The Chord PowerHAUS M6 Distribution Block

Solid sender…

By Roy Gregory

Audiophiles are slowly beginning to realise that grounding matters. More than that, they’re realising that the issue extends beyond ground quality to the whole question of ground topology. And if they’re not, then they should be. For some years now, the conversations around system grounding and its readily demonstrable benefits have been slowly increasing in volume. What might once have been dismissed as heresy is now becoming increasingly common practice.

The advent of parallel grounding systems such as Entreq, Tripoint, CAD and the Nordost QKore have all served to focus attention on the issue of ground quality and system noise-floor. That in turn has led to a more exacting examination of the AC ground and the belated appreciation of the fact that it’s not just about providing your system with a secure, low-noise ground path. To really maximise system performance you need to provide each separate component with the SAME secure, low-noise ground path.

This might seem like a strange place to start discussing the virtues of a six-way distribution block, but in one sense, it’s the ultimate case of the ends justifying the means. Time was when committed audiophiles had multiple AC sockets mounted on the wall behind their system – in some cases, rows of them. But once you realise that ground integrity is a performance related issue, the only sensible way to go is star grounding – tying the individual AC grounds to a single point that provides a constant (or at least the same) ground impedance to all the separate components. Once you get that far, then the use of a power-strip fed from a single, high-quality, dedicated AC feed becomes the next logical step. Take that in turn to the logical extreme and you end up with the Audioplan PowerStar, a fascinating case study in its own right. It might be a history lesson (of sorts) but it’s definitely the departure point that led us to where we are now. As such, it established the original concept and explains what current products are trying to achieve and, more importantly, why they take the form they do.

A new reality…

I first encountered the Audioplan distribution block around three-decades ago. It’s circular layout places six sockets, equidistant around a central one that doubles as the centre point of the grounding star. It also introduced me to the technique of ‘centring’ the signal ground; that involves placing the line-stage or preamplifier at the centre of the ground star and routing the signal grounds through it. To that end, the source cables and pre-power interconnects had their shields differentially grounded and anchored to the line-stage connectors. Combine all that with non-metallic construction and you’ve got a pretty revolutionary and sonically effective device, one that sits at the heart of a complete system solution. Even 30-years later, few companies have taken the thinking and execution of AC supply and system grounding as far as Audioplan. However, the audio market has ever been resistant to integrated solutions that cross perceived product boundaries. The idea of buying all of your cables and your mains distribution from a single source was so alien at that time that even 30-years later, it still causes eyebrows to raise – despite the easily demonstrable benefits. Throw in the PowerStar’s circular footprint – less than practical for positioning behind an audio rack – and perhaps it’s no surprise that it’s taken so long for the industry as a whole (or even in part) to cotton on.