Entreq listening test

Hi-Fi Corner
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Sometime ago I was persuaded to buy some Entreq boxes and associated cables.

Up until now I was convinced they improved the image and detail of my system.

Then this morning I thought I’d see what happens if I disconnected the boxes.

Imagine my dismay when I discovered there was absolutely no difference whatsoever.

The reality is these cables act as antennas in physical terms.

The little Swedish website says it all when you look at the standard of English used. They couldn’t even be bothered to employ a professional translator.

The funniest thing of all is they say the boxes have to be connected for at least a week to have any effect.

Why did I think there was improvement in the first place?

It must be subconscious bias or possibly even some psychosomatic illness.

I only have a relatively modest system, so perhaps they only work on expensive ones.

I comfort myself with the fact that at least I bought them secondhand.

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and you can probably sell them for not much loss…

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There are lot’s of posts on many forums about them.
The best one has to be where someone took it apart and looked inside. Well you can certainly see why they do nothing.
You could make the same thing for about a £10.
But you would simply be better just sticking an earth rod in the ground and running a few wires to it.
Crazy this hifi world

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Do you happen to have a link on hand?

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I don’t think links are permitted here.

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Aren’t domestic electrical circuits grounded?

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I assumed it was on here, but reading his post again I see he might have been referring to another forum. Still a hint of how to find it could be provided based on past threads.

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The pictures I think you refer to are not pictures from an Entreq box. It’s from an Asian copy. FWIW Shunyata, Nordost, CAD (made in UK) and other manufacturers which are well respected also make passive ground boxes. And there are many reviews by media on those which more or less all show great results.

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:large_blue_diamond: A hifi friend who only has Entreq in his head,.has bought this ground box in the picture below.
It costs £16500 :flushed:.

He has all the cabling in Entreq’s best series.
In my opinion,.absolutely insane…
Way overpriced…!!

Okay,.their most expensive power cable’s are good, but even there, incredibly overpriced in my opinion.

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In fact I think @SpaceCadet1 deserves an applause for having the sheer guts and honesty to fess up how he fell for the hype.
There are many that buy super expensive stuff then realise it’s duff but protest and defend to the last breath how great it is to save face. :+1:t2:

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Not if you live in the UK, no you wouldn’t be better off.
The vast majority of UK domestic systems are based on PME earthing. If you were to run wires to an earth rod in your garden when you have a PME system, you run the danger of having your entire streets earthing having access to that rod. Earth always takes the shortest route to ground.
The only time you should use an earth rod in the UK is if you have a TT earthed system because the system has no earth on the incoming main supply.

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Hearing a sonic improvement when the entreq is placed in system, then hearing no sonic degradation when it is taken out can hardly be described as a test.

It’s impossible for anybody to come to any sensible conclusion.

Subconscious bias or possibly even some psychosomatic illness might the reason you didn’t notice any sonic degradation after removal.

I tend to take peoples opinions on things like this with a pinch of salt, for this very reason. :innocent:

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You can reduce the impact of confirmation biases and ‘listening with your eyes’, but it takes some effort.

For most things, if I want to know whether it a real upgrade or twaddle, I have learned not to trust my first impression - you may think that you are a poor tester due to the various biases involved, but I am probably worse.

Thus, if I want an answer now, rather than waiting for weeks as reality starts to seep in, we do a test. I provide tea and cake and music, and do my best to keep hidden whether we are listening to which box or which cable. This may be easy or impossible of course, and we all know about confirmation biases, so it helps to include at least 1 listener who has a good ear but no knowledge of (or interest in) hifi.

Examples? CD rips versus CD player versus streaming?

Tellurium Q speaker cable in place of A5?

52 in place of 82?

XPSDR on NDX2 a yea or no?

High line interconnect?

80s DG CDs versus vinyl?

HRS anti-vibration record weight?

Collaro mat?

Cherry plinth/ Core/ Lingo4 versus Stiletto/ Keel/ Radikal? (Hard to do convincingly but the gap was obvious enough that that one was fairly easy).

250 versus 300DR?

Some WH cables (when WH existed)

HRS rubbery feet under boxes.

If you can’t hide the items (see Isoacouatic Gaias) then the consensus in favour of an upgrade has to be very strong.

Try to keep the question simple. Getting them to walk in from the kitchen (tea/coffee supplies) and sit down twice, and then tell us whether A was better than B, B beats A or Can’t Tell.

It helps if my audience firmly believes that I am too likely to be taken in by Woo salesmen and that the ideal result is to ‘prove’ that a particular item has no effect and should be returned at once. This produces smugness at not having been taken in and helping naive/ deaf Nick avoid wasting money.

I would try all this on the Entreq boxes, but my giggling and sneering during any test session would give the game away and make for a very unfair test.

Good luck!

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I’m sure the OP @SpaceCadet1 will provide details but being as honest as he has been I suspect at the time of purchase he was on a very enthusiastic high about his system and enjoyment of it.
Caught up in the emotions at the time I’m sure he really did feel more happy and receptive to expectation bias and positivity.
After all has settled and he has over time decided to be more head than heart has realised that perhaps the “ box “ wasn’t the contributing factor after all and embarrassed but brave to admit such a thing can happen.
It takes courage to be honest. :+1:t2:

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Exactly. I wouldn’t go to all the bother outlines above if (a) the answers didn’t matter or (b) I had never got it badly wrong.

Also, I don’t want to kill other people’s enthusiasm - it’s great! But, if we want an answer valid for multiple listeners over a few years, I have learned that my enthusiasm is a poor guide.

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But why do you believe the OP initial observation was incorrect, but the OP second observation was correct.

Could that be down to your expectation bias. :blush:

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I now apply the mantra of ‘keep things simple’ to my system. I’m sticking to my Naim boxes, nice speaker cable and interconnects; but steering clear of any ‘add-on’ type devices. It is very liberating :slight_smile:

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Purely because he said so out loud.
.
Might be different tomorrow but I doubt it.
No expectation bias here it’s all rubbish.
IMHO
My ears say so too. :wink:

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I’ve only once tried one of the “cheaper” (~£450) Entreq grounding boxes and could not be sure I heard any difference at all. I did not demo for long and I’ve not posted (I think) anything on that as I did not want to post premature negative feedback and as it could be my environment or that a model higher up the chain could be more effective?
Prior to this I’ve also tried a Russ Andrews box (also not cheap but different principle) but kept it a but longer as it also had a so called Megaclamp as a supposed mains protection. In the end, none of these (or some smaller add-on variants) have so far made any audible difference to me… may be with the exception of a small Isotek mains plug that seemed to reduce noise that I then had from SMPS nearby.

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