Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Power line question

Originally posted by TheGrimace:

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Copper is copper it corrodes at the same rate no matter what color insulator you put on the outside or how much you pay for it. If you are talking about connectors, gold is the best it doesnt corrode but it also doesnt conduct as well as copper. Silver on the other hand is the best "room temperature" conductor, but it tarnishes easily. (note) Do not under any circumstances ground your stereo to the body (or frame) of your car, ground loop will most likely occur and it has the potential of toasting your amp. Run the same cable back to the negative on your battery as you ran from the positive. Electrons actually flow from negetive to positive likewise "holes" flow from positive to negative therfore makeing the "pressure" on each side of the battery the same (if you had a water treatment plant would you suck water in through a 2 foot pipe and try to eject it through a pin-hole, i think not). Keep in mind you will not get ground loop noise in your audio, but the power supply of your amplifier will be dammaged by groundloop.

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well, judging by other things you have posted, i wouldn't take this as a truthful statement. so your saying everyone here that has their amps ground to a the body of the car, most likely under a nut or screw in the trunk, have done something bad? so these people that have had their systems going good for years have actually fried their amps and just don't realize it?????

If I'm reading this right, you've experienced a major disconnect between reading and understanding. You are applying stuff you learned in electronics class to Electrical systems. Electrons are negative and flow TO the negative terminal. Thats why it's called a ground. Ground loops occur due to improper grounding (usually poor connections where not enough flow is allowed).

I've not looked this stuff up in a long time, but its my .02

Peace

The ground loop problem was augmented, but can be a problem. Just because you paid way too much for monster cable doesnt change the fact that copper is a better conductor than gold and copper will corrode at the same rate no matter what color the insulator. (side note)Bridging degrades sound quality.

There is more than one electron theory. Electritions think in terms of positive is hot and current goes from positive to ground. Then there is the correct thinking, electrons flow from the negative side because they are repelled by thier own like charges. They flow toward the positive because the unlike charge attracts them. Either way you think about it the "Pressure" is equal on both sides of the battery. Does it then make any sense to run monster 0 AWG wire on only one side?

what? are u talking to me? do u realize augmented means to make bigger? monster cable? copper? gold? what? i just have my brother's amp install kit (my whole system was free, i spent no money other than a 30amp fuse) and are u talking to yourself? and why are you on here? u don't have a contour, you don't even have a ford, and you're bringing bad information.

Grimace is right about a few things here.

Silver is the best conductor of electricity but corrodes extremely easily. Gold is used because of the resistance to corrossion. Expensive wire has one advantage. It generally has more strands and is therefore, more flexible. The conductivity would be the same. I see no reason for not using the chassis as the ground in an electrical system. It is common, actually standard, practice to do so, and will not result in any degradation of performance if implemented properly.

A bridged amp will not result in any audible difference in SQ, so quit the misinformation.