Origin Live Launches Ground Anchor to Lower Noise in Vinyl Playback

Origin Live Launches Ground Anchor to Lower Noise in Vinyl Playback...

Audio signals sound better when electrical noise is lower.

To this point, in their Origin Live is excited to announce the launch of the Ground Anchor: a grounding box that connects between your tonearm grounds and your phonostage. The Ground Anchor reduces noise from airborne noise as well as mains noise, system noise and microphonic component noise. All of which affect the delicate signal produced during vinyl playback. It also marks the first collaboration with fellow UK manufacturer Puritan Audio Laboratories.

As the family-owned company enters it’s 40th year Origin Live CCO David Baker tells us: 

“The beauty of vinyl playback is that it creates brand new electricity every time your cartridge stylus touches the groove. In contrast, the rest of the audio chain takes electricity from the mains, which is inherently noisy. Resolving this noise is a primary focus for every audio electronics engineer in every component in the audio chain. 

Yet the cartridge signal is an exception to this rule. The cartridge transducer converts mechanical energy to an electrical signal by induction between magnets and coils, meaning the power comes not from the wall, but from the little generator that sits on the end of your tonearm. The problems of interference for vinyl are, on the whole, mechanical, hence why we will endlessly be looking for solutions to vibration, resonance, and the transmission of mechanical energy. 

Despite the vinyl signal coming from a cleaner source and generally having a floating earth, it is still susceptible to picking up noise since the tonearm's tube and cable shielding acts as an antenna for RF and EMI. This audibly affects the signal within. Standard grounding reduces this considerably, but it is far from a perfect solution, leaving significant noise behind. This is where the Ground Anchor comes in”

For an electrical waveform such as the cartridge signal to exist, it must reference the ground, or a 0v reference. The ground, which is connected to your mains, and the casework of your hi-fi sperates is affected by airborne noise from radio frequencies, electromagnetic interference, as well as AC noise in the mains which enters your system circuits. There is also microphonic and electrical noise generated within the system electronics.

Baker continues:

“As audio signals go, the vinyl signal is potentially the most vulnerable to airborne interference. The signal from an average MM cartridge is 5 mV, but for MC users, it can drop to as low as 0.1 mV. To move that signal effectively through a tonearm tube, without disturbing the mechanics of the arm, you are generally using thin unshielded wires, and asking the armtube to cover shielding duties. Where the armtube stands in as shielding, it needs to be grounded in order to transmit RF noise out of the system to ground.”

The Ground Anchor, made to spec for Origin Live by Puritan Audio Labs, connects between your tonearm's cable grounds and your phonostage's grounding post. The magic happens in a small black box containing a noise soak which turns ground noise into harmless heat.

The result, Baker says, results in “more signal clarity in all aspects, from detail and texture to blacker backgrounds, a little more separation between musical elements and more clearly defined aural forms. I was especially interested in how it performed with my Step Up Transformer: what you tend to gain in space and richness with an SUT, you often sacrifice in detail and attack. Connecting the Ground Anchor alongside my SUT lowered the noise floor, but also helped to retain resolution previously lost without.”

Why the collaboration between Origin Live and Puritan? The Baker (OL) and Lester (PAL) families have often been found in cahoots at audio shows, with Mike Lester often dropping a Puritan product off with the Bakers that “always had a positive impact on our room's sound” Mike, in turn, uses an Origin Live Agile tonearm in his own reference system. “Puritan have a fantastic reputation in minimising electrical noise. It seemed about time to work on something together, and when Mike suggested a grounding box, we jumped at the chance. One of the key principles we share with Puritan is the conviction that products must be developed by ear. This has proved to separate Mike's work from many others.”

Unique to the Ground Anchor are the three grounding posts on the cartridge signal side of the product. This is for Origin Lives premium tonearm cables, which use multiple grounding wires: one for the tonearm structure, two for the cable shielding, and one optional ground for the signal (generally not needed). Why so many grounds? According to Origin Live, it’s to reduce hum by accommodating the different ways phono-stage designs reference ground (0V). Hence, three grounding posts instead of the usual one. “Our customers, as well as ourselves, may be aware that the multiple grounds on our tonearm leads can be a bit fiddly. Having multiple grounding posts here improves ease of use no end” says Baker. 

An inadvertent benefit is that the Ground Anchor can also serve as a grounding box for up to three tonearms.

The Ground anchor is universally compatible with all tonearms and all phonostages, and can accept the grounds from up to three tonearms.

The Ground Anchor is available from 20th February 2026 through Origin Live and their retailers.

RRP £545

Size: 160 x 65 x 40mm

Included: 50cm copper ground cable, one side banana, one side with adaptable attachments for banana (gold plated), spade, and Spring Clip Terminations

Web - www.originlive.com