wrote in message
ups.com...

Robert Morein wrote:

wrote in message
oups.com...

Grounding your speakers for better sound: This only requires some spare
light gauge copper wire and soldering equipment. It's for advanced
audiophiles who are not afraid to go into their (dynamic) speakers. Cut
single lengths of wire about the length of your regular speaker wire.
Solder each piece of wire to the positive terminals of each driver
connected to the crossover board inside the speaker. Do the same for
the other speaker. Now combine the free ends of all 4 (or 6) wires, and
connect this to the terminal grounding screw at the back of your amp.

I would only point out that there are certain amplifiers with "floating
outputs" for which this must not be done. One such is the Acoustat TNT
series of amplifiers. A connection to chassis ground is deadly to these
amplifiers, which are otherwise robust. In some other designs, the
amplifier
is not harmed, but the connection defeats a part of the design intended
to
reduce hum-loop problems.

This prohibition also applies to amplifiers operated in "bridged" mode,
as
it will damage them.

That sounds reasonable. Having no experience with those specific types
of setups, I'll give you the benefit of doubt here. Going by my
experience with my amps, I do think the tweak will work fine with no
problem with most standard amps that have a grounding screw. In all
this insane, misguided, ignorant hysteria about amps blowing up in your
face, none of the self-proclaimed "audio geniuses" here bothered to
think that you might be able to use another source to ground the extra
speaker wire than your amp, and perhaps still retain some benefit if
the wire is being connected to a ground.

With Acoustats, and with bridged amps, the speaker terminals have to float.
If you connect one of the speaker terminals to, say, a hot water pipe, the
circuit will complete to the chassis of the amp, either through the ground
lead of the power cord, or the braid of the signal feed. The result will be
damage. A user can measure the resistance between the black amplifier
output post, and chassis ground. If the resistance is less than half an ohm,
then the post is either connected directly to the chassis, or through a
small value resistor. This is indicative of conventional amplifier design,
which will not be damaged by the arrangment you suggest. There may, however,
be an obvious increase in hum, caused by increased flow of current on the
input cable braid. The user can decide this for himself.