind it. The stock socket is soldered on with color code for polarity. You can access the "removable plugs" by a tweezers on it clamp. Very easily removed.

The hardest thing would be to find the connectors, and the right size socket to fit it in. I blindly bought Furutech socket because I love Furutech. But then I had to modify it by cutting and sanding it down to fit.

Can you post pics under the hood on the mod?

I did not open the whole chassis to do this, so I couldn't post under the hood pic

I would go for it, immediately. Grounding the chassis to give a clean sound is a no brainer. Also safer.

I did not ground my chassis to the third lead. However, I could do so by soldering the 3rd to a washer then screw it to the side screw easily . I modified this for a cleaner and better wires as I upgraded power cables. The socket is connected to the inside by silver wires




Stock wires is connected to a JST connectors (pic above). It is cramped on terminal, you can solder for better joint and I did that

 

[HiFiGuy528]

I don't get the mod of the ground is not connected? 
 

   
I would go for it, immediately. Grounding the chassis to give a clean sound is a no brainer. Also safer.

 
Most homes in the U.S. have ground-loop issues. A two-proung AC cord eliminates any buzzing noises if the user's home has wiring issues.

 

[Sarnia]

How difficult was this to do? Was it expensive? I was interested in this unit but after recently upgrading my power cord at great expense (which is great btw) the two pin arrangement would not work for me anymore. To be honest until I viewed this thread I didn't even realise Sony had used this kind of 2 pin set up.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but you can still use a 3 pin power chord. One of the holes will just be empty.

 

[Whitigir]

I don't get the mod of the ground is not connected? 


Most homes in the U.S. have ground-loop issues. A two-proung AC cord eliminates any buzzing noises if the user's home has wiring issues.

The mod does not have the ground connected. I did this because I want better transmission of electricity. Like I mentioned, the socket I used is pure solid copper with gold plated conductors. The wires are pure solid silver. Stock socket has steel conductors and tinned copper wire

I did not ground it for this exact reason: ground loop issues. Not all things connected to chassis ground is considered lower noise floor, sometimes groundloop will bring the worse of it. It depends on the circuitry and it design. The same thing for power cord

The only bad thing about floating ground is risk of electric shock due to live grounds if "short" happen. But according to my knowledge, nothing bad should ever happened from the TA design

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but you can still use a 3 pin power chord. One of the holes will just be empty.

You are correct, you can use 3 prongs connectors just fine.

 

[Daroid]

  I don't get the mod of the ground is not connected? 
 

 
The signal ground is (I assume) connected to the chassis at one single point, however, it is likely connected DIRECTLY to the chassis without any kind of in series capacitor and resistor, because Sony assumes that the chassis, when not earthed, is just an extended grounding/shield. So by suddenly earthing the chassis, you may risk frying the amplifier if another earthed component on the same power line fails - again IF signal ground is directly coupled to chassis ground.
 
Not a risk I'm ever going to take

 

 

[Whitigir]

That is exactly the way it was designed. To give the ground to earth all of a sudden is asking for trouble. Beside, TA is a beautiful piece of performances. My mod was aimed toward more improvements and not taking risks to reduce performances

 

[Imusicman]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but you can still use a 3 pin power chord. One of the holes will just be empty.

No you are understanding me correctly. I'm not very technically minded and didn't realise I would still be able to use it safely. Thank you for clarifying it for me.

 

[Imusicman]

Are there different models with different power connections depending on where you are in the world?

Just curious as to why Sony choose the two pin configuration? It also looks like I'm not the only one based on recent threads.

Are 3 pins better than 2 for safety and sound quality?

Otherwise why change/upgrade and if it does improve the performance why did someone like Sony miss this after what must have been years of development?

 

[nanaholic]

Are there different models with different power connections depending on where you are in the world?

Just curious as to why Sony choose the two pin configuration? It also looks like I'm not the only one based on recent threads.

Are 3 pins better than 2 for safety and sound quality?

Otherwise why change/upgrade and if it does improve the performance why did someone like Sony miss this after what must have been years of development?

 
There's at least 2 SKUs out there - one that is 110V (2 pin) and another that is 230V (3 pin)
 
Japan is the same as the US where they use 2 pins for their electrical outlets, so Japanese appliances rarely have a ground pin, so there's that.

I think this is the place where Sony should have used a transformer to simplify the SKUs, I really don't know why they want to manage two SKUs for a home appliance with different input voltages.

 

[Sarnia]

There's at least 2 SKUs out there - one that is 110V (2 pin) and another that is 230V (3 pin)

Japan is the same as the US where they use 2 pins for their electrical outlets, so Japanese appliances rarely have a ground pin, so there's that.


I think this is the place where Sony should have used a transformer to simplify the SKUs, I really don't know why they want to manage two SKUs for a home appliance with different input voltages.

The 230v version is 2 pin too.

 

[nanaholic]

The 230v version is 2 pin too.

 
Really? I think the Hong Kong 230V is 3 pin, could be mistaken, I should go check again.

 

[Imusicman]

Anyone bought this unit in the U.K. who can confirm if its 2 or 3 pin thanks

 

[Leviticus]

Anyone bought this unit in the U.K. who can confirm if its 2 or 3 pin thanks

Bought it from amazon Germany and the TA came with 2 pins. But so should a British unit because in the box was also a power cable for British sockets, and this power cable has 2 pins (at the end that goes into the amplifier).
 
I'm not an expert, but the fact that the TA only has 2 pins shouldn't keep people from buying this awesome amplifier.

 

[Sarnia]

Anyone bought this unit in the U.K. who can confirm if its 2 or 3 pin thanks

I bought it from the UK, 2 pin.