Start at the Phono Stage: A First Entreq Setup for a Record Player

Every record starts with a second or two of nothing. The stylus drops into the lead-in groove, and before the first note there is a short stretch with no music cut into it at all. Turn the volume up a notch and listen to what's there. Some of it is the vinyl: a soft rush, the odd tick. Some of it, quite often, isn't.

That is the case for grounding a record player, and it comes down to scale. A moving-magnet cartridge produces a few thousandths of a volt, a moving coil a fraction of that, and the phono stage multiplies the signal a hundred times or more before your amplifier ever sees it. Whatever electrical noise is riding along gets multiplied with it. No other source in a typical hi-fi system asks for that much amplification, which is why vinyl systems tend to be the first place people notice when the background isn't as quiet as it could be.

Entreq, a Swedish company whose range we sell, make ground boxes intended to give that noise somewhere to go. This is not a tour of the range, which runs to some fairly serious money. It's the small starting kit we'd look at for a turntable system, and the order to do it in.

First, the dull bit

Before you spend anything, check the thin earth lead from your turntable. It should be connected to the ground post on the phono stage (or on the amplifier, if the phono stage is built in). If you have a loud, steady hum, check that lead first. It is the commonest cause, and no ground box will fix it. (Some decks don't have a separate earth lead at all, so check the manual.) Entreq say plainly that none of their ground boxes can replace protective earth, meaning the mains safety earth. The turntable's earth lead is a different thing again, a connection that keeps hum away, and a ground box doesn't replace that either. Leave it where it is.

The same goes for set-up. A cartridge tracking at the wrong weight, or an arm that isn't level, costs you more than any accessory can give back. If you're still deciding between cartridges, that's where the money should go first. Entreq are for the system that is set up properly and could still be quieter.

Why the box goes on the phono stage

Entreq's ground boxes plug into a spare socket on a component, which their own guide calls "any spare termination". A turntable's outputs are already in use, so the simplest place for the box is the next thing along: the phono stage, or the amplifier.

Check what you have free before buying. Plenty of compact phono stages have one input and one output, and both are in use. In that case a spare input on the amplifier is the place to use. Either way, nothing on the turntable itself changes.

Step one: the Micro Kit

The Entreq Micro Kit Tungsten (£260) is where we'd start. It is a small oak box, 170mm long and about a kilo in weight, filled with Entreq's mineral mix and supplied with a ground cable that ends in a 3.5mm jack, plus a click-on RCA adaptor. The adaptor is the useful part here. It means the cable plugs straight into an unused RCA input, which is exactly what most phono stages and amplifiers have going spare.

Entreq rate the Micro for one component weighing up to 6kg. A standalone phono stage will usually come in comfortably under that. Entreq's instructions are to switch everything off and unplug it from the mains before connecting a ground box, so do that each time. It is still a quick job, quick enough to play the same record with and without it while the first listen is fresh.

Step two, if your spare socket is on the amplifier

Amplifiers are heavier, and plenty of integrated amplifiers weigh more than 6kg. Check the specification sheet. For anything up to 10kg, the Entreq Macro Box Tungsten Kit (£500) is the one Entreq rate for the job. It is a larger and heavier single-cell box with Entreq's Tungsten Inside technology, supplied as a complete kit with a 1.1m Eartha ground cable. Entreq include an RCA click-on adaptor, so it plugs into a spare input in the same way as the Micro.

If you are deciding between the two, Entreq's weight rating is the simplest guide.

Step three: something on top

Grounding deals with electrical noise. Vibration is a separate problem, and Entreq's answer to it is the Vibbeater Apollo, a weight filled with a copper-based mineral mix, which sits on top of a component. It comes in several sizes, and for a phono stage the place to start is the Mini, at £200, which weighs a kilo. Entreq say it works partly by adding stability through its own weight and partly by turning vibration into a very small amount of heat. Their advice for electronics is to start near the power inlet or the transformer, then move it about until it sounds right, so expect to experiment.

Keep it off the turntable, though. Entreq's guidance covers loudspeakers and electronics, and extra weight on a sprung plinth is the last thing a suspended deck needs.

What to listen for

Go back to the lead-in groove first, because it's the one stretch of a record where you hear the system with no music in the way. Then try something with a great deal of quiet in it. The opening of "Blue in Green" from Miles Davis's Kind of Blue is a good test: Bill Evans's piano introduction, each chord left to fade. Listen to how long the notes hang before they go, and to what is underneath them as they do.

If you hear nothing change, that's a perfectly good result and a cheap one to reach. Some systems are quieter than others to begin with.

Ask the people who bring it in

Airt Audio, who distribute Entreq in the UK, are at Ber Street on 15th October, with sessions at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. That day's system is digital and the subject is cables, so there won't be a record on. It is still a good chance to ask the UK distributor where a box should go on your phono stage. Bring the model name and a photo of the back panel.

Otherwise, the full Entreq range is online, and you can call us on 01603 627010 or get in touch with what's in your system. We'll help you work out which socket to use.

