I am using an Oracle Alexandria Mk. II turntable with an Alphason
HR-100S arm rewired with Van den Hul silver wire.

My valve integrated amp does not have an input for Phono and hence no
ground plug for the tonearm. My external phono preamp also does not have
a plug for grounding. What I do is attach the wire connected to the
tonearm's ground to a metal part of the amp's chassis.

Although this eliminates the loud static and crackling that occurs when
a tonearm wire is not grounded properly, two things happen to my turntable:

1. The metal parts give off a very light electrical charge. This
includes the metal spindle, clamp, top plate and tonearm.

2. The original Oracle 'Groove Isolator' platter mat also becomes
charged. The static is transferred to any record that is placed on top
of it, and when the record is removed from the platter after being
played, will crackle loudly. You can feel a strong static charge when
you bring the record close to your arm. This crackling is also audible
through the speakers.

I replaced the valve amp with an older solid state amp from the 70s, a
Nikko TRM 4500, which has dedicated inputs for phono and a grounding
path as well. None of the incidents, described in the above two paras,
happens.

I tried using the Nikko as a pre and the valve amp as a power (thereby
'converting' the Nikko into a phono stage at the same time) and guess
what? The metal knobs on the Nikko give off a small electrical charge!!

As much as I love the tube sound, I have decided to shelve my valve amp
until someone comes along with a solution!

Many thanks for reading this, and I hope someone has an answer to my
dilemma.

raz

"Razak & William" wrote in message
...
I am using an Oracle Alexandria Mk. II turntable with an Alphason
HR-100S arm rewired with Van den Hul silver wire.

My valve integrated amp does not have an input for Phono and hence no
ground plug for the tonearm. My external phono preamp also does not have
a plug for grounding. What I do is attach the wire connected to the
tonearm's ground to a metal part of the amp's chassis.

Although this eliminates the loud static and crackling that occurs when
a tonearm wire is not grounded properly, two things happen to my
turntable:

1. The metal parts give off a very light electrical charge. This
includes the metal spindle, clamp, top plate and tonearm.

2. The original Oracle 'Groove Isolator' platter mat also becomes
charged. The static is transferred to any record that is placed on top
of it, and when the record is removed from the platter after being
played, will crackle loudly. You can feel a strong static charge when
you bring the record close to your arm. This crackling is also audible
through the speakers.

I replaced the valve amp with an older solid state amp from the 70s, a
Nikko TRM 4500, which has dedicated inputs for phono and a grounding
path as well. None of the incidents, described in the above two paras,
happens.

I tried using the Nikko as a pre and the valve amp as a power (thereby
'converting' the Nikko into a phono stage at the same time) and guess
what? The metal knobs on the Nikko give off a small electrical charge!!

As much as I love the tube sound, I have decided to shelve my valve amp
until someone comes along with a solution!

Many thanks for reading this, and I hope someone has an answer to my
dilemma.


Pragmatically, I'd try every combination of electrical plug orientation
possible between the power amp, the preamp, the headamp, and the
turntable/arm. There are 2x2x2x2 I believe, or 16 possible combinations. I
suspect a ground orientation mismatch is causing the problem.

"Harry Lavo" wrote in message
...
"Razak & William" wrote in message
...
I am using an Oracle Alexandria Mk. II turntable with an Alphason
HR-100S arm rewired with Van den Hul silver wire.

My valve integrated amp does not have an input for Phono and hence no
ground plug for the tonearm. My external phono preamp also does not have
a plug for grounding. What I do is attach the wire connected to the
tonearm's ground to a metal part of the amp's chassis.

Although this eliminates the loud static and crackling that occurs when
a tonearm wire is not grounded properly, two things happen to my
turntable:

1. The metal parts give off a very light electrical charge. This
includes the metal spindle, clamp, top plate and tonearm.

2. The original Oracle 'Groove Isolator' platter mat also becomes
charged. The static is transferred to any record that is placed on top
of it, and when the record is removed from the platter after being
played, will crackle loudly. You can feel a strong static charge when
you bring the record close to your arm. This crackling is also audible
through the speakers.

I replaced the valve amp with an older solid state amp from the 70s, a
Nikko TRM 4500, which has dedicated inputs for phono and a grounding
path as well. None of the incidents, described in the above two paras,
happens.

I tried using the Nikko as a pre and the valve amp as a power (thereby
'converting' the Nikko into a phono stage at the same time) and guess
what? The metal knobs on the Nikko give off a small electrical charge!!

As much as I love the tube sound, I have decided to shelve my valve amp
until someone comes along with a solution!

Many thanks for reading this, and I hope someone has an answer to my
dilemma.


Pragmatically, I'd try every combination of electrical plug orientation
possible between the power amp, the preamp, the headamp, and the
turntable/arm. There are 2x2x2x2 I believe, or 16 possible combinations.
I
suspect a ground orientation mismatch is causing the problem.

I agree 100% with Harry. Just write all the possible combos down on paper,
then methodically start the orientation change.

west

You should have the main bearing grounded to the arm ground. Also try
grounding the table to the preamp rather than the phonostage to see if
that helps. Some components have signal ground and chassis ground at
the same potential and some do not.
-Bill
www.uptownaudio.com
Roanoke VA
(540) 343-1250

"Razak & William" wrote in message
...
I am using an Oracle Alexandria Mk. II turntable with an Alphason
HR-100S arm rewired with Van den Hul silver wire.

My valve integrated amp does not have an input for Phono and hence
no
ground plug for the tonearm. My external phono preamp also does not
have
a plug for grounding. What I do is attach the wire connected to the
tonearm's ground to a metal part of the amp's chassis.

