Origin Live - Ground Anchor - test
Author: Brian Date Posted:17 March 2026
Origin Live last month announced a new product, the Ground Anchor for turntables and phono stages. Most OL products are developed and produced in-house, but in this case they have teamed up with an electronics engineering company in south east England. They claim that audio signals sound better when electrical noise is lower. It makes some sense in that the signal produced by a moving coil cartridge is so low that any background noise could mask the detail the cartridge is extracting from the groove.
Not thinking I have a problem with background earth noise on my current system I was skeptical of the need for such a device, but my experience with OL over more than 20 years influenced me to give it a try. I hooked it up to the Conqueror tonearm on my Resolution turntable and connected it to the Icon Audio PS3 phono stage. I started listening to side 3 of the Harry Belafonte in Carnegie Hall double LP, with which I am very familiar having used it recently to evaluate some cartridges. It is a superb recording and pressing and has a great sense of presence and a wonderful wide and deep soundstage. It sounded wonderful but I could not really pick any difference to what I had heard previously on this system - it is beautifully clear, with no surface noise, probably the best example of vinyl reproduction in my collection. After playing all of side 3, I disconnected the unit and played the last couple of tracks again. Still brilliant, but maybe slightly not as well defined. At the end I reconnected the device and sure enough there's a degree of clarity, airyness that is better than without it - in optical terms almost like a thin veil has been removed. I suspect you have to have a pretty revealing system to appreciate it. Subsequent listening sessions have us marvelling at how good our system is sounding and we are working our way through many of our most favourite records.
I'm sure here are many people with better systems and better ears than mine, who may be looking to extract every morsel of sound quality from their major investment, that I think would be willing to try it out. Remember, we sell it on a moneyback trial basis so the only risk is postal charges.
In summary, my first impression was that I could hear a difference but does it justify $1000. The more I listened the more I did not want to do without it.
PS: Further listening of favourite LPs confirmed the improvement in clarity and soundstage definition that the Ground Anchor provides on our system. I find the effect similar, but not as obvious, as when you are in a plane and you turn on the Active Noise Cancellation on your headphones.