Entreq Tellus grounding

[spiritofmusic]

Dmnc02, interesting. My only "reliability" issues w/the Entreq stuff is the rca sockets on the Apollo ground leads that can be occas too loose, seeming not to fully "grip" the spare rca sockets I attach them to, the XLR being a much firmer fit. I've tried spade-rca on my dual mono line stage v spade-spade (to ground posts), the sp-rca still performs best. Only have sp-xlr on my cdp.
As stated, my line stage grounding seems to be the most significant component to show the Entreq effect, and my future decisions on Entreq are to be whether to go Olympus ground box to my dual mono line stage solely & S. Tellus for the rest of system, or poss second S. Tellus (in place of Olympus)/Atlantis add-on box. Or Cleanus.

 

[LL21]

And maybe Mike L. remembers the old Jacqui Rivait quote- “if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

ACtually, as a big fan of grounding and both Tripoint and Entreq...i am happy to read well-thought-out critical reviews of either or both. It may well be that his system is so well tuned already, either they do nothing...or they make it worse. I am no fan of raging attacks obviously, but if Mike L did not like them, happy to hear that as he has one heckuva system and i am certainly interested in hearing if these grounding things can work even in such a system.

it works in mine which is good for me...but i also know i have far from an ideal setup (no dedicated lines, neighbors, noisy power in a big city, etc)

 

[dmnc02]

Dmnc02, interesting. My only "reliability" issues w/the Entreq stuff is the rca sockets on the Apollo ground leads that can be occas too loose, seeming not to fully "grip" the spare rca sockets I attach them to, the XLR being a much firmer fit. I've tried spade-rca on my dual mono line stage v spade-spade (to ground posts), the sp-rca still performs best. Only have sp-xlr on my cdp.
As stated, my line stage grounding seems to be the most significant component to show the Entreq effect, and my future decisions on Entreq are to be whether to go Olympus ground box to my dual mono line stage solely & S. Tellus for the rest of system, or poss second S. Tellus (in place of Olympus)/Atlantis add-on box. Or Cleanus.

I do not know if the RCA connectors on the Entreq ground cables tend to loosen up after repeated use, but mine (which are fairly new) grab very tightly.

 

[rockitman]

Over the last week I have been comparing a pair of Atlantis RCA ground cables to a pair of Atlantis male XLR cables for the key connection of my dual-mono line stage to my Silver Tellus.

As in the previous cable comparison (between Apollo RCA and Atlantis RCA), switching one of the two cables at a time, so as to keep the line stage grounded at all time, resulted in only a small (but still non-zero) immediate loss of the full grounding effect.

While the previous comparison resulted in a strong preference for the Atlantis over the Apollo cables in my system, this one resulted in no significant difference between the Atlantis RCA and XLR cables, with possibly a very slight sonic advantage for the RCA cables (tiny differences are difficult to detect reliably due to the small immediate loss of the grounding effect upon switching cables, as noted above). This was somewhat surprising, as the XLR cable contacts the ground on the line stage connector using a copper pin, while the RCA uses a silver wire: I was expecting that this would have made a large sonic difference.

Functionally, I like the RCA ground cables much better, as these tightly grab the barrel of the female RCA connector, while the male XLR ground cables are only held in place by the ground pin (which is longer and thinner than what would normally be on a male XLR connector) and there is no locking mechanism.

That is good to hear Domenico. I am sticking with the rca's then. My next experiment I think I will try is to unplug the STellus from the power amps and stack it on top of my ST for source components (main pre and phono pre). Since the Atlantis cables have two spade ends per rca wire, my thought is to connect one spade to the bottom ST and the other to the top ST. That way each rca channel gets split between two boxes rather than one. I would think this would add grounding capacity.

 

[rockitman]

And maybe Mike L. remembers the old Jacqui Rivait quote- “if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

That could be...Works very well in my system. Perhaps since his preamp is battery powered, the effect is less ? We can speculate all we want....until if or when he decides to chime in.

