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Entreq grounding boxes
#11
My academic background makes me naturally sceptical about spending £200 or £750 on a copper wired small or large box of soil, or silver variants for about twice the price. However, should a dealer wish to send me one to try, I'm open minded about the device and the (likely) huge percentage price mark-ups which selling these devices carry.

I see that the only review of these products which I can find (at least so far) has been undertaken by Roy Gregory, noted for numerous five star reviews of a host of Nordost power line products for HiFi+.

Now this is a guy who has some fantastic gear in a fantastic "built for audio" room with dedicated power lines, Nordost power cables and Nordost Quantum boxes.

He reviews various Entreq boxes but if you read what he says from a reverse perspective he effectively says "removing the Minimus/Eartha combination creates a huge drop in the quality of the system" (that is the same one which, pre-Entreq, was the best thing since sliced bread); and he goes on to say that going back from the Silver Minimus (to, presumably, the Copper one) produces a noticeable increase in the noise floor and a real decrease in resolution and separation, ... , with voice "outside" the soundstage (whatever that means), a forward tendency and a diminution in presence and immediacy, failing to create a convincing whole with the system struggling to pay a tune.

What an amazing product the top end Entreqs must be. I thought today's Cranage Hall Audio show, quite a high-end affair, would be littered with Entreq kit and I spotted ... none at all.

Beware if you buy merely a copper Entreq as, according to Mr Gregory, you are seemingly buying a bundle of inadequacies!
Innuos Statement 2TB SSD with Next-Gen PSU (with Roon lifetime)
MacBook Pro (with Air)
Draytek Vigor 2860v-Plus/Devialet Original d'Atelier CI Nos. 54A&B/Magico M3 pair
Shunyata cables (digital/interconnect/loudspeaker/power)/Shunyata power units (Triton/Typhon)

 Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
Missing Link cables (power)
England
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#12
(15-Jun-2014, 23:21)IanG-UK Wrote: What an amazing product the top end Entreqs must be.

In my (very) humble opinion that's exactly what they are Ian, utterly amazing. Like I said before they are the single most important upgrade I have carried out in my system. I'm not mincing my words here as you can see. Tongue

I totally understand any skepticism expressed towards these boxes on this forum by the way (for a long time I thought they were just crazy "foo"). I mean properly engineered electronics shouldn't need such tweaks. And let's face it the details of how they actually work are pretty thin on the ground, not a good sign.

I must admit that I was utterly gobsmacked by the effect they had on my system, as some of you on here that already have these will know it really isn't subtle at all. But I think the best thing is that people try it for themselves and reach their own conclusions (if they can be bothered of course).

I believe over the coming months there will be a number of reviews of Entreq products published in the hi-fi press, including some by some well-known names in the industry.

I haven't read the Roy Gregory piece yet but will take a look when I get a chance. Thanks for posting this on here.

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#13
I'm in two minds over these but have requested to borrow a Silver Minimus and a few different earth cables. I only need a single box. If it works it stays, if not then at least I'll have tried it

James

Melco N1A > Meicord Opal > Devialet 220 Pro > Mogami 2972 > Shahinian Compass
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#14
(16-Jun-2014, 20:26)james n Wrote: I'm in two minds over these but have requested to borrow a Silver Minimus and a few different earth cables. I only need a single box. If it works it stays, if not then at least I'll have tried it

James

James,

Good luck on your quest.

Just a small note. These things hate soft carpeted surfaces, and metal around or under them. If you have a hardwood floor, position it directly on the ground (pun intended) and try to keep it away from metal or electronic objects. if you have carpet on the floor, just find a temporary place on any wood furniture or rack. Don't use any audiophile footers.

And try the silver cables. And if possible use the RCA connection to an empty inlet on Devialet. And wait for at least 2-3 minutes after you connect it for proper effects.

Kunter
Kii Three, dCS Network Bridge, Roon Nucleus, Kuzma (Stabi S, 4Point), Soundsmith StrainGauge, Stromtank, Echole Cables 
Istanbul, Turkey
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#15
(16-Jun-2014, 12:33)GuillaumeB Wrote:
(15-Jun-2014, 23:21)IanG-UK Wrote: What an amazing product the top end Entreqs must be.

