Shunyata Launches - ALTAIRA GROUNDING SYSTEM!!

[SCAudiophile]

How many Altairas did you order? If you ordered more than one for configuring a segmented system, the guidance is to use the SG hub regardless of whether the Esoteric's binding post is actually a "chassis ground", or not.

I do not believe that is correct without clarification. The suggestion is to focus on SG for digital I believe. That does not imply that if the Esoteric ground lugs are chassis grounds (which they are) that they should be connected to the Altaira SG.
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[Puma Cat]

I do not believe that is correct without clarification. The suggestion is to focus on SG for digital I believe. That does not imply that if the Esoteric ground lugs are chassis grounds (which they are) that they should be connected to the Altaira SG.
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Hi Mark,

If folks plan to use a single Altaira for their entire system, as Brodric had planned to do, the guidance is to use an CG Altaira.

If however, one is going to implement a segmented system, that is, utilize more than 1 Altaira in the system to segment the specific types of componentry into functional "domains", the guidance from Shunyata's Hub Selection Guide for a "segmented" system is that the Altaira for each "segment" (i.e., a "digital front-end segment" domain and an "analog amplification segment" domain) should be an SG Altaira hub. So, if you're going to have an Altaira dedicated to a "digital stack" (e.g. streamer, network bridge, DAC, switch, etc.) that Altaira should be an SG hub, and then the Altaira for the "analog amplification segment" (pre, amp, or monos, etc.) should also be an SG Altaira.

Screen shot from page 3 of Altaira Hub Selection Guide:

Same applies when configuring a dual-mono system (e.g. dual-mono DAC, preamp, mono-blocks, etc.), folks should use an SG hub for each channel of the dual-mono system, including the analog amplification components.

Again, folks should read all the literature and info from Shunyata thoroughly, and then work with a trained and certified Altaira dealer (e.g. Mike).

It's unfortunate that Esoteric inaccurately labeled a ground terminal that actually makes a connection to chassis ground as "signal ground", because Brodric could have ordered the CG hub from the get-go.

 

[Puma Cat]

i'll just add that if CG hub users decide they want to implement another Altaira in their system, e.g. getting an SG hub for segmenting the digital domain components, one can still use their CG Altaira for the analog amplification segment.

From the Hub Selection Guide pg. 3 footnote, referenced above: "NOTE: If you have an existing grounding system that already has an ALTAIRA Chassis Hub, and you want to segment the digital components, you will only need to purchase a single ALTAIRA Signal Hub for the digital components. All the other non-digital components may be connected to the existing Chassis Hub."

 

[brodricj]

Who would have thought grounding could be so complicated. It looks like I'm going to have to sell my -SG (even though it hasn't been delivered yet), buy a -CG and wear a loss on the changeover price.

My reading of the QSG is that the starting point is always the -CG. If you then want to segment, add a -SG. So a dealer shouldn't be selling a customer a -SG if they don't already have a -CG. Is that right?

What I don't understand is the use of ground tails where the signal outputs are galvanic isolated by design. How is the grounding getting past the galvanic isolation?

 

[Puma Cat]

My reading of the QSG is that the starting point is always the -CG. If you then want to segment, add a -SG. So a dealer shouldn't be selling a customer a -SG if they don't already have a -CG. Is that right?

No, I purchased two SG hubs from the get-go, as I knew I would be configuring a segmented system, one for "sources" and one for the analog amplification gear. This was all clearly explained in the extensive guidance Shunyata published when the system was introduced.

 

[brodricj]

I have received some very enlightening information from Shunyata. In my application the recommended Altaira is -SG (which is what I ordered). SG hubs filter more aggressively at higher frequencies. The higher frequency filtering of -SG yields a lower noise floor with digital components when the -SG is connected to a Shunyata power distributor CGNR post. The -CG hub has an added filter on its main terminal to lessen the transmission of noise back to whatever its connected to. If connecting back to a Shunyata distributor post for the main ground the added filter on the -CG hub main terminal is less necessary because of the CGNR noise filtering behind the distributor post connections.

Short story: for Esoteric owners who own a Shunyata power distributor, if you were to buy only one Altaira, buy the -SG. If you then wanted to upgrade to a segmented grounded system, buy another -SG.

The timely support from Shunyata is excellent. They have offered to put an Altaira-CG into our market for customers to try at home and make their own assessment what works best. No doubt that will find itself to me in time. Thanks Shunyata!

 

[Arcade]

I'm an Australian dealer and have both a signal and chassis version for demo, as well as a full dealer kit of Alpha ground cables and tails. I think you'll find there are a few dealers with demo kits available if you just contact them....

