Entreq Tellus grounding

[Barry2013]

What a great post...super detailed and informative! I thought I would add my own personal experiences/observations having now completed the setup and settling in of the Entreq system.

After several weeks of listening to the latest in Entreq grounding (after not exploring grounding in nearly 12 years)...conclusion: We are keeping the Tripoint and adding an Entreq dual Pluton & Olympus Infinity T system to it. Observations and and listening notes as follows:

Final Setup
- Tripoint Troy SE: Zanden 4-box Chassis Ground + Torus Grounding Post
- Entreq Dual Plutons + Olympus Infinity Tungsten (full complement of Olympus Wiring & Peak 4 Binding Posts
- 7 Totally Isolated individual Grounding Modules
- 1 x Pre Grounding Posts
- 1 x DAC Signal Ground
- 1 x Pre Signal Ground
- 1 x Sub Signal Ground
- 1 x Each Mono
- 1 Split to 'supercharge' each Mono
- Peak 4s across the board where there is a cable connected. On unconnected grounding posts, original wooden binding post worked best with only exception being the Subwoofer.

Listening Notes - Trial Set Up
We originally started with 1 x Entreq Pluton + 1 x Olympus Infinity T. It took 5.5 days for the first iteration to bake in...and it was both shocking and well worth the wait:
- Day 0-1: I do hear more mid/bass detail and power...some extension...it IS what I was looking for directionally...but was that all we'd get?
- Day 2-3.5: OK better...its not something you would readily pull out of the system...but it is expensive for what it is
- Day 4.-4.5: Just about making me 60-40 in favor of justifying the cost
- Day 5.5: Blew me away into 'I would not have the system without it any longer'

Listening Notes - Final Set Up
We then went to dual Plutons + Olympus Infinity T to give each connection its own separate grounding module...plus giving 1.5 grounding modules to each mono. This system took 9.5- days to get to wow...and around 12.5 days to settle down finally.

Results?
The best way I can describe something [that no other component has ever done before [including Tripoint which is about extreme clarity and purity of detail] for music is:

1.Super-hero reflexes, strength and agility. The Wilsons sound more like electrostatics than I have ever heard them before...BUT also maintaining the sheer depth/power of cones. I am able to cerebrally appreciate/listen/pay attention to and 'study' more Glenn Gould solo piano technique, or more interplay between Clapton and the rest of the band, or Yo Yo Ma's counterpoint to his fellow musicians at Mandolin and Bass...but at the same time, because I can do that effortlessly, without trying...it really is emotionally just super super gratifying.

2. Timing, timing, timing of the most minute touches go from being unheard not just to being heard but to becoming actual musical moments to relish...a pregnant pause in between 2 piano keys, the extra hold on a mandolin string.
- On deep house electronic, whereas you might count 7 lines of coordinated bass rhythms and 3-5 separate sound effects...now what happens is that 4 of the 5 of those separate sound effects suddenly become another rhythm that match the first group of 7 rhythms.
- Very, very subtle, but you realize that those tracks were layered with the most subtle of syncopated rhythms in time with the main rhythms of the music...something that was not apparent before...that zooming left to right swish, or that whispered word in the back...were actually all done in time with the main beats. VERY COOL.

3. Musical Nuance. There is SOMETHING about its ability to remove that fine dust which obscures the extra pressure of the fingertip, or the light touch at the end of the bow...but doing so all the time, with every note, across the entire musical score...you are suddenly filled with a level of musical insight.
- Put another way, it gives you that extra special sense of insights that the best electrostatics do in terms of fingering, nuance, technique...BUT (and its a big but)...BUT you get that fulness and depth of power and corporeal note saturation that comes from the best of cones (except with again super hero speed/reflexes)

4. LIFE in your notes. Unlike any single component, the Entreq has contributed most to allowing the system to uncover LIFELIKE FULLNESS in the musical notes.
- Again, you really do get at quite an upclose/personal granular level a sense of the artists' interplay on something like Bach Trios between Yo Yo Ma and his fellow musicians on mandolin and bass.
- But in addition to the interplay element, each instrument has a far greater corporeal BODY present in the room.
- The mandolin certainly has the weight of a real instrument in the room.
- The Cello certainly approaching in-the-room power (NOTE: it is not as much about the actual live power of the true cello instrument but more how the live cello strokes can 'attack the air' around you which often gets slightly 'blurred' or 'slurred' in systems where it becomes more obvious, it is system, not the real thing. Here with the electrostatic-like reflexes plus the power/depth of note of the cone...you get a startling amount of instantaneous power...which is what I feel when up close with a cello in real life.

