The High-Tech Cable Solution to Turntable Grounding Issues
Whether draining a shield or preventing hum, a ground wire, like all wire, is an RF antenna. AudioQuest GroundGoodys are the only solutions that don’t add RF noise while grounding turntables, ground-boxes, subwoofers, powered speakers, and more.
The often abused “New and Improved” accolade was never truer than with AudioQuest's totally revised GroundGoodys, and so new names were required.
Like Saturn and Jupiter GroundGoodys before them, the ThunderBird GroundGoody uses premium conductor materials, which are controlled for direction and cold-welded to Direct-Silver Plated #10 size spade lugs.
While Saturn used Perfect-Surface Copper+ conductor metal, ThunderBird steps up to Solid 6% silver, significantly enhancing its ability to efficiently dissipate RF noise. Dragon continues with Jupiter’s best-there-is Solid Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS).
The most important news is that AudioQuest's strongest Noise-Dissipation technology, the patented RF/ND-Tech that distinguishes AQ’s Level 8 Noise-Dissipation, dissipates and cancels most induced RF Noise.
The ThunderBird GroundGoody can be combined with nearly any analog interconnect cable to create a low-distortion phono cable. The exceptions are AQ’s ZERO-Tech interconnects – the Mythical Horses (Black Beauty, Pegasus) and Mythical Creatures (ThunderBird, FireBird, Dragon) are not compatible with phono cartridges.
Solid 6% Silver Conductors
Solid conductors prevent electrical and magnetic strand-interaction. To approach the ultimate Noise-Dissipation performance of AudioQuest's best conductor metal – Solid 100% Perfect-Surface Silver – increasingly thick layers of silver plating are applied to our Long-Grain Copper (LGC) conductors. Placing the superior metal on the outside of the conductor produces the greatest benefit on overall performance – a superbly cost-effective way to maximize a cable design.
Minimizes Circuit Misbehavior by Cancelling Induced RF Noise
Though a cable’s ground leads are integral to a component’s signal transmission, they also act as an antenna. Thus, they are subject to induced Radio-Frequency (RF) noise.
RF noise is a parasitic signal that is typically coupled directly into a system’s most sensitive audio/video circuits. AudioQuest’s RF-on-ground Noise-Dissipation (RF/ND-Tech) greatly reduces resulting distortion and signal masking, yielding unprecedented levels of Noise-Dissipation across the widest bandwidth (range) of radio frequencies possible. The unique circuit topology uses a common-mode phase-cancelling array, providing linear noise dissipation across the entire length of the cable (US Patent # 8,988,168).
Direction-Controlled Conductors
A fundamental aspect of AudioQuest's multifaceted Noise-Dissipation technology, Direction-Controlled Conductors ensure induced noise is dissipated and drained properly.
Direct-Silver Plated 3/16" (4.8mm) Spades
Direct-Silver Plating is optimized for sound. It looks dull because there is no underlying layer of shiny, distortion-causing nickel.