[Dave_b]

Electronic Visionary Systems Ground Enhancers....Bravo!

I recently put together a high performance system for my sitting room. The acoustics are very good with my listening position just 6 feet away, with the speakers only 5' 6" apart and only 1'6" out from the front wall. My musical interests cover jazz, classical, folk-pop and prog rock. Most of my systems have been no holds barred 6 figure behemoths with varying results. My latest foray into the musical arts has sparked my interest anew...and all for well under $10k. The icing on the cake comes in the form of a set of EVS Ground Enhancers(GE's) from Ric Schultz (Mr. EVS himself). After a lengthy discussion with Ric concerning the efficacy of the aforementioned GE's, I placed my order and waited. When they arrived, I discovered that Ric had sent me an extra set of prototype GE's marked with a black dot. A call to Ric enlightened me as to what was different about the prototypes....more wire! More wire more goodness seems to be the theory. Ric is very laid back, thoughtful and experimental by nature...he is an audio artist. Information and GE's in hand, I started hooking them up and tieing them down...with the supplied string. Yup, you should tie them down to prevent ringing...just do it, they sound better that way. Bottom line is that they work. How you ask? Well, let's put it this way....they are ADDICTIVE!! Leave them in and play them for a few hours before critical listening, but then play your favorite music. Next, I dare you to take them out of your system and not get the itch to put them back in. So what DO THEY DO?? Ok, Ok I'll tell ya....Everything is better. What? You want more? Alright, I'll dish some more. By better, I mean that the entire soundstage opens up more, inner detail is portrayed in bolder relief and the apparent scale of the music is enhanced somehow....the musicians seem to become almost tangible. Very strange indeed. I wound up with the prototype GE's on the negative tweeter terminals of my speakers and the standard GE's on the bass sections and on the neg posts of my amp. I also use an RCA GE on my amps Tuner input section (any input or output should work however). I tried removing the GE's from my system, but everytime I did, a sense of loss soon followed. A loss of aliveness and scale, a reduction of clarity and transparency and a generalized flattening of the images. The thrill was gone without the Ground Enhancers from Ric at EVS. You owe it to yourself to try them...it's like Viagra for your stereo:O)

Associated gear:
NAD C375BEE Integrated
NAD C565BEE CD Player
Totem Arrow Speakers
MIT S3.3 and AVT 1 Cabling
MIT Magnum AC2 power cord for amp
Audioquest NRG3 power cord for CD
HiFi Tuning Supreme Fuse for Amp
Herbie Audio Labs isolation products
Mapleshade Brass Heavyhat weights

Similar products:
Audioprism Ground Control

[satfrat]

Sounds about the same results as I derived from the same placement of the hooked GE's in my system. I also used a Hook GE on the ground terminal on my BPT balanced power conditioner and a RCA GE on my ACI Force XL subwoofer. It's always good to hear from someone who has had the same results as I have had with my Enhancers. I might have to see if I can try out a pair of them prototype Enhancers on my Odyssey Lorelei's. 
 
Cheers,
Robin

[Elizabeth]

I made some home made pigtails with a blob of ferrite (my idea) on the end.
Stuck them in at the negative terminal of the amp/speaker.
And on unused neutral A/C outlets.
They are a nice addition to tweakyness.

I discovered too many does go too far, as I had added eight sets to the amp, speaker wires at the speaker etc. Removed some, especially the ones on the positive terminals!
Final implementation on the amp negative outlets, a group of seven 1" long, 1/2 inch diameter ferrite tubes from American Science and Surplus, tightly bound with small zip ties into a bundle, with the pigtail wire stripped a long 20" and wrapped through them so the ferrites all have good contact with the wire, and the wire wrapped back to itself. I have the Ferrite clusters in coffee cups to avoid any accidental electrical contacts.
At the speaker ends I have a single ferrite on a pigtail at the low, and mid/high connectors (biwired Maggie 3.6s)
The ferrite pigtails on the outlet ends are just A/C plugs with a wire on only the neutral line, and the ferrite at the end of the pigtail.(wrapped in blue heavy Teflon plumbers tape, just to be extra safe! would not want the 'hot' line to somehow be on the neutral side... and accidentally touch something) These actually look sort of cute!