This includes a great sense of propulsion and power as well as super-soft pianissimo notes which seems to have unlocked the system whereby now the Robert Kodas in place produce notably greater power than the Gryphon Mephisto but with far greater detail...whereas before it had the detail over the Mephisto but its power only edged out the Mephisto overall.

5. In visual/camera terms, the best analogy is Entreq is like the moment you see Pinocchio (thru a Pentax Zoom) suddenly turn into a real boy (but now thru a Nikon F/2.0)...the natural movement, intonation become vividly natural...but you ALSO get very very unique insight into details like the 'character of your space' (ie, so not just bigger space or deeper space, but you get a sense of the character/nature of that space (ie, so a large recording studio, a small damped rehearsal room, a small, brick/stone walled-underground jazz club space, etc)

6. The Tripoint Troy SE is spectacular at purity of detail, cleanliness and given its age at over 12 years is a testament to Miguel's design prowess. We are keeping it.

7. The Entreq Pluton is their latest design and it is quantums ahead of the 12-year old Silver Tellus (which also cost a lot less). The Pluton and Tungsten-based Entreqs are about flow, rhythm...(its work on deep house electronic is just artwork)...but delivers this thru electrostatic reflexes in your system, unleashing a lot more sheer power/dynamic range and then by removing grunge allowing a finely hidden world of detail to emerge forward.

I remain an enormous fan of Tripoint and am glad to say the Tripoint Troy SE is here to stay. In the same breath, Entreq has done masterful work which, in a word, has elevated music in our home to an artform which is well beyond our highest expectation when we set out to reexplore grounding. Well done, Entreq.

What impressive results you and Fabio have reported!
Clearly something others would be well advised to explore.

 

[gkg2k]

What impressive results you and Fabio have reported!
Clearly something others would be well advised to explore.

Actually Barry, it was such a big impact on sound quality that now I wouldn't know how I could listen to my system without the ENTREQ Tungsten groundboxes!

Thank you.

 

[LL21]

Hi Barry,

Yes, and in fact, just as gkg2K is saying, in my 5 complete systems over 35 years, this particular generation of Entreq is special and once set up well, does something for the recreation of music in a system that nothing else we have ever tried has been able to accomplish. It is akin to taking a new Penfolds...and then suddenly aging it 25 years...the maturity, ease, capability, lifelike presence...all of things intrinsic in the original 'recipe' of the system is suddenly matured, fulsome, bold, dynamic, rich, with far fewer of the impurities of a young wine/immature system that has not settled in.

 

[Barry2013]

Actually Barry, it was such a big impact on sound quality that now I wouldn't know how I could listen to my system without the ENTREQ Tungsten groundboxes!

Thank you.

Not at all, the thanks are all owed to you and Lloyd for drawing our attention to the new Entreq products

 

[Barry2013]

Hi Barry,

Yes, and in fact, just as gkg2K is saying, in my 5 complete systems over 35 years, this particular generation of Entreq is special and once set up well, does something for the recreation of music in a system that nothing else we have ever tried has been able to accomplish. It is akin to taking a new Penfolds...and then suddenly aging it 25 years...the maturity, ease, capability, lifelike presence...all of things intrinsic in the original 'recipe' of the system is suddenly matured, fulsome, bold, dynamic, rich, with far fewer of the impurities of a young wine/immature system that has not settled in.

What strikes me as the most significant feature of the new Tungsten line is the extent of the improvements you and Fabio are experiencing.
Fundamentally they are quite expensive tweaks, but not out of line with, for example, high end cables and isolation platforms which are very popular in our hobby. They are at the very least on a par with, if not more effective, than such products.Obviously, both are good investments and yours and Fabio's reviews really do make compelling cases for the Tungstens.

 

[LL21]

What strikes me as the most significant feature of the new Tungsten line is the extent of the improvements you and Fabio are experiencing.
Fundamentally they are quite expensive tweaks, but not out of line with, for example, high end cables and isolation platforms which are very popular in our hobby. They are at the very least on a par with, if not more effective, than such products.Obviously, both are good investments and yours and Fabio's reviews really do make compelling cases for the Tungstens.

I agree...they are significantly more expensive...but I have directly compared the original Silver Tellus to the Tripoint Troy SE at the time (a long thread somewhere here) and recognized at the time the attributes and qualities of both. I chose the TroySE as my personal winner...but it was also a significantly more expensive piece. Others who equally have gone TroySE at that time noted similar...but also noted that price-wise, the Silver Tellus was a good performer.