 

Martins Hi-Fi
85-91 Ber Street, Norwich NR1 3EY
01603 627010
info@martinshifi.co.uk

Start at the Phono Stage: A First Entreq Setup for a Record Player

 

Every record starts with a second or two of nothing. The stylus drops into the lead-in groove, and before the first note there is a short stretch with no music cut into it at all. Turn the volume up a notch and listen to what's there. Some of it is the vinyl: a soft rush, the odd tick. Some of it, quite often, isn't.

That is the case for grounding a record player, and it comes down to scale. A moving-magnet cartridge produces a few thousandths of a volt, a moving coil a fraction of that, and the phono stage multiplies the signal a hundred times or more before your amplifier ever sees it. Whatever electrical noise is riding along gets multiplied with it. No other source in a typical hi-fi system asks for that much amplification, which is why vinyl systems tend to be the first place people notice when the background isn't as quiet as it could be.

Entreq, a Swedish company whose range we sell, make ground boxes intended to give that noise somewhere to go. This is not a tour of the range, which runs to some fairly serious money. It's the small starting kit we'd look at for a turntable system, and the order to do it in.

First, the dull bit

Before you spend anything, check the thin earth lead from your turntable. It should be connected to the ground post on the phono stage (or on the amplifier, if the phono stage is built in). If you have a loud, steady hum, check that lead first. It is the commonest cause, and no ground box will fix it. (Some decks don't have a separate earth lead at all, so check the manual.) Entreq say plainly that none of their ground boxes can replace protective earth, meaning the mains safety earth. The turntable's earth lead is a different thing again, a connection that keeps hum away, and a ground box doesn't replace that either. Leave it where it is.

The same goes for set-up. A cartridge tracking at the wrong weight, or an arm that isn't level, costs you more than any accessory can give back. If you're still deciding between cartridges, that's where the money should go first. Entreq are for the system that is set up properly and could still be quieter.

Why the box goes on the phono stage

Entreq's ground boxes plug into a spare socket on a component, which their own guide calls "any spare termination". A turntable's outputs are already in use, so the simplest place for the box is the next thing along: the phono stage, or the amplifier.

Check what you have free before buying. Plenty of compact phono stages have one input and one output, and both are in use. In that case a spare input on the amplifier is the place to use. Either way, nothing on the turntable itself changes.

Step one: the Micro Kit

The Entreq Micro Kit Tungsten (£260) is where we'd start. It is a small oak box, 170mm long and about a kilo in weight, filled with Entreq's mineral mix and supplied with a ground cable that ends in a 3.5mm jack, plus a click-on RCA adaptor. The adaptor is the useful part here. It means the cable plugs straight into an unused RCA input, which is exactly what most phono stages and amplifiers have going spare.

Entreq rate the Micro for one component weighing up to 6kg. A standalone phono stage will usually come in comfortably under that. Entreq's instructions are to switch everything off and unplug it from the mains before connecting a ground box, so do that each time. It is still a quick job, quick enough to play the same record with and without it while the first listen is fresh.

Step two, if your spare socket is on the amplifier

Amplifiers are heavier, and plenty of integrated amplifiers weigh more than 6kg. Check the specification sheet. For anything up to 10kg, the Entreq Macro Box Tungsten Kit (£500) is the one Entreq rate for the job. It is a larger and heavier single-cell box with Entreq's Tungsten Inside technology, supplied as a complete kit with a 1.1m Eartha ground cable. Entreq include an RCA click-on adaptor, so it plugs into a spare input in the same way as the Micro.

If you are deciding between the two, Entreq's weight rating is the simplest guide.

Step three: something on top

Grounding deals with electrical noise. Vibration is a separate problem, and Entreq's answer to it is the Vibbeater Apollo, a weight filled with a copper-based mineral mix, which sits on top of a component. It comes in several sizes, and for a phono stage the place to start is the Mini, at £200, which weighs a kilo. Entreq say it works partly by adding stability through its own weight and partly by turning vibration into a very small amount of heat. Their advice for electronics is to start near the power inlet or the transformer, then move it about until it sounds right, so expect to experiment.

Keep it off the turntable, though. Entreq's guidance covers loudspeakers and electronics, and extra weight on a sprung plinth is the last thing a suspended deck needs.

What to listen for

Go back to the lead-in groove first, because it's the one stretch of a record where you hear the system with no music in the way. Then try something with a great deal of quiet in it. The opening of "Blue in Green" from Miles Davis's Kind of Blue is a good test: Bill Evans's piano introduction, each chord left to fade. Listen to how long the notes hang before they go, and to what is underneath them as they do.

If you hear nothing change, that's a perfectly good result and a cheap one to reach. Some systems are quieter than others to begin with.

Ask the people who bring it in

Airt Audio, who distribute Entreq in the UK, are at Ber Street on 15th October, with sessions at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. That day's system is digital and the subject is cables, so there won't be a record on. It is still a good chance to ask the UK distributor where a box should go on your phono stage. Bring the model name and a photo of the back panel.

Otherwise, the full Entreq range is online, and you can call us on 01603 627010 or get in touch with what's in your system. We'll help you work out which socket to use.

 

Martins Hi-Fi
85-91 Ber Street, Norwich NR1 3EY
01603 627010
info@martinshifi.co.uk