It should also be noted that he bought (according to his post) the tiny minimus boxes with one earthing cable for each. A minimus has no where near the grounding capacity of the Silver Tellus using ground cables for each channel (L&R)...not just one.

 

[spiritofmusic]

+1 Lloyd. Jap, there is going to be a fair amount of YMMV w/grounding as anything else ( I may be the only one here who didn't have a fantastic experience going to Atlantis add on box, and I have stated as such). If the effects are positive in a system, however, I do believe they will often be transformational. But we're big enough boys that if his comments are luke warm, that'll be an honest assessment we can all accept

 

[dmnc02]

ACtually, as a big fan of grounding and both Tripoint and Entreq...i am happy to read well-thought-out critical reviews of either or both. It may well be that his system is so well tuned already, either they do nothing...or they make it worse. I am no fan of raging attacks obviously, but if Mike L did not like them, happy to hear that as he has one heckuva system and i am certainly interested in hearing if these grounding things can work even in such a system.

it works in mine which is good for me...but i also know i have far from an ideal setup (no dedicated lines, neighbors, noisy power in a big city, etc)

+1. Of course if Mike has not tried the Entreq, that is a very logical reason for not having anything (positive or negative) to say.

I have a friend who is a much more manic audiophile than I am. A couple of years ago, he decided to star-ground his system, and in order not to leave anything untried, he daisy-chained 24 (!) ground rods, which now go all around his house, each surrounded by a bed of ground enhancement material (GEM) to increase conductivity. After some discussion, he recently decided to give Entreq a try. It will be very interesting to see whether or not it produces any benefit in his system.

 

[Barry2013]

That is good to hear Domenico. I am sticking with the rca's then. My next experiment I think I will try is to unplug the STellus from the power amps and stack it on top of my ST for source components (main pre and phono pre). Since the Atlantis cables have two spade ends per rca wire, my thought is to connect one spade to the bottom ST and the other to the top ST. That way each rca channel gets split between two boxes rather than one. I would think this would add grounding capacity.

Arranging the Silver Tellus/Atlantis boxes should work well that way. I use one ST for the sources/amp and the other for the Entreq interconnrect cables. The Receivus on the amp did not perform when connected to the latte. The improvement from it was immediately apparent when connected to the other ST.All three boxes are on separate shelves of the racks so I can't comment on the benefits or otherwise of stacking so will be interested to hear of your experiences.

 

[dmnc02]

That is good to hear Domenico. I am sticking with the rca's then. My next experiment I think I will try is to unplug the STellus from the power amps and stack it on top of my ST for source components (main pre and phono pre). Since the Atlantis cables have two spade ends per rca wire, my thought is to connect one spade to the bottom ST and the other to the top ST. That way each rca channel gets split between two boxes rather than one. I would think this would add grounding capacity.

I am very interested in the outcome of that experiment, since it will affect my next step.

 

[Barry2013]

+1. Of course if Mike has not tried the Entreq, that is a very logical reason for not having anything (positive or negative) to say.

I have a friend who is a much more manic audiophile than I am. A couple of years ago, he decided to star-ground his system, and in order not to leave anything untried, he daisy-chained 24 (!) ground rods, which now go all around his house, each surrounded by a bed of ground enhancement material (GEM) to increase conductivity. After some discussion, he recently decided to give Entreq a try. It will be very interesting to see whether or not it produces any benefit in his system.

The Entreq option sounds a lot simpler and far less hassle!

 

[dmnc02]

The Entreq option sounds a lot simpler and far less hassle!

True, but that's not an issue for him (Chris, you know whom I am referring to).

 

[rockitman]

True, but that's not an issue for him (Chris, you know whom I am referring to).

yes I do...lives inside a moat of ground rods surrounding the castle.

 

[dmnc02]

yes I do...lives inside a moat of ground rods surrounding the castle.

