Hearing the tunable and smooth sound from your audio and video electronic systems is great. But hums, buzzes, hissings, and other cacophony sounds may hamper the sound quality. In this case, to feel euphonic sound from your electronic system, you need to ground an amplifier. Grounding a stereo amplifier is great to enjoy peaceful sounds.
If you don’t know how to ground a home stereo amplifier safely, this article is for you. In this article, I am going to share the best and safest ways to ground a home stereo amplifier.
In most cases, the sound system is not heard perfectly after grounding the amplifier. Why? Because the amplifier is not grounded properly. So, if you want to ground your stereo amplifier, you need to consider many things. It is not a sitting duck if you don’t know the basics of advanced techniques. This is why I am writing this helpful and useful guide. It allows you to connect to the earth effectively.
16 Effective Ways To Ground A Stereo Amplifier Safely:
Grounding an amplifier or stereo amplifier means connecting the wire to the earth for hearing the canorous sound. Hearing the cacophonic or disgusting sounds from your audio speaker is boring. So, in that case, you need to ground a stereo amplifier to prevent hums, buzzes, hissings, and ground loop sounds.
In this guide, I am going to cover the whole process of how to ground a home stereo amplifier.
Ways 1: Choose The Best Place
Before grounding any electronic systems, you need to choose a safe and secure place. There is a chance of an accident if you don’t pick the perfect place. Choose such a place where you and your children can hardly access and go. To reduce extra current, you can use an electrical rod to supply additional current to the earth.
By doing this, you can reduce the risk of injury and severe damage. Grounded properly is crucial for getting smooth and simmering sound from your CD player or electronic systems. Choosing the star grounds is the most reliable and safe ground for practicing the best grounding.
Ways 2: Disconnect All The Power Source
Power off or disconnecting all the electronic systems connected to the audio system is incredibly urgent. If you don’t disconnect the stable connection, it will damage you and your electronic system.
So first, make sure you disconnect all the power supply wires or sockets before starting the task. By doing this, you can safely ground the amplifier and get the entire process done securely.
Ways 3: Take All the Necessary Wires
There are some wires, in most cases, there are 3 wires for grounding your stereo amplifier. The wire is shielded with a plastic cover that is safe to use. The 3 types of wires are, for instance, grounding wire (earth wire), hot wire (active wire), and a neutral wire. They are separately connected with unique hooks or pins.
There are two circles with individual sockets: male and female. The most important wire is the grounding wire. The main duty of grounding wire is to provide safe current and supply extra current or voltage to the earth. So properly grounding is important for getting a smooth sound.
Ways 4: Draw A Circuit Box
It is necessary but not mandatory to draw a circuit breaker loop box for completing the grounding hassle-free. If you draw a circuit before working on it, you will hardly face problems. It will minimize your hardship. You just need to look at where the wires are set and where the insulated connector is.
Ways 5: Cut The Wire Accurately
Proper length and size of wire are crucial. If you don’t cut the wire in the perfect length, you can’t connect the wire perfectly. So it matters a lot to cut the wire accurately. To feel the euphonic sound, you need to ground audio equipment. And when it comes to grounding any audio equipment, proper cutting of wire is a great consideration.
To do a proper cut, you need to measure the area or distance between your sound system and the ground. Here you can use a measuring scale or measuring tape which is in an inch or cm unit. If the wire is cut thoroughly, the amplifier amplifies the music sound and converts buzzing or ground looping sound to the speaker perfectly. And you can hear the real sounds.
Ways 6: Strip The Wire
After cutting the wire to the perfect length, you need to unbend the plastic shielding of the wire. At this stage, you need to strip at a minimum of 1.5mm to 2mm on both ends of the wire. Here you can use a pocket knife or wire cutting tool to unbend perfectly.
After that, wriggle the wire as long as all the parts of the wires are well twisted. Remember to keep extra space for twirling the wire to the grounding pipe. Twirl consistently until it wraps tightly to the grounding pipe or rod.
Ways 7: Interconnect The Wire To The Ground
Earthing the wire to the ground is necessary to reduce extra current or voltage. Now time to interconnect the wire to the ground. You can use a grounding pipe or rod. After tightening the wire to the grounding pipe, now, dig a standard size hole for entering the rod. Here you can use a screwdriver, ground-rod clamp, and pair of wire cutters or scissors.
Ways 8: Accurately Pinout Of An XLR Cable
The XLR cable means the entire cables that are necessary for proper grounding. There are 3 types of cables available, the first one is ground, the second is positive signal (red in color), and the 3rd is negative(-) cable( blue in color). This is a typical pin XLR connector that has a simple diagram.
