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Articles Tagged Clear Path By Bill Whitlock

  • Thursday, January 03, 2013
    Don’t Bet Your Life: Get System AC Grounding Right
    ac power practices
    Bill Whitlock 01/03/13 06:29 PM,
    After teaching seminars for more than 15 years now, it still amazes me how many otherwise competent professionals don’t understand the importance of proper equipment safety grounding. Even more shocking (pun intended), many routinely and casually disconnect safety grounds to solve noise problems! Generally speaking, the purpose of grounding is to electrically interconnect conductive objects, such as equipment, in order to minimize voltage differences between them. National Electric Code (NEC) requires that 120-volt AC power distribution in homes and other… View this story
    Filed in: AV • Feature • Poll • Study Hall • Production • Audio • Amplifier • AV • Installation • Interconnect • Power • Sound Reinforcement • System

  • Friday, March 11, 2011
    Unbalanced Invites Trouble - Avoiding Hum, Buzz & Other Noise Problems
    ac grounding
    Bill Whitlock 03/11/11 04:05 PM, 0 Comments
    While hum and buzz are often blamed on “improper grounding,” actually, this is rarely the case. Properly installed, fully code-compliant AC power distribution systems will develop small, entirely safe voltage differences between the safety grounds of all outlets. These normally insignificant voltages cause problems only when they couple into the signal path at a vulnerable signal interface. Let’s look at why unbalanced interfaces are extremely prone to this coupling and cause noise problems even when no safety ground connections exist.… View this story
    Filed in: AV • Feature • Poll • Slideshow • AV • Installation • Interconnect • Power • Signal • Sound Reinforcement • Studio • System • Audio