Now with the Tungstens, I can say the Entreqs' performance is in line with pricing...and relative to many other things I know we could consider auditioning, there is nothing we have come across that brings things into the real world, that creates that life-like natural bloom around instrument notes, voices, strings....via a combination of dynamic/electrostatic snap and depth/power of a cone in our speakers than the Entreq latest generation of Tungstens.

 

[HK Panda]

After a very long wait for my order to arrive, I finally received my Olympus Infinity T with 2x Peak 4 caps. I was able to try out the Ten T until the OIT arrived.

I had also tried out some Chinese grounding boxes which I used to sell myself on the idea of grounding.

Olympus Infinity T > Olympus Ten T > Chinese Grounding Boxes > No grounding.

The Ten T was better than the Chinese boxes (which were better than nothing) but the Ten T got saturated quickly for the signal ground I was using it for. Daisy Chaining the Entreq to one of the Chinese boxes helped that issue and was an improvement over just the Ten T by itself.

Last night removed the Ten T + Chinese boxes combo, and replaced with the Olympus Infinity T and the SQ improved in all areas. Blackness, naturalness, subtle nuances, and overall better musicality and ease.

The Apollo Eartha Infinity I ordered still has not arrived, so I'm still using a Chinese brand pure silver grounding wire.
There is no longer any doubt in my mind that the grounding works, and the bigger boxes are significantly better than the smaller boxes. Once I get the Eartha Infinity cables here, I will be able to know if they can improve on the Chinese cables. I am guessing they will.

 

[gkg2k]

After a very long wait for my order to arrive, I finally received my Olympus Infinity T with 2x Peak 4 caps. I was able to try out the Ten T until the OIT arrived.

I had also tried out some Chinese grounding boxes which I used to sell myself on the idea of grounding.

Olympus Infinity T > Olympus Ten T > Chinese Grounding Boxes > No grounding.

The Ten T was better than the Chinese boxes (which were better than nothing) but the Ten T got saturated quickly for the signal ground I was using it for. Daisy Chaining the Entreq to one of the Chinese boxes helped that issue and was an improvement over just the Ten T by itself.

Last night removed the Ten T + Chinese boxes combo, and replaced with the Olympus Infinity T and the SQ improved in all areas. Blackness, naturalness, subtle nuances, and overall better musicality and ease.

The Apollo Eartha Infinity I ordered still has not arrived, so I'm still using a Chinese brand pure silver grounding wire.
There is no longer any doubt in my mind that the grounding works, and the bigger boxes are significantly better than the smaller boxes. Once I get the Eartha Infinity cables here, I will be able to know if they can improve on the Chinese cables. I am guessing they will.

I can say the ENTREQ Eartha ground cables are nothing less than crucial because they're the first contact on the noise of the grounding system.

P.O. told me it took years to refine the Eartha cables and their ability to encourage the static high-frequency noise to leave the circuits and take the path to the groundbox. Hopefully you receive the great Eartha Apollo Infinity asap!

 

[LL21]

After a very long wait for my order to arrive, I finally received my Olympus Infinity T with 2x Peak 4 caps. I was able to try out the Ten T until the OIT arrived.

I had also tried out some Chinese grounding boxes which I used to sell myself on the idea of grounding.

Olympus Infinity T > Olympus Ten T > Chinese Grounding Boxes > No grounding.

The Ten T was better than the Chinese boxes (which were better than nothing) but the Ten T got saturated quickly for the signal ground I was using it for. Daisy Chaining the Entreq to one of the Chinese boxes helped that issue and was an improvement over just the Ten T by itself.

Last night removed the Ten T + Chinese boxes combo, and replaced with the Olympus Infinity T and the SQ improved in all areas. Blackness, naturalness, subtle nuances, and overall better musicality and ease.

The Apollo Eartha Infinity I ordered still has not arrived, so I'm still using a Chinese brand pure silver grounding wire.
There is no longer any doubt in my mind that the grounding works, and the bigger boxes are significantly better than the smaller boxes. Once I get the Eartha Infinity cables here, I will be able to know if they can improve on the Chinese cables. I am guessing they will.

Congrats!. In our system, when auditioning, we found that the Infinity T settled in after 5.5 days...a slow ramp at first that in day 4.5-5.5 started to pick up pace. (In our final set up, we had very long runs of grounding cables, and it took 9.5 - 12.5 days.) As for your new Eartha cable, once you disconnect the Infinity, you might need 'some' time again I think to get it to settle in.

But overall, your observations of blackness, naturalness, nuances and musicality/ease are great. Enjoy!

 

[HK Panda]

I can say the ENTREQ Eartha ground cables are nothing less than crucial because they're the first contact on the noise of the grounding system.

