Grounding

A heading for everything to do with grounding, earthing and related topics.

Starting with my own modest contribution.

Cheers

Ian

Very useful!

Thanks Ian.

DaveP

Great, Ian.

Thanks!

Ian,

I follow your grounding guide any time it is possible, even when it may seem a bit tedious and inconvenient. The results are always exceptional in regards to noise. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Thanks!

Paul

Thanks!

Paul

A wrinkle in this is when the audio patch-bay is integral to the console.
A very successful approach in this situation is to follow the same above guidelines to power and chassis, but all audio cable's (to and from the patch-bay) screens are ONLY connected at the patch-bay, where the jack's shield connections are all bussed together and then connected to the console ground (common "0" volt node).

nielsk said:

A wrinkle in this is when the audio patch-bay is integral to the console.
A very successful approach in this situation is to follow the same above guidelines to power and chassis, but all audio cable's (to and from the patch-bay) screens are ONLY connected at the patch-bay, where the jack's shield connections are all bussed together and then connected to the console ground (common "0" volt node).

Click to expand...

Patch bays can be difficult because you usually cannot ensure all the connections to it are balanced and the patch bay can be integral or external to the console. However, in cases where all the connections are balanced it is important to remember that the screens are just that - screens - and they do not carry any signal. Hence, all the screens should be connected to the chassis (which in turn will later be connected to the common "o" volt node as you call it.

The exception to this rule is when mic inputs which may carry phantom power are connected to the patch bay. In this case the screens have to be connected at both the console end and the patch bay end to ensure there is a return path for phantom power.

Cheers

Ian