Acoustic Revive RGC-24 Grounding Conditioner - Acoustic Revive is a Japanese company that was set up in 1997, run by Mr. Ken Ishiguro-san. It specializes in connectors and anti-vibration products, but also offers innovative devices, most often the brainchildren of the University of Tokyo. The artificial ground, or—as the Acoustic Revive company calls it—Ground Conditioner is one of the products that the Japanese manufacturer has been offering for the longest time. When it started to be manufactured, it was acknowledged in Japan as the emanation of experience in industry. "Conditioning" the ground of electronic circuits, including ones that convert audio signal, is an obvious thing and a norm today. Many other manufacturers from all over the world, are offering similar products nowadays. However, at least for me, Acoustic Revive has remained a pioneer in the field. Nevertheless, even pioneers conceive still better ideas once in a while—like in this case. The Ground Conditioner is another element of the new generation products of this Japanese company, one built by Mr. Ken Ishiguro using a material called Kiyoh-stone.

RGC-24 APPLICATION

The Ground Conditioner coded as RGC-24 by the manufacturer serves to minimize interference from the ground of an electronic circuit. As we can read in the company's materials, the "RGC-24 fixes chassis electrical current and electric outbreak by virtual ground environment. This leads to stability in circuit moment, which improves sound."Like all other circuits of this type, the Acoustic Revive product is connected to the ground of the only device that it is going to be used with. It can be done using a ground clamp, if the manufacturer of the given device had thought about it, or by connecting the RGC-24D to any RCA input or output. In the latter case, it is assumed that the ground of an electrical circuit is at the same time the ground of the whole device. It is not always like this, but it works out in 99% of cases.The artificial ground that we are talking about also works in a similar way to the passive EMI\RFI Verictum X Block filter, so it combines two products in one. To make use of this function, you need to place the Ground Conditioner under the transformer supplying power to the given device.

DESIGN

The RGC-24 has the form of a small, but heavy disc which measures 88 x 18 mm and weighs 384 g, to which a 50-centimeter cable is connected. The disc is made of anodized, titanium-colored aluminum and a brass base. Inside there is a copper element to which the ground is connected from the outside. The element is immersed in a mixture of natural minerals with a minus electrical current potential. It is known that it is a blend of rock crystal and powdered tourmaline, which releases negative ions. It is a crystalline boron-silicate material that belongs to the silicate family, consisting of elements such as aluminum, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium and potassium; a semi-precious stone. The ground potential of the given device is connected to the RGC-24 using a 50 cm cable. It is an interconnect that the company has been selling for some time now. It used to be made of oval OCCC copper wires, while now it is made using Triple-C copper. The cable also incorporates ferrite filters manufactured by the Japanese company Fine Met. The owner of the Acoustic Revive company is a perfectionist (I am sure about it, as we have known each other for years), which is demonstrated in details. In this case, it is about the terminals of the abovementioned cable. On the one hand, it has a fixed wonderful banana plug manufactured by the company itself, the RBN-1 model with rhodium-plated contacts. It is placed at the Ground Conditioner's end. When it comes to the other end, where the "conditioned" device is connected, there is a small fork terminal which can be connected to a ground terminal that can be found in any Japanese product. However, if a given device is not equipped with such a terminal, one can use the RCA IP-2 plug, used by the company to minimize noise and vibrations, which is part of the product set.

Using the Acoustic Revive Ground Conditioner resulted in more nuanced and deeper sound characterized by better resolution than achieved without the tested device in the system. When it comes to better resolution, it mostly refers to the depth of the soundstage, subtle and refined sound with RGC-24K.