There are 3 separate pins for 3 different cables. At present, there is a ring system wire for attaching tightly. The first pin is for ground cable, the 2nd pin is for hot wire, and the 3rd pin is for the negative wire. The 2nd and 3rd wire is for signals that provide AC signals. And 1st one is the ground.
If you look at the diagram, you can see a typical balanced XLR wire interconnect that has a unique operation. Pin 1 goes to pin 1, the 2nd pin goes to pin 2, and the 3rd pin goes to pin 3. The positive and negative cable gives you a signal and produces voltage. And the ground cable is used to supply the extra charge to the earth. There are two male and female sockets where the pin goes and is set.
Ways 9: Plug The Interconnect Cable With Adapters (If Necessary)
Now, time to plug your interconnect cable with a simple adapter instead of cheater plugs to disconnect pin 1 from the ground. You can buy this adapter from an online marketplace like Amazon. Also, it is not so expensive. You don’t need to worry about the signal after interconnecting the cable.
Using simple cheater plugs to disconnect the amplifier from the ground, you will ruin yourself and your valuable electronic equipment. So using a simple adapter is safe and reliable.
Ways 10: Secure the Wire Perfectly
Well, it is crucial to secure the wire to solid things. Here you can use a piece of painted metal that is similar to thickness sheet metal. Make sure the metal has 3 individual holes. The entire 3 scrap wires with ring connectors need to be set with the metal.
So now, you need to take small sandpaper to take off the paint of the whole area. By doing this, you can get down to the bare metal. Now, you can use a self tapper for inserting the ground wire. And continue the same process to tighten the remaining two wires.
You can use an angle grinder to take off the exact area’s paint. It is easier and faster than using other methods. By applying these methods and securing them accordingly, you can tighten the wire faster.
Ways 11: Make Sure Ground The Wire Correctly
The great matter of concern is that the wires are poorly connected. So make sure you ground the wires and other cables or grounding pipes perfectly according to the manual guide. However, concentrate deeply on your grounding. If not, you will harm yourself as well as your system.
Furthermore, make sure you connect the wires to the right pin. Nevertheless, your entire system will damage gradually and it can be seen that the opposite is more likely to happen.
Ways 12: Assemble Wire To The Amplifier
After that, time to attach the wire to the amplifier. Don’t mistake, there is a separate connector of the back panel of the amplifier. It allows you to hook up the ground wire easily. There may be a hand-adjusted system or knob or may have a screw.
Now, take a screwdriver and make sure you turn the screwdriver clockwise. If you turn the screwdriver to the right, the ground wire is tightly set to the amplifier. There might be a washer that ensures long-lasting fixing.
Ways 13: Use Star Grounds
Star grounds means the ground looks like a star where all the wires or cables meet at the same point. Using star ground for grounding is safer and more reliable. Why? There are a number of reasons to prove. The major benefit of star grounding is it is safer.
And all the connections gather in the same direction and point. So you can easily fix the problem if it happens.
Ways 14: Use Earth Rod
Using an earth rod for grounding any amplifier is safer and risk-free. If you set the ground wire with an earth rod, you will save yourself and your entire system. Moreover, if you twist the ground wire with the head of an earth rod and put the rod in the ground, it will carry all the extra voltage to the ground.
Ways 15: Connect The Casework Grounds To A Preamp And Power Amp
If you have an individual or separate pre-amplifier and power amplifier, the method is similar. You need to use a pre-amplifier as the grounding ‘hub’ for your electric sources like a CD player, Radio, DVD, Turntable, and Sky.
After that, switch the pre-amplifier and power amplifier to the Radio Frequency(RF) router. Make sure you’re using type ‘A’ cables as grounding cables between the sources and amp. And use type ‘B’ between the amp and router.
Ways 16: Take Advice From Expert
If you fail to ground properly, you can communicate with an expert for better grounding. It will be more helpful and safer. You will get the job done easily and safely with 100% accuracy. If you make a mistake here, you have to count the charges. You may have to face a fatal accident.
It will be a less time-consuming duty if you take help or ideas from an experienced one. Needless to say, an experienced person knows better than you. So it would be a wise decision to seek help from an expert engineer.
Why Do You Need To Ground A Stereo Amplifier? (4 Reasons)
Undoubtedly, audio equipment like stereo or subwoofer amplifiers are playing a vital role in your sound system. It directly increases an audio signal through a speaker so that you can hear the real sound. The 4-major benefits of grounding stereo amplifiers are:
- Reduce Overheating: If the amplifier is not grounded properly, the entire system will lose consistency. You might even feel the system gets hot after a while. The worst thing is the audio system continuously provides jungle sounds.
- Provide The Real Sounds: Without grounding a stereo properly, you can’t feel euphonic sounds ever. So after installing your electrical sound system, don’t forget to ground a stereo amplifier. But after grounding an amplifier you will get rid of this traumatic problem.
