Noob on audio layout

Hey everyone,

Okay i'm a noob, especially at layouts, so please bear with me!

I've been doing some reading on various layout related topics and came up with a question regarding star grounding. So, from what i understand, one common place for star ground point is at the PSU main filter cap. Say, for example, you have a separate PSU board and you run a single ground wire from the PSU (i.e. with star ground point) to the other board. This seems incorrect star grounding technique to me. Now you have one return path to the star point for ALL signals that are on the other board! How does this work?

On that note, i don't understand the theory of bus ground systems. Again... seems to me that all return paths are unabashedly sharing one trace.

I must be missing something... can ya help me out?

Thanks alot.

P.S. does anyone know of any AUDIO oriented layout design articles/books?

i've always felt like the best place for the star ground point is on one of the chassis screws of the IEC socket.  That way you tie the AC ground, chassis ground, and audio ground together in the same place.  And if need be, you can then install an spst switch to lift any of these grounds.

The consultant Henry Ott is the authority on PCB wiring.

http://www.hottconsultants.com/tips.html
http://www.hottconsultants.com/papers.html

He also has two good  books (but text book pricey) on the subject.
Look in a technical collage library.

There have also been numerous threads on this topic here that may be worth searching..

+1 to Ott books, while I am not familiar with his more recent stuff.

JR

Usually for all my stuff (always exceptions though), ground on all other boards should terminate back to the power supply, not the star ground.  The power supply should connect to star ground and the point on the Power supply connecting to start ground should come from the cap bank like you said.  I usually make this a hefty solder pad near the cap bank as opposed to a connector (solder pad = good solid connection), and use a beefy wire 14-16 gauge.  Star ground should always be located very close to the IEC connector (Within 2" on all my stuff, both audio and industrial).

As with anything though, YMMV.  Although this has never let me down.

Very interesting Ruckus. I usually run everything to the ground point on the chassis located right next to the IEC AC connector where I put a stud. So you are saying to run the grounds to the cap back on the 0v? With one wire running to the chassis stud to the ps? Still learning here! Just an amateur experimenter.

Thanks,
John