Although this eliminates the loud static and crackling that occurs
when
a tonearm wire is not grounded properly, two things happen to my
turntable:

1. The metal parts give off a very light electrical charge. This
includes the metal spindle, clamp, top plate and tonearm.

2. The original Oracle 'Groove Isolator' platter mat also becomes
charged. The static is transferred to any record that is placed on
top
of it, and when the record is removed from the platter after being
played, will crackle loudly. You can feel a strong static charge
when
you bring the record close to your arm. This crackling is also
audible
through the speakers.

I replaced the valve amp with an older solid state amp from the 70s,
a
Nikko TRM 4500, which has dedicated inputs for phono and a grounding
path as well. None of the incidents, described in the above two
paras,
happens.

I tried using the Nikko as a pre and the valve amp as a power
(thereby
'converting' the Nikko into a phono stage at the same time) and
guess
what? The metal knobs on the Nikko give off a small electrical
charge!!

As much as I love the tube sound, I have decided to shelve my valve
amp
until someone comes along with a solution!

Many thanks for reading this, and I hope someone has an answer to my
dilemma.

raz

"Uptown Audio" wrote in message
...
You should have the main bearing grounded to the arm ground. Also try
grounding the table to the preamp rather than the phonostage to see if
that helps. Some components have signal ground and chassis ground at
the same potential and some do not.
-Bill
www.uptownaudio.com
Roanoke VA
(540) 343-1250

"Razak & William" wrote in message
...
I am using an Oracle Alexandria Mk. II turntable with an Alphason
HR-100S arm rewired with Van den Hul silver wire.

My valve integrated amp does not have an input for Phono and hence
no
ground plug for the tonearm. My external phono preamp also does not
have
a plug for grounding. What I do is attach the wire connected to the
tonearm's ground to a metal part of the amp's chassis.

Although this eliminates the loud static and crackling that occurs
when
a tonearm wire is not grounded properly, two things happen to my
turntable:

1. The metal parts give off a very light electrical charge. This
includes the metal spindle, clamp, top plate and tonearm.

2. The original Oracle 'Groove Isolator' platter mat also becomes
charged. The static is transferred to any record that is placed on
top
of it, and when the record is removed from the platter after being
played, will crackle loudly. You can feel a strong static charge
when
you bring the record close to your arm. This crackling is also
audible
through the speakers.

I replaced the valve amp with an older solid state amp from the 70s,
a
Nikko TRM 4500, which has dedicated inputs for phono and a grounding
path as well. None of the incidents, described in the above two
paras,
happens.

I tried using the Nikko as a pre and the valve amp as a power
(thereby
'converting' the Nikko into a phono stage at the same time) and
guess
what? The metal knobs on the Nikko give off a small electrical
charge!!

As much as I love the tube sound, I have decided to shelve my valve
amp
until someone comes along with a solution!

Many thanks for reading this, and I hope someone has an answer to my
dilemma.

raz

Any and all turntable metalwork parts that are exposed should be grounded,
either via the preamp or the mains inlet to the audio gear which must be
properly earth/ground-bonded at all times.

That's right and it sounds as if his tonearm is not grounded to the
table. It could also be that the phono preamp does not have the signal
grounded at the chassis potential or "floating", but that is less
likely considering his description. Sometimes the best SNR can be
achieved by running separate grounds and due to all of the
possibilities with various equipment designs and implementaions (arm,
table, preamp), I have not seen a single path that is best in all
circumstances.
-Bill
www.uptownaudio.com
Roanoke VA
(540) 343-1250

"Jim Gregory" wrote in message
...
"Uptown Audio" wrote in message
...
You should have the main bearing grounded to the arm ground. Also
try
grounding the table to the preamp rather than the phonostage to see
if
that helps. Some components have signal ground and chassis ground
at
the same potential and some do not.
-Bill
www.uptownaudio.com
Roanoke VA
(540) 343-1250

"Razak & William" wrote in message
...
I am using an Oracle Alexandria Mk. II turntable with an Alphason
HR-100S arm rewired with Van den Hul silver wire.

My valve integrated amp does not have an input for Phono and hence
no
ground plug for the tonearm. My external phono preamp also does
not
have
a plug for grounding. What I do is attach the wire connected to
the
tonearm's ground to a metal part of the amp's chassis.

Although this eliminates the loud static and crackling that occurs
when
a tonearm wire is not grounded properly, two things happen to my
turntable:

1. The metal parts give off a very light electrical charge. This
includes the metal spindle, clamp, top plate and tonearm.

2. The original Oracle 'Groove Isolator' platter mat also becomes
charged. The static is transferred to any record that is placed on
top
of it, and when the record is removed from the platter after being
played, will crackle loudly. You can feel a strong static charge
when
you bring the record close to your arm. This crackling is also
audible
through the speakers.

I replaced the valve amp with an older solid state amp from the
70s,
a
Nikko TRM 4500, which has dedicated inputs for phono and a
grounding
path as well. None of the incidents, described in the above two
paras,
happens.

I tried using the Nikko as a pre and the valve amp as a power
(thereby
'converting' the Nikko into a phono stage at the same time) and
guess
what? The metal knobs on the Nikko give off a small electrical
charge!!

As much as I love the tube sound, I have decided to shelve my
valve
amp
until someone comes along with a solution!

Many thanks for reading this, and I hope someone has an answer to
my
dilemma.

raz

Any and all turntable metalwork parts that are exposed should be
grounded,
either via the preamp or the mains inlet to the audio gear which
must be
properly earth/ground-bonded at all times.