So because of the nickel plating which causes graininess, The shunyata outlet made by Hubble it’s not very good. Heavy duty Hubble version it's only $30!!!
shouldn’t it be isolated, that is grounded back to the panel ...
If we’re talking about power in the US, an isolated ground is bonded to the service panel’s (load center) ground bus bar, or to the sub panel's ground bus bar.
Compare the images of the Hubbell , PS Audio and Shunyata ,
now look at the images of Cardas , Audioquest , Furutech and Oyaide .
I have a PS Audio which I replaced ( moved to the TV ) and moved up to an AudioQuest ( at the time Cardas looked like they used Hubbell , they are different now ) .
I purchased the shunyata outlet and was satisfied with the upgrade. I don’t know if it’s better than the Hubbel outlet but it did seem to have a positive impact on sound and it wasn’t insanely expensive.
Two 5362's in wall and 8300's in my power conditioners.
They were all manufactured 20+ years ago.
When trying them in wall the 5362 was slightly richer sounding with the 8300 sounding a little lighter/brighter.
I use the 8300's in my power conditioners which are fed by the 5362.
I purchased a bunch (24 I think) of the 8300's as used pulls for $30/shipped which is partly why I went with them.
Back then the 5362 retailed for <$20, but you could find them for <$8 at electrical supply houses.
There were also different versions of the 8300 with some being plated brass and some being plain brass (some of those in my bulk purchase were plated).
I used the plain version for HiFi.
I'll add that in my city using 20 amp units in a 15 amp system is against code.
The hubbel outlets are plated in nickel. Isn't this a really really bad thing?
It's all about the metal bridging the wire to the Metal touching the plug. It's not rocket science people.
The alloy should probably be beryllium copper, and the coating is left to the imagination who's selling it. And then they stretch it by saying Its dipped in liquid nitrogen and they call it Cryo.
So that's it, and leave extra space around the metal so it stays cool.
If it’s brass, it’s ass. +1 Maestro, Furutech, Porter Ports. Enjoy the Music did a shootout of several outlets years ago and Maestro did very well if I recall and was less expensive than other top outlets (Oyaide, etc.) so might be worth searching that review out. Best of luck.
The 8300 20A hospital grade Deep Body outlets are not, as I describe above in various posts. And worse Hubbell makes an even cheaper 8300H hospital grade outlet that uses a galvanized steel supporting back strap. Any one buying Hubbell outlets today really needs to do their home work. AND DON"T assume the picture shown is what you are buying...
They were all manufactured 20+ years ago.
When trying them in wall the 5362 was slightly richer sounding with the 8300 sounding a little lighter/brighter.
A lot of audiophiles posted HBL5362 Deep Body outlets had a slightly warmer sound to them. As for the 8300 hospital grade outlet the ones I used had a neutral sound to them.
20 years ago Hubbell was manufacturing two types of 8200/8300 hospital grade outlets.
The Deep Body HBL8300 and the Slender/Compact body HBL8300H. Just going from memory the Deep Body HBL8300 hospital grade outlet used nickel plating on the brass supporting back strap as well on the brass contacts. Imo, and others, the outlet sounded a little grainy which probably sounded bright.
The Slender/Compact body HBL8300H Hospital Grade outlet did not use nickel plating on the brass supporting back strap nor nickel plating on the brass contacts.
I tried both and the Slender/Compact HBL8300H hospital grade outlet won hands down.
The HBL8300H hospital grade outlet is the outlet that Albert Porter used in his Porter Ports until Hubbell stopped making the non nickel plated outlet version.
Scroll down to page 10. Page 10 is a picture of the old, (no longer made), Slender/Compact HBL8300H outlet. Is this the hospital grade outlet you use/used?
I find it odd Hubbell still shows the old HBL8300H outlet but when you look at the current Compact 8300H hospital grade outlet you can see the supporting back strap is not unplated brass.
Here is the current Compact design HBL8300H hospital grade outlet:
Here is the spec sheet. Notice the supporting back strap is galvanized steel.
There are few Audiogon members whose opinion I respect as much as @jea48.
As I have posted on other threads, you can do what you want.
But, when you post here, asking for information/opinions, I often see many not accepting the opinions of those who have validated/invalidated the specs/design of the equipment that was being questioned.
So, again, do as you wish. Disregard what others have posted..
The $30 Hubble plugs are ok, I had a PASS & SEYMOUR hospital grade plug and the sound was decent. I bought a Cardas Audio 4181US plug for $187 CDN and was surprised at how much better the sound was overall.
I recall that Albert also used 5262 & 5362 as a base for the Porterport.
Ya, I recall after Hubbell changed the HBL8300H Hospital Grade outlet Albert had to find something else that sounded as good. He ended using the Hubbell Slender/Compact body IG5362 outlet. There were threads on AA from members stating the IG5362 was a good sounding outlet that sounded the same as the HBL8300H outlet. I tried one and I couldn't hear any difference between the two. You can still buy the Slender/Compact body Hubbell IG5362 pretty cheap on eBay. Just wire the outlet as regular non IG grounding type outlet.
Example of the Slender/Compact body Hubbell IG5362 duplex receptacle:
Not this one though... The photo shows the supporting back strap is galvanized steel... Look at the box. It's not a Hubbell, it's a Pass & Seymour.
This thread is getting really confusing and the hospital grade Hubbel outlets contain nickel plating. Nickel plating it’s not used by audio grade outlets.
higher end outlet sellers don’t use nickel and say negative things about it. So anything to do with Hubble it’s not a good idea unless you like to look at stars and galaxies and things really really far away.
@jea48has it right. Albert had to go to a different outlet, still custom ordered, I got some of the last of them in gray (use red nylon cover plates that were like .99 cents), I think it got to a point where it wasn’t worth the trouble to Albert.
I’m hoping to see him in a few days; we’ve known each other a pretty long time and though I’ve been in Texas now 10 years, we haven’t met. Mea Culpa. I’m fixin to rectify that shortly. Albert is a good guy.
The link to Take Five Audio seems to have what you may be looking for, just confirm that it is as pictured.
I've purchased from them before and my only comment is that shipping was fairly high, but in these times I really don't care about such as I prefer to not go out locally to shop aside from food/meds (delivery is a good thing for now).
If you instead want to spend hundreds on a receptacle - fine - I don't have a problem with that.
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