P.O. told me it took years to refine the Eartha cables and their ability to encourage the static high-frequency noise to leave the circuits and take the path to the groundbox. Hopefully you receive the great Eartha Apollo Infinity asap!

The Entreq gear has to come from either Shanghai or Hong Kong in my case, both of which are experiencing a Covid outbreak, so shipments are slower because of that. I'm not too concerned as I know I will get them eventually and by the time the eartha cables arrive I should have a pretty good feel for the sound without them. For whatever reason the Entrq dealer shipped the wrong cables with the Olympus (hook-hook) which is not what I ordered. Looking forward to them though.

 

[gkg2k]

The Entreq gear has to come from either Shanghai or Hong Kong in my case, both of which are experiencing a Covid outbreak, so shipments are slower because of that. I'm not too concerned as I know I will get them eventually and by the time the eartha cables arrive I should have a pretty good feel for the sound without them. For whatever reason the Entrq dealer shipped the wrong cables with the Olympus (hook-hook) which is not what I ordered. Looking forward to them though.

I'm sorry for the supply problems you're experiencing

Wouldn't a european source be more "stable" and fast?

What's the Eartha connector you use at component-side?

 

[HK Panda]

I'm sorry for the supply problems you're experiencing

Wouldn't a european source be more "stable" and fast?

What's the Eartha connector you use at the component-side?

Importing things on your own, presents it's own problems, so the dealer channel I am using is what I have to use.
Right now, until I get the correct Eartha cables, I am using two Chinese branded silver ground cables. One is a RCA to Spade, and the second is a XLR to Spade. I am using the Peak 4 binding caps on the Entreq side.

 

[LL21]

If you wanted to experiment while you wait, I have used hook to hook on RCA by using the hook on the outside of the RCA jack. Not the same I suspect, but just in case you wanted to try the Eartha as a start while you wait.

 

[gkg2k]

If you wanted to experiment while you wait, I have used hook to hook on RCA by using the hook on the outside of the RCA jack. Not the same I suspect, but just in case you wanted to try the Eartha as a start while you wait.

I tried the hook on the outside of the RCA jack once but the connection was rather loose

 

[LL21]

I tried the hook on the outside of the RCA jack once but the connection was rather loose

Yes, I had same issue...it did hold (as the hook is somewhat 'bendable').

 

[HK Panda]

If you wanted to experiment while you wait, I have used hook to hook on RCA by using the hook on the outside of the RCA jack. Not the same I suspect, but just in case you wanted to try the Eartha as a start while you wait.

No worries. The Eartha cable with the hooks was shipped back to the distributor. No longer here.

 

[ozzzy]

For those of you trying to make your own hook and keep it in place. Add one of those rca caps over the hook.

ozzy

 

[Barry2013]

After a very long wait for my order to arrive, I finally received my Olympus Infinity T with 2x Peak 4 caps. I was able to try out the Ten T until the OIT arrived.

I had also tried out some Chinese grounding boxes which I used to sell myself on the idea of grounding.

Olympus Infinity T > Olympus Ten T > Chinese Grounding Boxes > No grounding.

The Ten T was better than the Chinese boxes (which were better than nothing) but the Ten T got saturated quickly for the signal ground I was using it for. Daisy Chaining the Entreq to one of the Chinese boxes helped that issue and was an improvement over just the Ten T by itself.

Last night removed the Ten T + Chinese boxes combo, and replaced with the Olympus Infinity T and the SQ improved in all areas. Blackness, naturalness, subtle nuances, and overall better musicality and ease.

The Apollo Eartha Infinity I ordered still has not arrived, so I'm still using a Chinese brand pure silver grounding wire.
There is no longer any doubt in my mind that the grounding works, and the bigger boxes are significantly better than the smaller boxes. Once I get the Eartha Infinity cables here, I will be able to know if they can improve on the Chinese cables. I am guessing they will.

That is good news.
Your perseverance and a little help from your WBF fellow members is now enabling you to reap the benefits of Entreq grounding with more to come.
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HK Panda]

Since the Eartha Apollo Infinity cables were sent back (wrong connectors) was thinking of telling my dealer to just swap them out for the Eartha Olympus Infinity. Anyone done this and can tell me what sonic differences I would get from that upgrade?

 

[gkg2k]

Importing things on your own, presents it's own problems, ...

Eventually importing should end up with a cash-on-delivery due to the courier for the US import duties if all the paperwork has been well compiled by the sender

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Entreq EARTHA APOLLO INFINITY and EARTHA OLYMPUS INFINITY : two different flavours and both excellent. Impossible to say which is better in your system. You really have to try!