Funny thing is that during the summer he waters them before having people over for a listening session.

 

[spiritofmusic]

The moment I install 24 ground rods is the time I hope my family have me committed. And, why stick at 24, why not 48, 240 etc etc? There's plenty of space around the perimeter of a house to go REALLY crazy. And I believe this person may well be already!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

ok, ok, ok......the Entreq Silver Tellus arrived on Tuesday, a pair of Apollo 1.5m RCA's arrived Friday. and an Atlantis RCA is scheduled to arrive Tuesday. I wanted to take more time.....but it seems I need to say s o m e t h i n g.

both Apollos have been plugged into my NHB-18NS preamp (one to each channel's spare RCA) since Friday night when I got home. i have the Silver Tellus sitting on the carpet over concrete floor next to my Adona rack. it is resting on three 'old style' large Walker Valid Points. at some point i will get more exotic with the floor interface. the 2 Apollo cables are connected to the farthest apart binding posts on the Tellus.

i like what i seem to be hearing. alot. but it's early. ideally i would have another week or so before i commented.

so here i go.

i have not yet unplugged the Apollo cables to determine the degree of changes. I've just been doing my normal listening with periods of critical listening.

this does not seem to be a trivial change. it seems to be substantial. yet it is also subtle. but in my system any steps at this point are subtle.....

a few thoughts come to mind.

more defined texture. more 3D. more body and weight. more holographic. more expansive. more bass impact and articulation. more ease. more together. more disparate parts delineated. more real, less processed. easier to listen to and my body reacts to more positively. many of those traits are interrelated and different ways of saying the same thing. the music is simply more 'of a piece, and less random pieces'.....closer to the event, and bypassing the intervening steps. as if some of the processing artifacts have somehow been jettisoned.

all these areas are things which i have previously considered strengths in my system......so the change seems to be complimentary to my system character. i cannot hear anything that might be a trade-off, and the Entreq does not intrude on any usability of the system.

it's as if the power supply was bettered so that it reacted more quickly and accurately to any need.

my system in some ways is big, but in other ways is very simple. the 2 phono stages are inside the dart pre. so treating the pre covers the phono. so what I'm doing might be all i need.

the overall effect was clear Friday night immediately, but no doubt the effect increased during the day yesterday and is even more today. can i quantify the degree of improvement over time. NO. but no doubt it did improve over time to some degree......IMHO.

it's not yet been even 48 hours. I've done no A/B's or any sort of critical comparative processes. I've just listened and enjoyed. so please allow me room to adjust my perspective as time goes by.

there you go......something to chew on this fine Sunday afternoon.

 

[dmnc02]

And I believe this person may well be already!

He certainly is!

 

[dmnc02]

ok, ok, ok......the Entreq Silver Tellus arrived on Tuesday, a pair of Apollo 1.5m RCA's arrived Friday. and an Atlantis RCA is scheduled to arrive Tuesday. I wanted to take more time.....but it seems I need to say s o m e t h i n g.

both Apollos have been plugged into my NHB-18NS preamp (one to each channel's spare RCA) since Friday night when I got home. i have the Silver Tellus sitting on the carpet over concrete floor next to my Adona rack. it is resting on three 'old style' large Walker Valid Points. at some point i will get more exotic with the floor interface. the 2 Apollo cables are connected to the farthest apart binding posts on the Tellus.

i like what i seem to be hearing. alot. but it's early. ideally i would have another week or so before i commented.

so here i go.

i have not yet unplugged the Apollo cables to determine the degree of changes. I've just been doing my normal listening with periods of critical listening.

this does not seem to be a trivial change. it seems to be substantial. yet it is also subtle. but in my system any steps at this point are subtle.....

a few thoughts come to mind.

more defined texture. more 3D. more body and weight. more holographic. more expansive. more bass impact and articulation. more ease. more together. more disparate parts delineated. more real, less processed. easier to listen to and my body reacts to more positively. many of those traits are interrelated and different ways of saying the same thing. the music is simply more 'of a piece, and less random pieces'.....closer to the event, and bypassing the intervening steps. as if some of the processing artifacts have somehow been jettisoned.

