New Shunyata Altaira Grounding System

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Famester V1

"With all due respect to Alex, whom I know personally fairly well, AFAIK, he doesn't have first-hand experience connecting ER's dedicated ground terminal to an Altaira."

Exactly what he said, but the reason I mentioned it was for some of us who cannot afford to spend $10K on grounding. While I do not doubt for one second that Alteria will improve the SQ, it is not a definite requirement to purchase the system right away. I daisy chained my grounds until I demo the Altaria, which according to Alex is not the way he suggests, which is to electrically isolate the EtherRegen by using only the ground in the power supply. He did not say anything about using the ground post to improve the SQ.

There are dealers with "Demo Kits" available to try out the Alteria system. I was not aware of this until the audio show in Tampa last weekend.
That is why I said "YMMV" because while some may have small gains by manufacturing their own ground, some may have huge gains by purchasing the Shunyata system and vise-versa.

The Demo Kits sound like a great idea. That will help folks determine how best to implement an Altaira system.

And, in the interest of accuracy, any grounding solutions properly engineered and implemented will provide an improvement, even connecting a copper wire to an unused CCTV-type RCA barrel (-) connector at the component end to a copper split bolt at the other end, will work. This set-up costs all of $5, and does result in a perceptible reduction in ground-plane noise...



Moreover, one doesn't have to spend $10K on grounding. For example, GP-NR on your Denali V2 will take your system quite a bit further in reducing ground-plane noise. and it provides a notable reduction in ground-plane noise. You can connect a $250 1M Venom ground cable to a Shunyata power distributor's GP-NR terminal. Using that single configuration (ER to PD) alone will provide a notable improvement. The GP-NR system was put there for a reason, and personally, I don't know why more folks don't use this system when they already have on their Shunyata power distributors. Even the entry-level Venom V16 power distributor has this GP-NR system. This is exactly what I did with my EtherREGEN until Altaira arrived on the market. Here's a photo of a Shunyata CGC ground cable running from my ER to the GP-NR terminal on my Everest. NOT a subtle improvement, so I don't agree with Alex on this point.



If one has some "discretionary spend" budget to get into the Altaira system, the Altaira Chassis hub MSRP is ~$3K. One doesn't have to start with a fully segmented system, a single Chassis hub will provide significant improvement in audio quality. The Venom ground cables start at $250. Just as example, one could connect a preamp, an EtherREGEN, and a DAC for $3750, all in. That's skosh over 1/3 of $10K...

[bodiezaffa]

Grounding system?
I've never heard of a grounding system.
I was taught and implemented dedicated 20amp service with hospital grade outlets. Everything plugged into a power conditioner (mine is Bryston BIT20) and good power cords.

Where does the grounding system fit into the chain.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by bodiezaffa

Grounding system?
I've never heard of a grounding system.
I was taught and implemented dedicated 20amp service with hospital grade outlets. Everything plugged into a power conditioner (mine is Bryston BIT20) and good power cords.

Where does the grounding system fit into the chain.

You’re in for such a treat once you hear what Altaira does.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by bodiezaffa

Grounding system?
I've never heard of a grounding system.
I was taught and implemented dedicated 20amp service with hospital grade outlets. Everything plugged into a power conditioner (mine is Bryston BIT20) and good power cords.

Hi Mark,
What you're referring to is an "earth" or "safety" ground connection.

The Altaira system, as well as some of the others, e.g. Nordost and Entreq, reduce "ground-plane" noise in system components. It can be confusing because the word "ground" is common to both "usage" (i.e., language usage) contexts, but they mean very different things.

Originally Posted by bodiezaffa

Where does the grounding system fit into the chain.

This is all described in detail in the Altaira product and application literature.

Respectfully, we've covered all this "ground" (no pun intended) back in September. Go back and read the entire thread. The foundational info was posted here a while back:

Originally Posted by ChrisG

Info is now up on Shunyata's site https://shunyata.com/products/ground-cables/altaira/

And here: https://shunyata.com/wp-content/uplo...epts-Guide.pdf

and here: https://shunyata.com/wp-content/uplo...A-Brochure.pdf

With something as important, both for safety reasons and proper application reason, as grounding, it's very important for potential Altaira customers to do their homework, upfront, first. And, then work with a trained and certified Altaira dealer to know how to properly and safely implement the Altaira system for their respective applications.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

You’re in for such a treat once you hear what Altaira does.

Oh, man! That's like the Understatement of the Year!

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Oh, man! That's like the Understatement of the Year!

Yup!

[Famester V1]

Stephen,
I never said nor do I doubt that there IS a improvement in SQ by using a ground as you stated.
I was saying that Alex only discussed electrical isolation/grounding and said nothing about SQ.
Sorry if I didn't explain myself correctly.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Famester V1

Stephen,
I never said nor do I doubt that there IS a improvement in SQ by using a ground as you stated.
I was saying that Alex only discussed electrical isolation/grounding and said nothing about SQ.
Sorry if I didn't explain myself correctly.

Hi Fred,
No worries!

Cheers.

[bodiezaffa]

Much appreciated. Will read this over the weekend.
Im going to the Axpona show in April. I wonder if the Altaira will be there?

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Hi Mark,
What you're referring to is an "earth" or "safety" ground connection.

The Altaira system, as well as some of the others, e.g. Nordost and Entreq, reduce "ground-plane" noise in system components. It can be confusing because the word "ground" is common to both "usage" (i.e., language usage) contexts, but they mean very different things.



This is all described in detail in the Altaira product and application literature.

Respectfully, we've covered all this "ground" (no pun intended) back in September. Go back and read the entire thread. The foundational info was posted here a while back:

And here: https://shunyata.com/wp-content/uplo...epts-Guide.pdf

and here: https://shunyata.com/wp-content/uplo...A-Brochure.pdf

With something as important, both for safety reasons and proper application reason, as grounding, it's very important for potential Altaira customers to do their homework, upfront, first. And, then work with a trained and certified Altaira dealer to know how to properly and safely implement the Altaira system for their respective applications.

[crwilli]

Mark, If you see an Altaira system at AXPONA, ask them when you can come back and listen to a before (with it connected) and an after (with it Disconnected). That’s what sold me although I was also able to have an in house demo which sealed the deal.