Altaira Grounding for Network Server Room

[Puma Cat]

Today I'm getting some Altaira system VT-X grounding "tails" in with RJ45 and USB-A terminations. The plan is to install the USB-A tail in an unused USB port on the Mini Roon Core and the RJ45 tail in an unused port in my Pace router, both of which are located in the remote server room and connect them to Gemini. The Mac Mini, EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock, and Pace router are all powered by the new Gemini power distributor which is perfect for these applications and also has... four Altaira chassis-ground noise-reduction terminals.


You can see in the photo above the Alpha CGC that connects from EtherREGEN's ground terminal to Gemini's fourth terminal.

I really like how Shunyata implemented their "base ground cable" and "tails" system: you can purchase a base cable of the spec you need (e.g., Venom, Delta, Alpha, Sigma, Omega) and then simply add the appropriately-terminated tail for your specific application(s). There's a variety of tails available including XLR male and female, USB-A and B, RJ45, S/DPIF, BNC, etc.

Shown here are pics of the Alpha CGCs and their respective XLR tails I use for (unused) XLR jacks on my Constellation Inspiration integrated and Lumin P1. As both components are fully dual-mono, I use a CGC + XLR tail for each channel, L/R, for each component.

An Alpha base ground cable with standard STIS banana plugs. The two types of XLR tails are shown in the middle of the base cable.


Photo showing an XLR female VTX-Ag tail "snapped" onto the Alpha base ground cable. The male XLR tail is shown in the middle.


Here's the cables for the Lumin P1 in the main rack in place: the lower left shows the two cables with XLR tails connecting from the P1 to the Altaira SGC hub on top.


I'll make similar connections from the Mac Mini Roon core and router in the server room but will connect to Gemini, instead...stay tuned.

[Puma Cat]

And...look what just arrived: the USB-A and RJ45 VTX-Ag tails.



Et voila...
the USB tail on an Alpha CGC


the RJ45 tail on an Alpha CGC

[Puma Cat]

Okay....so played a reference track on with the system fully warmed up. Then, connected a single Alpha CGC from an unused USB-A port on the Mac Mini Roon core to an Altaira terminal" on Gemini.

Holy cow!

The presentation just became notably more expansive, dimensionally-layered, spacious and 3-dimensional, with a background with a "deeper decay" into blackness. Whoa....NOT subtle.

[Puma Cat]

As some folks might remember, the new 4-outlet Shunyata Gemini power distributor/combination Altaira-type ground hub uses a C15 power cord instead of the C20 specification that's usually used for power distributors. Also, when you buy a Gemini, you can also buy it as a "bundle" with a Venom HC v2 C15 power cord.

So, that's what I was using to power the Gemini that functions as the power distributor (and Altaira-type ground hub) for the EtherREGEN switch, router and Alita, my Akasa NUC Roon core that all reside in the remote server room, as shown...


Well, tonight, I replaced the Venom HC v2 with the new Shunyata Venom-X EF (for "extra-flexible") power cord.

You know, the one that looks like this (Shunyata's pic, not mine. ).


I put in the Venom-X "extra flexible" PC as I thought it would be easier to route along the wall and behind the piece of furniture that's between Gemini's AC wall receptacle and the IKEA Lack table that functions as the "rack" for Gemini, the music server, router, ER, and Alita (and, as it's "extra-flexible, sure enough, it is easier to route) than the really stiff and heavy Venom HC v2 PC.

I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting a whole lot here, but as soon as I powered up the gear in the remote server room and pulled up a track in Roon in the listening room....it was: "Oh, my!"

Everything, I mean everything, about the presentation is better. It's also notably more natural- and "organic"-sounding. More spacious with more depth to the soundstage. And, "relaxed" as Hans Beekhuizen is fond of saying.

Whelp, another home-run for the gang at Shunyata.

Turns out the quality of the power cables, power distributor and grounding for the music server "componentry", in another room, no less, matters as much as the gear in the main rack.

The system just keeps getting better and better...