 

[brodricj]

... The Alpha CGCs are great, but Omega takes things to another level altogether.

I hope so. I just ordered four Omega ground cables. Custom made to order, about one month delivery. It's a lot of money, more than the cost of the Altaira hub. I hope it yields something worthwhile.

 

[brodricj]

Oooo, happy days....ground hog day...it arrived a day early...time to start grounding...

 

[brodricj]

I'M GROUNDED.

IF I MIGHT BORROW AN EXPRESSION FROM JOHN McENROE.....



YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!

 

[crwilli]

:woot:

 

[brodricj]

Oh yeah baby, this is the real deal.

Altaira brings more to the party than Everest or Alpha/Sigma v2 power cables did.

It's right up there with Sigma Clock-50 for quantum leap in system utility.

That's all I have to say about that!

 

[Puma Cat]

Oh yeah baby, this is the real deal.

Altaira brings more to the party than Everest or Alpha/Sigma v2 power cables did.

It's right up there with Sigma Clock-50 for quantum leap in system utility.

That's all I have to say about that!

Yep...

That's why guys were literally freakin' out at the demo Richard of Shunyata did at the initial demo at the Suncoast show last year, in Feb 2022. Mike remembers...

And, then again at the show this year...

And...it gets EVEN BETTER when you implement a segmented system, e.g. partitioning the digital front end from the "analog amplification" gear.

 

[Mike]

Oh yeah baby, this is the real deal.

Altaira brings more to the party than Everest or Alpha/Sigma v2 power cables did.

It's right up there with Sigma Clock-50 for quantum leap in system utility.

That's all I have to say about that!

You were a skeptic! Glad you got to experience “the real deal”!


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[brodricj]

And...it gets EVEN BETTER when you implement a segmented system, e.g. partitioning the digital front end from the "analog amplification" gear.

One Altaira doesn't have enough grounding posts for my system.

If I went segmented that would be another SG, right? I'm wondering whether the power supply for the SACD transport would be on the analog segment with the pre-amp and its power supply, or would you put it on the digital segment with the transport?

 

[Puma Cat]

One Altaira doesn't have enough grounding posts for my system.

If I went segmented that would be another SG, right? I'm wondering whether the power supply for the SACD transport would be on the analog segment with the pre-amp and its power supply, or would you put it on the digital segment with the transport?

Hi Brodric,
Yes, the guidance from Shunyata is that if you were to implement a "segmented" system, then you should be using the SG hubs*. Regarding your specific question as to where you would attach a ground cable for the power supply for the SACD transport, my thought is it would be on the "digital stack". Also, just a note regarding segmentation: my understanding is that for fully dual-mono "analog amplification" devices, which the Esoteric gear is, I would dedicate one of the SG Altairas specifically to your "analog amplification stack", for example, if you have a dual-mono pre and dual-mono amp or monos, keep that "segment" separate from the "digital stack" (DAC, clock, transport. etc). So, you if you have an Esoteric preamp and monos, you could connect a ground cable from the Esoteric preamp's ground terminals (the "main control unit" aka "MCU" and the power supply) to this "analog stack" Altaira, and if you are using the monos or the stereo amp, connect a ground cable from it's SG ground terminal to individual ground terminals on the analog stack Altaira.

If you want to go "whole hog", you can get a third SG Altaira, and dedicate one SG hub to just the left channel of the analog amplification segment, and the other hub just to the right channel segment.

 

[brodricj]

I was thinking the smart money would be to add a 2nd SG rather than buying a set of grounding cables. A set of GC is $1K+ more than the cost of a grounding hub. I couldn't see the sense of that when basic wire worked so well. I had placed an order and paid in full for a set of Omega GC's but I cancelled that yesterday. I put up the do not disturb sign yesterday and had a good listening session with the newly grounded system. What Shunyata says in its marketing material about the performance benefits of Altaira I fully endorse.

