AudioQuest ThunderBird GroundGoody (1.5M)

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 our totally revised GroundGoodys — and so new names were required.

Like Saturn and Jupiter GroundGoodys before them, ThunderBird and Dragon GroundGoodys use 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 our strongest Noise-Dissipation technology, the patented RF/ND-Tech that distinguishes AQ’s Level 8 Noise-Dissipation, dissipates and cancels most induced RF Noise.

ThunderBird and Dragon GroundGoodys 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 our 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.

RF/ND-Tech (Patented Radio-Frequency Ground-Noise Dissipation) 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. Our 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.