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Originally Posted by Vintage Pete

Steven....thanks. The reason I asked is, it seems by connecting more than one device to each past, aren't we also connecting the chassis of said components together. When you think about it though, since the chassis are tied to ground anyway, they are in theory connected together anyway. There doesn't seem to be a lot of pictures of the binding posts that aren't head-on, so it's hard to tell what they actually look like. As I look at the cables offered by Shunyata, it appears they all have only one spade lug at one end a banana plug-like connector at the other which connects to the CG hub. Is there a cable offered with spades at both ends?

I have been reading the literature. Yes, there is a lot of info there, but sometimes it seems to raise as many questions as it answers (to me anyway). For example, one diagram in their brochure, of a segmented setup, shows 3 boxes-two signal grounding hubs (one for analog components, and one for digital components), and one chassis grounding hub for amplification components. The MOST I can accommodate (both financially and physically) will be two boxes. The diagram is showing the preamp and phono stage connected to an SG, which I had assumed I would be connecting to a CG Hub, along with my amplifiers and other components.

Getting back to the cables, they are pricey. Ivan recommends the Alpha, which retail at $400 each, for a 1M length. In more cases than not, this won't be long enough. I'll probably need 3M in a couple of cases, in others maybe 1.5-2.0M. Add all this up, and....

Hi Pete,
If you are going to implement a segmented system, the guidance is to use SG hubs. The "3-Altaira" set-up you mention is but one example, but it's a fairly advanced one. It might be a set-up where one started out with a single CG hub for the system overall first, and then implemented a segmented system later by adding two additional SG hubs.

Here's the simplest way: if you have the budget for two hubs and want to create a "basic" segmented system, like mine, just get two SG hubs. For example, in segmenting source components from amplification components, one segment for source components, e.g. DAC, streamer, phono stage, tape deck, etc. and the other segment for amplification components: the preamp and amp, for example.

Here's my "source segment": the Lumin P1 and my EAR phono stage are connected to this SG hub.


My Constellation integrated amp, which is fully dual-mono, is connected to the other SG hub (you can see it on top of the Constellation).


Now, if I had a separate preamp and amp, I'd connect one SG hub to the preamp and amp, and use the other SG for the "source" components.

Alternatively, one could segment all "digital devices" from the "analog amplification devices". BTW, you do not have to start out with a CG hub first, unless you're just going to use that one hub for your entire system.

Regarding cables, while Alpha level are the spec I'd recommend for folks, if you have a lot of components to connect, you can use Venom as well for the other components, e.g. a streamer, Ethernet switch, phono stage, etc. If I had to make a recommendation for "segmenting" cables, I'd say, if you have the budget, put Alpha on the DAC, preamp, and amp, your most used "central components". You can use Venom elsewhere (you can always upgrade later over time as finances allow).

Regarding terminations: you can order cables with the terminations you require, for example, either spades at both ends, or bananas at both ends, or a spade at one end and a banana at the other end. If you're going to be using cables with the tail system, order with a banana at the component end so you can attach the appropriate tail. The cables are not directional like ICs and speaker cables, so you can use them in either orientation. If you're going to connect more than one device to each terminal on the Altaira, I'd recommend connecting one component with a banana plug, and the other component with a spade at the Altaira end. That will provide the most effective connections at the Altaira end. If you have to connect 3 devices to single ground post, then two of them will have to be spades, obviously, and the third a banana plug. But, I'd recommend not connecting 3 devices if possible. As I mentioned, with two Altairas, you'll be able to connect 12 devices, with two per terminal.

Now, for the component end, if you are not going to be connecting to a dedicated chassis ground terminal, or a chassis screw, but rather an unused input (e.g., RCA, XLR, USB, etc.) or an interface port, you can use a number of different connectors. In general, it provides the most "flexibility of applications" to have a banana plug at the component end of the "base cable", and then attach a "tail" with the appropriate connector for each device. There are two types of tails: VTX and VTX-Ag. If you're budget-constrained and will need a fair number of tails, go with VTX.

So, here's an Alpha base cable and two XLR connectors, in this case, female and male XLR plugs.


One of the XLR "tail" connectors snapped onto the base cable's banana plugs.


There are also tails for connecting digital devices, e.g. the RJ5 Ethernet and USB-A connectors shown here:


For example, shown here is a base cable with an RJ45 "tail" to connect to an unused port on my router, for example. For my router, I use a Venom ground cable to connect that to Gemini (yes, it's shown in this photo connected to an Alpha CGC, I know; t's just an example for ease in set-up for photography, I was just putting different tails on the same cable).



Hope this helps.