In my (very) humble opinion that's exactly what they are Ian, utterly amazing. Like I said before they are the single most important upgrade I have carried out in my system. I'm not mincing my words here as you can see. Tongue

I totally understand any skepticism expressed towards these boxes on this forum by the way (for a long time I thought they were just crazy "foo"). I mean properly engineered electronics shouldn't need such tweaks. And let's face it the details of how they actually work are pretty thin on the ground, not a good sign.

I must admit that I was utterly gobsmacked by the effect they had on my system, as some of you on here that already have these will know it really isn't subtle at all. But I think the best thing is that people try it for themselves and reach their own conclusions (if they can be bothered of course).

I believe over the coming months there will be a number of reviews of Entreq products published in the hi-fi press, including some by some well-known names in the industry.

I haven't read the Roy Gregory piece yet but will take a look when I get a chance. Thanks for posting this on here.

Guillaume
I'm thinking of getting the silver minimus for my dev 200, which is the best cable match for the devialet? I'm also in the USA , any local dealers?
Theaudioguru
Devialet 400 ,Magico S3, Aurender N100, Mac Mini + Amarra + Geekperfect, Vpi Avenger with 3D Arm, ortofon cadenza bronze, Ortofon Royal Spu Nude,
Sonos.
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#16
I'm trying out various grounding boxes at the moment. I started with a Silver Minimus and a Tellus. The Silver Minimus is about 50-60% of the Tellus I'd say. I currently have a Silver Tellus, which I swore to myself was going too far, but so far it's proving itself and I've only had it for 4 days so it's not working to its full potential yet.

The annoying thing is that the cables do make rather a large difference, but it's not necessarily the more expensive cables which work better (with the exception of the most expensive cables). I found the Silver Eartha is detailed but can be a little harsh with gear that is prone to that. The Challenger Eartha is softer. Apollo seems to be somewhere in between but with no loss of detail.
The cables are rather basic and seem quite a lot for what they are, but the ground boxes don't seem to bad considering how much copper there must be in them (the Silver Tellus in particular is heavy). It's almost a bit like 'razor blade' marketing in that you get the reasonably-priced grounding box (the razor) and the rather-expensive cables are 'the blades'.

I've always had a problem with variability in the electrical supply and dedicated spurs, earth rod, filters etc. don't seem to have eliminated that entirely. In fact one of the prime reasons for me going for Devialet was to simplify things to try to tackle supply problems. I'd say these Entreq things have about 80% fixed that variability for me and provide much lower noise floor and just much lovelier sound all round. They seem to work in several ways - the cables connect the signal planes of the bits of equipment, and it seems to work round issues with chassis earth-bonded gear. I remember from my experiences fiddling with Linn gear that even adjusting the nut connecting the earth bond to the case could make a significant difference to sound quality and this might be tinkering in a similar area. Also there's the grounding box which seems to provide an artificial earth, a bit like a chemical toilet (!). I could be completely wrong on all this....
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#17
Thanks for the tips Kunter. Got a perfect place for it on the floor (although i've got room on the bottom shelf of the rack). Looking forward to trying it and i'll post my thoughts once i've had a few days to play.

James

Melco N1A > Meicord Opal > Devialet 220 Pro > Mogami 2972 > Shahinian Compass
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#18
Do any of you guys with entreq use powercleaners/regenerators? I'm using Ps audio P5 regenerator and is wondering if this will push my system even further...
Naim nac-n 272, Naim nap-300, PMC Fact 12, Audience AU24SE power cables, Oppo BDP-103D
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#19
(20-Jun-2014, 16:37)Sobert Wrote: Do any of you guys with entreq use powercleaners/regenerators? I'm using Ps audio P5 regenerator and is wondering if this will push my system even further...

I'm sure if you connected your Devialet to an Entreq ground box you'd get some interesting results, these work on the signal planes of the device as opposed to AC power. The Entreq ground cable attaches itself to a spare RCA adapter at the back of the Devialet.

Personally I would be a little wary of using something like a P5 with a Devialet since the P5's power is limited to 1500 to 1800VA. The Devialets of course have a power rating of 3kW.

I've never tried a P5 in my own system so this is all conjecture and I apologise if I'm talking nonsense!

I personally prefer to fix the mains at source, so running a dedicated circuit all the way back to a separate consumer unit with beefed up grounding, and keeping the hi-fi mains supply as far away as possible from the rest of the house's electrics.

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#20
The Entreq kit should be with me tomorrow so i'm looking forward to giving it a go.

James

Melco N1A > Meicord Opal > Devialet 220 Pro > Mogami 2972 > Shahinian Compass
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