all these areas are things which i have previously considered strengths in my system......so the change seems to be complimentary to my system character. i cannot hear anything that might be a trade-off, and the Entreq does not intrude on any usability of the system.

it's as if the power supply was bettered so that it reacted more quickly and accurately to any need.

my system in some ways is big, but in other ways is very simple. the 2 phono stages are inside the dart pre. so treating the pre covers the phono. so what I'm doing might be all i need.

the overall effect was clear Friday night immediately, but no doubt the effect increased during the day yesterday and is even more today. can i quantify the degree of improvement over time. NO. but no doubt it did improve over time to some degree......IMHO.

it's not yet been even 48 hours. I've done no A/B's or any sort of critical comparative processes. I've just listened and enjoyed. so please allow me room to adjust my perspective as time goes by.

there you go......something to chew on this fine Sunday afternoon.

Great to hear, Mike. I think you are really going to have a big surprise once you disconnect it.

 

[rockitman]

ok, ok, ok......the Entreq Silver Tellus arrived on Tuesday, a pair of Apollo 1.5m RCA's arrived Friday. and an Atlantis RCA is scheduled to arrive Tuesday. I wanted to take more time.....but it seems I need to say s o m e t h i n g.

both Apollos have been plugged into my NHB-18NS preamp (one to each channel's spare RCA) since Friday night when I got home. i have the Silver Tellus sitting on the carpet over concrete floor next to my Adona rack. it is resting on three 'old style' large Walker Valid Points. at some point i will get more exotic with the floor interface. the 2 Apollo cables are connected to the farthest apart binding posts on the Tellus.

i like what i seem to be hearing. alot. but it's early. ideally i would have another week or so before i commented.

so here i go.

i have not yet unplugged the Apollo cables to determine the degree of changes. I've just been doing my normal listening with periods of critical listening.

this does not seem to be a trivial change. it seems to be substantial. yet it is also subtle. but in my system any steps at this point are subtle.....

a few thoughts come to mind.

more defined texture. more 3D. more body and weight. more holographic. more expansive. more bass impact and articulation. more ease. more together. more disparate parts delineated. more real, less processed. easier to listen to and my body reacts to more positively. many of those traits are interrelated and different ways of saying the same thing. the music is simply more 'of a piece, and less random pieces'.....closer to the event, and bypassing the intervening steps. as if some of the processing artifacts have somehow been jettisoned.

all these areas are things which i have previously considered strengths in my system......so the change seems to be complimentary to my system character. i cannot hear anything that might be a trade-off, and the Entreq does not intrude on any usability of the system.

it's as if the power supply was bettered so that it reacted more quickly and accurately to any need.

my system in some ways is big, but in other ways is very simple. the 2 phono stages are inside the dart pre. so treating the pre covers the phono. so what I'm doing might be all i need.

the overall effect was clear Friday night immediately, but no doubt the effect increased during the day yesterday and is even more today. can i quantify the degree of improvement over time. NO. but no doubt it did improve over time to some degree......IMHO.

it's not yet been even 48 hours. I've done no A/B's or any sort of critical comparative processes. I've just listened and enjoyed. so please allow me room to adjust my perspective as time goes by.

there you go......something to chew on this fine Sunday afternoon.

Thanks Mike. It appears your initial observations are consistent with mine and others using the Entreq gear. I am amazed at how much more Large Orchestral Classical I have been listening to since the introduction of Entreq. Mercury and RCA classics just sound so much better after entreq than before.

 

[Barry2013]

He certainly is!

Just out of sheer curiosity and fascination how has he connected them all up. Presumably he hasn't drilled 24 holes in the walls of his house, or has he?

 

[Barry2013]

+1
Totally consistent with my own experiences.