I installed a ground rod to use it for the P300 since Ground isolation is the ultimate for best sound.
The rear panel of the P300 has a ground binding post for this purpose.
I have a document from PS Audio that says that is achieved by removing an internal jumper.
Which internal jumper is to be disconnected?
Welcome, himarq!
What you are proposing is potentially dangerous and can easily result in more noise.
An isolated ground is not a separate ground as the name implies. Instead, an isolated ground is an insulated, separate ground path back to the main panel for the outlet powering your audio equipment. That is, this ground is separated (isolated) from all other circuits/grounds in your house and has its own, dedicated connection to the mains ground.
Adding a second grounding rod increases the risk of a ground loop as this new ground will not have the same voltage potential of the mains ground. This difference in voltage potential causes hum. Worse, this potential difference can be substantial and dangerous.
Thanks for the reply Elk.
What I’m talking about is not my idea, all this came from a PS Audio document.
Interesting. Do you have a link?
No, I do not have a link.
I downloaded it May !999.
It was titled “PS Audio P300 Power Plant*”
*Note the P300 goes to $995 on June 1, 1999
I will quote the part titled “Ground Binding Post” on page 4 of the document.
"The rear panel of the PS Audio Power Plant has a ground binding post.
This post is available for two purposes:
1) Accesssing the third prong ground easily
2) Isolating the grounds on your AC outlets and using a separate ground wire.
The binding post is a convenient tie point for a turntable ground wire, or anything
requiring you to easily connect up to ground earth as provided via the third wire ground in
your house wiring system.
Ground isolation is the ultimate for best sound. If you are in a position to properly incorporate
an outside ground stake, the binding post feature on the Power Plant can make a huge sonic difference.
That is because, unfortunately, the ground in your AC outlets has noise and hash on it just like the AC signal itself.
While the Power Plant will completely clean up the AC signal as advertised, it cannot (by law) touch the ground.
For safety sake, we must leave the third wire ground connected to our equipment.
PS Audio and the Power Plant provide a solution to this problem, by allowing you to isolate the ground on the four AC outlets,
located on the rear panel of the Power Plant (by removing an internal jumper), and then reconnecting the, now isolated,
ground binding post to an outside ground stake that you install."
End of quote.
Yike!
Indeed - trusting lot we are - some might say dumb. But that is correct. You can simply remove the bottom plate of the P300 and it should be obvious how to do this. As long as the grounds are tied to a solid earth, safety should not be compromised. Lot of ifs.
Paul,
I had forgotten about this feature. In my home, it may be quite possible to do this without much fuss. Now, where do I get a used P300? The fun never stops.
Good question, they are still much in demand. I don’t have any except one in our museum.