@Mcrican:
Could you share the kickstarter link. I’ve been vascallating on an ultrasonic RCM, and this may be a way to get into it. I had seriously considered a Kirmuss, but his approach seems to be mere show boating, regardless of how effective it may be. Rather off-putting. I was considering an Isonic as well, primarily as they are available locally.
Discogs had this posted to there Blog today, and thought some may find it to be an interesting read:
Personally, I believe one should work with their local brick and mortar retailer. Turntable set-up is a bit of an art, unless one purchases a plug and play model.
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This from the Fluance manual:
“ Important: When using an external preamp one ground cable should be connected between the turntable and the preamp. A second ground cable (Not Included) should be connected between the preamp and the amplifier/powered speakers. Failure to connect both ground cables can result in unwanted noise/hum.”
Seems it requires both grounding cables. Is this something peculiar to Fluance? Is it normal for all turntables to require 2 grounding cables?
hmmm, I’ve always just used the preamp’s ground. But I’d see how it goes. I’m gonna do a test here just for the heck of it to see if it matters in my setup!
Otherwise, if you needed to ground to the amp, I’d imagine you could use a chassis ground, no? (Like a screw that attaches the cover to the amplifier? Don’t quote me on that, but I’d imagine it’s the same thing, pretty much.)
EDIT: just tried a jumper from preamp ground to amp ground and both are exactly the same. You can obviously hear hum when you turn the volume all the way up (normal), but absolutely no difference whether the jumper is attached or not.
My RT-85 is a currently good distance away from my pre-amp and also the external phono pre, so I’m grounding it to the screw of a outlet. Without being grounding the Fluance has always hummed.
Interesting. I have never needed anything other than the ground between the turntable and the phono preamp.
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What Fluance is recommending is applicable should you add a turntable, possibly. As your Hegel H90 has no phono stage to support phono playback a phono stage of some sort is required. The simple answer is lift a chassis screw and apply a ground from your phono preamp. I will say, there is no silver bullet when grounding a phono stage. It will depend on how all components are grounded, what is connected to the Hegel, what phono stage you ultimately purchase, and what turntable you purchase.
Daisy chaining the grounds from turntable to phono-preamp to H90 is a starting point. As the H90 does not provide a grounding post you have three options: (1) contact Hegel or your H90 dealer for support, (2) ground the phono preamp to the H90 chassis, (3) ditch the turntable concept and stick with digital. The question to Hegel is if chassis ground and circuit ground are one in the same, or is the H90 ground isolated. In either case then you may get a hum. You will need to be cautious as some phono preamps are especially fussy regarding grounding, and it appears the Fluance is as well.
You are going to have to experiment, as your situation is unique based on selection of components. As you are piecing it together on the internet there is no way to ensure compatibility as your combination will be rather unique. That’s the cost of entry into the world of LP payback.
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@dancingsea
Buy this, its available on Craigslist, and will give you a taste of what you want. It has an internal phono preamp, to boot and a Ortofon Blue is included. No shipping, no fuss, no muss. Buy it on condition of your satisfaction. Its considerably better than the Fluance.
Then go buy a box of records, 
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The key words there are “can result in unwanted noise/hum” - wait until you have a tt and preamp in your system before trying to track down any spurious ground loops / noise. I would be surprised if you need to kludge an extra grounding strap between the phono preamp and main amp. So far in my use of external preamps it has not been necessary.
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This seems like a lot of unknowns that would be difficult to figure out beforehand. Am I correct in saying the need for 2 grounding wires is unusual?
If yes, then I would simply not buy the Fluance given my amp is not designed to accommodate it. My next amp will likely be the Hegel H190 once it becomes discontinued and is discounted, and it will be no more grounding friendly.
So a couple of things regarding grounding, it depends. Until you have it in your system it’s hard to say. Assume you will need to ground to the Hegel. You really need to contact Hegel on this, not knowing how they handle grounds. Plan on a daisy chain ground, and possibly isolating grounds from your other components, thing cheater plugs. Another option is a star ground, again it is situational. It’s really difficult to provide meaningful advise as you have not settled on a turntable, phono preamp, phono cartridge etc. There are just too many variables. Now add updating your Hegel.
A local dealer seems to be blowing out the Pro-ject Phono preamps. He is top notch, has an H190 at a blow-out price, and can answer your questions.
Yeah don’t borrow worry on the grounding issue. I think it can be super dependent on the system, as well the electrical connections/circuits/grounding in your house. Can’t really tell.
I’ve had turntables that hummed in one room, but were dead silent in another.
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@terzinator Yup, it is very system and installation dependent. A lot of solid advice has been offered. Time to fish, cut bait or hang it up.
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And even what cables you use and how well they’re shielded (or I assume how they’re routed relative to everything else going on in that rat’s nest behind the equipment). I have a pair of Kimber PBJs that sound great everywhere else, but they cause hum like crazy when used with the turntable.
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I contacted Hegel. In their opinion, if it’s a proper phono preamp with a proper RCA cable, with a ground connected to the phono preamp, there ought to be no reason for a ground connected to the Hegel. And if there is need to ground to the amp, to perhaps pick a different turntable as such a thing is highly unusual ie they’ve never heard of such a thing.
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Ask Fluance! They are pretty helpful. I must have skipped that page and have never needed to do that…
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I had looked at the Kirmuss unit too. However, it just seemed like too much work to clean a record. I do not dumpster dive for dirty vinyl anymore, so I prefer to keep things simple when it comes to cleaning records. 
Thank-you. I agree on the Kirmuss, the effort involved ad time consumed is a distraction from the listening. I estimated 20-25 minutes per LP with the Kirmuss approach. I tend to buy Nm- or new LPs, so ultrasonic cleaning has limited appeal. Kirmuss even less so. I saw an Isonic in action Saturday, and naturally it got me to thinking it may be a viable option. I may pursue the kickstarter, worth a shot.
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Sounds to me like second failsafe option and not really anything to worry about. The solution if needed is to simply use a chassis screw on the Hegel just like people are doing with the REL subs and BHK amps. It is still the simplest to set up and use of the options you have found in your price range.
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I will call Fluance. Here’s what Hegel said:
“ Turntables are a bit special when it comes to grounding, the signal is wired directly to the pickup sitting at the end of the arm. The arm and the chassis of the turntable then has a different ground potential than the signal and thus requires additional grounding to the phono preamp (except for Rega turntables and arms). Other source components like CD players, tuners, streamers and phono preamps do not require additional grounding as this is already taken care of in the connecting RCA or XLR cables, so there should never be required to ground such a component to your Hegel H90. Using an additional grounding cable to a H90 could actually lead to noise problems.
There should really be no technical reason for these Fluance turntables being any different with respect to grounding than other manufacturers, I suspect that the mentioning of a second ground cable is a mistake as this really makes no sense. I can add that I have been working with setting up turntables for more than 30 years.
Best regards
Hegel Music System AS – Oslo, Norway
Christian
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