My theory is the tweak started as just a short wire, then a wire with more stuff, and seems the realization that a lot more stuff is better. Thus my idea just go straight to a big electron warehouse, a ferrite. (any electron storage would do, ferrites are just easy. Some other folks are using 9 volt batteries as a ground, with only the negative side of the battery attached.

(I tried the battery tweak, and it is about the same results as the ferrite, I stuck to the ferrite as it was my own idea...and one would have to check if the battery was good or died..)
The result: more clarity, greater PRAT, and more dynamics.
The small loss of midrange warmth I had from using powerline conditioners was removed. And better low frequency presentation.

The nice thing about the EVS is the low price. A reasonable amount for those wanting a ready made product.
Highly recommended.
This is one tweak anyone can make, or buy at a very reasonable price, and is really worth trying out.
 

[eclein]

Very Nice write-up!!!

[rollo]

 Elizabeth, interesting findings. Experimented myself. Found that "more stuff" seems to sound better.
 The combo we came up with is a 10 ga concentric wound 26/36 stranded copper wire attached to an Esoteric Bannana connected to the neg binding postof the speaker. Have the EVS GE as well.
  Biggest effect was at the amps both pos. and neg. terminals, I still cannot believe they do what they do but they do .  . A fun ride.


charles

[GRACE RUBY]

 

[Russell Dawkins]

Well, well, well, and my, my, my! It's Grace Ruby 
Can't stay away, huh?
I check in every two weeks or so, too.

[xsb7244]

For more, see the Audiocircle thread introducing the mind blowing EVS  ground enhancers!  Also for more, read the many threads on Audio Asylum on this tweak.

[GRACE RUBY]

Well, well, well, and my, my, my! It's Grace Ruby 
Can't stay away, huh?
I check in every two weeks or so, too.

Don't get your hopes up, I was not at all impressed with some children's pictures some one sent me here.
I connected in accidentally here from another forum link.
I no longer go to or grace high end cocktail lounges that let in patrons who stamp out cigarettes on the floor and the patrons.

I first saw this technology in a speaker my father was tossing out, I asked him why on the (red dot side of the 2 connectors) hot side there was only one braided wire that went to the speaker paper, but on the ground side 2 came from the paper, one to the ground wire solder point and another soldered to an extra metal tab cut right into to the metal speaker frame, he told me the second ground braided wire to the metal frame got rid of static, I asked how, he said the static built up a "Radio Signal" that upon reaching a certain potential dissipated to the air.

I still have not a clue in the world what this meant.

but while here, I wanted dearly to say hello to the most angel protected girl (?) in the world Elizabeth, whose motto has always been "so many good deed's, so little time"

Moderator Gentle Bender- I hope, no, correction. I know your well.


Good By

[trebejo]

Wanted to ask in the original thread, but it's locked.

How does this tweak compare with the typical Thiele network used in many amplifiers?

Here's a quick link for reference,

https://www.circuitbasics.com/design-hi-fi-audio-amplifier-lm3886/#The-Thiele-Network

[WGH]

Wanted to ask in the original thread, but it's locked.

How does this tweak compare with the typical Thiele network used in many amplifiers?

Here's a quick link for reference,

https://www.circuitbasics.com/design-hi-fi-audio-amplifier-lm3886/#The-Thiele-Network

I have no idea how they compare soundwise but physically they are completely different. The Thiel network is in the circuit, the EVS Ground Enhancer is a pigtail attached to the negative speaker post that shouldn't do anything. I'm still using mine. Loved them when I got them and now too lazy and afraid to do an A-B test with my new speakers so I leave them on, they do no harm.

Theile network - The inductors for the Thiele network are wire wound air core types, made by wrapping enamel coated wire (magnet wire) around a cylindrical object. Since the inductor will be carrying the full output current of the amplifier, the wire should be heavy gauge. 12 to 18 AWG would be good.



The EVS Ground Enhancers on my old speakers, they look like white antennas

[planet10]

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/EVS_Ground_Enhancers.html

This sounds like work derived from Bud Purvine’s work on https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/parts/102180-groundside-electrons.html.

I severed ties when Rick started to claim development of work done by others.

I do applaud him if he brings this sublte tweak to systems around the world, but it can be diyed (and that is where it came from).