 

[brodricj]

My Mil-Spec M27500A16LE1S06 wire arrived today. This is a shielded silver plated stranded copper wire with a PTFE jacket. I bought 50' of it. The plan was to cut it to length to connect my source components to the Altaira grounding hub. I had a change of mind and decided to use it to connect the Denali to the Everest, and the Halcro mono amps to the Altaira. There was a short piece left over that I used to connect the Altaira to the Everest. Previously the Halcro mono amps were connected to the Denali grounding post. Now the Altaira is fully loaded:

Altaira ground > Everest ground.
Altaira SG1 > Esoteric D1X-R
Altaira SG2 > Esoteric D1X-L
Altaira SG3 > Esoteric C1X + power supply
Altaira SG4 > Esoteric P1 + power supply
Altaira SG5 > Esoteric G-02X
Altaira SG6 > Halcro mono L + mono R
Denali ground > Everest ground

Initial impression is grounding the Denali to the Everest and the power amps to the Altaira has made an incremental improvement over the previous configuration (which was source components grounded to Altaira and power amps grounded to the Denali). Grounding the source components to the Altaira using cheap 30 amp ETPC copper made a significant improvement; in fact it was a revelation. The next step is to buy more of the Mil-Spec silver wire to replace the ETPC copper for the source components. I'm terminating the wire with Audioquest silver plated spades. The Mil-Spec wire is cheaper than the entry level Shunyata Venom grounding cable (I can build six DIY ground cables for about the same cost as one Venom GC).

I would like to know whether I can hear any difference between silver wire and cheap copper wire grounding cables. I would also like to know if the Shunyata grounding cables sound better than the DIY silver/copper grounding cables. Unfortunately these are not available for demo from local dealer channel.

 

[Puma Cat]

Today I'm getting some Altaira system VT-X grounding "tails" in with RJ45 and USB-A terminations. The plan is to install the USB-A tail in an unused USB port on the Mini Roon Core and the RJ45 tail in an unused port in my Pace router, both of which are located in the remote server room and connect them to Gemini. The Mac Mini, EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock, and Pace router are all powered by the new Gemini power distributor which is perfect for these applications and also has... four Altaira chassis-ground noise-reduction terminals.

You can see in the photo above the Alpha CGC that connects from EtherREGEN's ground terminal to Gemini's fourth terminal.

I really like how Shunyata implemented their "base ground cable" and "tails" system: you can purchase a base cable of the spec you need (e.g., Venom, Delta, Alpha, Sigma, Omega) and then simply add the appropriately-terminated tail for your specific application(s). There's a variety of tails available including XLR male and female, USB-A and B, RJ45, S/DPIF, BNC, etc.

Shown here are pics of the Alpha CGCs and their respective XLR tails I use for (unused) XLR jacks on my Constellation Inspiration integrated and Lumin P1. As both components are fully dual-mono, I use a CGC + XLR tail for each channel, L/R, for each component.

An Alpha base ground cable with standard STIS banana plugs. The two types of XLR tails are shown in the middle of the base cable.

Photo showing an XLR female VTX-Ag tail "snapped" onto the Alpha base ground cable. The male XLR tail is shown in the middle.

Here's the cables for the Lumin P1 in the main rack in place: the lower left shows the two cables with XLR tails connecting from the P1 to the Altaira SGC hub on top.

I'll make similar connections from the Mac Mini Roon core and router in the server room but will connect to Gemini, instead...stay tuned.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

Today I'm getting some Altaira system VT-X grounding "tails" in with RJ45 and USB-A terminations. The plan is to install the USB-A tail in an unused USB port on the Mini Roon Core and the RJ45 tail in an unused port in my Pace router, both of which are located in the remote server room and connect them to Gemini. The Mac Mini, EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock, and Pace router are all powered by the new Gemini power distributor which is perfect for these applications and also has... four Altaira chassis-ground noise-reduction terminals.

You can see in the photo above the Alpha CGC that connects from EtherREGEN's ground terminal to Gemini's fourth terminal.

I really like how Shunyata implemented their "base ground cable" and "tails" system: you can purchase a base cable of the spec you need (e.g., Venom, Delta, Alpha, Sigma, Omega) and then simply add the appropriately-terminated tail for your specific application(s). There's a variety of tails available including XLR male and female, USB-A and B, RJ45, S/DPIF, BNC, etc.

Shown here are pics of the Alpha CGCs and their respective XLR tails I use for (unused) XLR jacks on my Constellation Inspiration integrated and Lumin P1. As both components are fully dual-mono, I use a CGC + XLR tail for each channel, L/R, for each component.

An Alpha base ground cable with standard STIS banana plugs. The two types of XLR tails are shown in the middle of the base cable.

Photo showing an XLR female VTX-Ag tail "snapped" onto the Alpha base ground cable. The male XLR tail is shown in the middle.

Here's the cables for the Lumin P1 in the main rack in place: the lower left shows the two cables with XLR tails connecting from the P1 to the Altaira SGC hub on top.

I'll make similar connections from the Mac Mini Roon core and router in the server room but will connect to Gemini, instead...stay tuned.

Definitely let us know how it turns out!