What can I use for a ground wire?

[franz68]

I just bought a Technics SlQ300. It is my first turntable and it did not come with a ground wire. What can I use for a ground wire? Is a ground wire totally necessary? I do not have very much knowledge on the subject of turntables so all input is appreciated.

[Alec124c41]

If it makes your speakers hum when you turn it on, you need a ground wire. If you get a nice quiet background when you are playing a record, you're good.

Alec

[Van_Isle]

Take the turntable down to your local Radio Shack, or other electronics parts store if one is available and see if you can match up the ground jack with a plug they have. Then just about any type of insulated wire should do the trick (say 18 or 20 gauge I would imagine - you could separate a length of el-cheapo speaker wire if you have some lying around, I would imagine). Solder the wire to the plug (or you may find a solderless plug) and the other end just strip it bare to connect to the ground on the receiver / amp.

I also understand that for interconnects (i.e. RCA patch cables) you should, since you have the type that are not hard-wired to the turntable, invest in some decent low-capacitance cables.

See:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showth ... erconnects

There may be other suggestions also in this forum.

Although I have not tried them, I thought these might be good as well:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2

RG-59U cabling like these monoprice cables should be low capacitance (17pF/ft) and at $2.11 for a 3-foot set with gold RCA connectors, that would be hard to beat I would imagine, even with shipping.

[Van_Isle]

These monoprice interconnects might even be better (you have to buy 2 single cables of course)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2

[jedinite24]

Does anyone have any suggestions on what kind of wire I can use as a ground wire from my turntable to my preamp? After cleaning out my basement I found I have excess telephone wire, 16 gauge Home Depot speaker wire, some 12v trigger cables and cheapo ICs often found. The reason I ask is that in my main system I'm making changes and the phono ends and ground wire of my TT are now too short to connect to the phono section of my Accuphase C200. What I was thinking about doing was using a pair of ICs connect them to the phono section of the C200 and on the other side use a pair of female couplers so I could then connect the male ends of the TT RCAs. Now I don't know what kind of wire to use for the ground wire. Thanks and advise when you can.

[analogaudio]

black PVC insulated 18awg stranded tinned copper wire should do the trick, Radio Shack sell something similar, 16awg and 20awg are also suitable.