PECs

Copied here from my blog...

Parallel Earth Conductors (PECs) when placed between source and amp (or source and preamp) are reputed to improve sound quality according to Cherry Clough Consultants (an EMC agency).

It helps to have a good case ground on each item and all our products apart from the portable Voyager do.

By connecting them with a suitably high current piece of wire both cases are held at the same potential and hence the interconnect's shield carries no ground current (apart from the noise landing on it) and therefore cannot put any ground current (hum) into the core. This, Cherry Clough Consultants claim, removes the need for an interconnect to have its shield conductor lifted one end.

They are indeed referring to balanced audio connections used in pro-audio.

In single sided signals the lifting of the shield should not be necessary, but quite often manufacturers of some turntables do it anyway, and so do one or two interconnect manufacturers (we don't).

In single sided audio (like phono to phono) there has to be a ground connection so by lifting the shield they have to take it by another core anyway, which seems a bit silly to this old timer.

In doing so the interconnect's shielding becomes completely useless at short wave radio frequencies.

Perhaps owners would like to try using an interconnect with proper shield connectivity plus a PEC?

The Cherry Clough Consultants website is at http://www.cherryclough.com/

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