- Easy To Turn On: It may happen sometimes, you can’t run your speaker. It happens because you have grounded your amplifier inappropriately. If it is grounded accurately, you can turn on your electric systems like a CD player, DVD, TV, and others trouble-free.
- Vanish Whining Noise: If you install a home stereo amplifier with your sound system, you can avoid all the humming or buzzing sounds.
5 Easy And Cheap Ways To Fix Hum, Buzz, And Ground Loop Noise:
Suppose, you have already grounded an amplifier but are still hearing unbearable noise. In this case, you need to fix the entire system. Here I put the 5 best and most effective techniques on how to fix grounded amplifiers easily.
- Use A Single Outlet
The simple but crucial consideration is to plug everything that you’re using into the same outlet. Almost everyone will say, the whining noise or hum issues come from ground loops.
Many of us set up plugged into more than one socket at a time. It causes more damage and increases hums. Here I would recommend you to use balanced or XLR or TRS cables instead of a cheap ground pin or ground lift plug.
- Use Proper USB connections
Needless to say, speaker USB connections matter a lot in getting rid of these unbearable sound issues. You never get real sounds to keep this issue aside. It seems a very minor case but still, can ruin your peaceful sound system. So make sure you have accurate USB connections.
- Choose High-Quality Cable
Choosing cheap and low-quality cables can be the worst for the amplifiers. Cheap or bad cables damage easily. Moreover, they are hardly able to load high-amperage or high-voltage current. This is why the connection has ups and downs and can’t provide a consistent sound.
- Plug The Speaker Into The Right AC Line
To get the best sound from the speaker, you need to plug the speaker into the proper Alternating Current line instead of the DC outlet. Here you need to check the proper voltage. You can use a multimeter to check that the AC outlet provides accurate voltage. This is the common issue for humming that there’s something wrong with the voltage.
- Use Advanced Tools
If the above methods don’t work efficiently or still face some humming or hissing problem, you may use an advanced noise removal algorithm. It works superbly and you can set up this program manually.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Do You Need To Ground A Home Amplifier?
The simple and common answer is ‘Of Course’. Here are a few examples that allow you to understand deeply the importance of grounding an amplifier in your home or car.
- Safer: First, an amplifier should be grounded for safety reasons. Many times it is seen that the main switch can’t take the extra power. But if the ground wire is set under the ground, the excess voltage goes to the ground.
- Eliminate Unbearable Sound: The common issue on your audio or video electronic device is humming or buzzing or any wired sounds, right? To eradicate this problem and hear the soothing sounds, you should properly ground an amplifier.
- Eradicate Starting Hassle: It is the most common complaint that your electronic system is not open or damaged suddenly. It will be removed after grounding an amplifier.
What Happens If Your Amplifier Is Not Grounded Accurately?
Amplifier grounding means connecting main cables to the grounding cable and making a path to the earth. Grounding an amplifier is beneficial in many cases. The main advantage of grounding an amplifier is you don’t experience any absurd or unusual sounds. The sounds like hissing, humming, and other scraping sounds are too weird that nobody wants to hear.
This is why you should ground your stereo properly. If not, you will never eliminate these sounds ever. However, there might be some more issues. So ground your stereo amplifier perfectly to eliminate these weird sounds.
Can You Use The Same Ground For 2 Amps?
Absolutely. You only need to make sure the wires are formed accurately. If you wire them accurately, you can use any number of amps as you need. As a general rule of thumb, more amps produce more power. Therefore, you need to improve your AC outlet or alternator. Or, you can install a stiffening cap.
If you ground 2 amps at a time, you will reduce the risk. They work separately between the main speaker and amplifier. The functionalities and processes are the same of grounding multiple amps as single grounding. But make sure you have adequate knowledge in this field.
Can You Ground An Amp To A Seat?
Yes, you can ground a stereo or audio equipment underneath the seat. That being said, this is the safest and risk-free approach. It is better to put an auto seat mat on your car seat and connect the twisted cable with an alligator clip to the metal chassis. This metal chassis can be found under the car seat.
To make proper grounding in the car, you need to take 10 to 12 gauge wire. The proper way to ground the car stereo amplifier is to suffice a standard size wire from the amp.
Final Verdict
Grounding a home stereo amplifier can make your sound quality incredibly melodious and euphonious. But the pre-condition is to ground this stereo item accurately and commensurately. So properly grounded the amplifier is crucial. In this article, I have already shared all the ways and techniques on how to ground a home stereo amplifier to get rid of hums, buzzes, ground loops, and hisses.
Don’t forget to take help or seek advice from an expert for a better and safer connection and grounding. Seeking advice will lessen the risk of accidents and injuries.