Audience was the first to market this kind of device commercially — they seem MIA now.

dave

[Phil A]

There's plenty of threads here about those particular tweaks (e.g https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=87653.0) and similar ones going back many years.  Grounding can be effective (and there are more expensive commercial products e.g. https://www.musicdirect.com/power/Nortdost-QRT-QKore-Ground-Unit) with things like connecting the ground only (not the tip) of RCA plugs and putting it between (an unused jack on) the source component and an unused jack on the preamp.  I use Rel subs with Class D amps and also connect the RCA jack on the Rels to unused jacks on the preamp.  It's great when cheap tweaks can improve a system.

[ric]

I use and endorse Ric Schultz' products ( if this is the same RS as high fidelity cables). I have been experimenting with magnets on my own, putting magnets in the signal path of power cords, speaker wire and interconnects.
Recently I was intrigued by the company that has the "grounding plane" which apparently attaches to an unused input to do it's thing, so I decided to try the N52 1/2" x 1.25" magnets in a similar way. This tweak is very easy to do, just take a very cheap interconnect cable and cut off one end, leaving the right and left bare wires with ground (two positive, two negative). Strip the wires and wrap the wire around a small flathead steel screw using nuts to secure the wires to the screws. this leaves you with four screws attached to four wires. Take each magnet (insulated in wood or plastic, or duct tape, whatever works, so that they do not stick to anything else) and attach the screws to each magnet (you will need 4 magnets). Plug the now reconfigured IC into an unused input and voila, HUGE improvement in sound quality.
Make sure the magnets are all oriented in the same direction, polarity wise. If you try it and the sound is diffuse, reverse the direction of the magnets.

[mick wolfe]

I believe Ric Schultz is EVS (ground enhancers) and Rick Schultz is High Fidelity or the magnetic based products you speak of. IOW, two different Schultz's.

[Phil A]

I believe Ric Schultz is EVS (ground enhancers) and Rick Schultz is High Fidelity or the magnetic based products you speak of. IOW, two different Schultz's.

That's correct (below are the websites)

https://highfidelitycables.com/    (Rick)

http://tweakaudio.com/              (Ric)

[BobM]

I did some A-B testing of these things many years ago, putting them on the amp side, both on the + leg and then on the - leg, then used them on the speaker side, again on the + leg then on the - leg. I did hear differences which led to where I use them now.

Now my preamp inverts (tubes) so I have to change the speaker cables to adjust for that, which means the + connector on the amp end is connected to the - on the speaker end, and so on. What I found works best for me with the EVS ground enhancers was putting them on the speaker end of the cable attached to the - terminal.

No, I haven't gone back and reaffirmed my findings. Like I said, that was done long ago.

[planet10]

Now my preamp inverts (tubes) so I have to change the speaker cables to adjust for that, which means the + connector on the amp end is connected to the - on the speaker end, and so on.

Gien that recordings have no “absolute phase” standard, so you are as likely to be wrong as you are right (ignoring the sw that has abs phase all over the place). If one wants to preserve absolute phase you need a phase switch on your pre-amp and you will need to note which LPs/CDs/songs have which phase.

Your analness is gainign you nothing.

One of the things i hate about the ACAs is that the 5-way posts are connected backwards for the same reason you are being anal.

dave

[routlaw]

So what's the deal with these things? Is it just added capacitance at the negative terminal, assuming this is what litz wire does in a strand of this sort? I didn't see enough scientific information to sink my teeth into let alone believe just yet.

thanks

[mick wolfe]

Gien that recordings have no “absolute phase” standard, so you are as likely to be wrong as you are right (ignoring the sw that has abs phase all over the place). If one wants to preserve absolute phase you need a phase switch on your pre-amp and you will need to note which LPs/CDs/songs have which phase.

Your analness is gainign you nothing.

One of the things i hate about the ACAs is that the 5-way posts are connected backwards for the same reason you are being anal.

dave

Yep, I stopped worrying about phase years ago for the very reason you mention. Like you hint, if one had a phase switch on a remote at the listening position, it might have some value. Either way, not an issue I'm concerned with. Too many other fish to fry. And for record and not to be a stick in the mud, ground enhancers didn't do anything positive in either of my systems. Yet I won't dispute those who have found success with them. As always....YMMV.