Porter Ports or Cabledyne Cryo Hubbell 5362

Thanks for the information. I use the Porter Ports and my system leans towards warm. I may be moving to ss so this could be a helpful tweak if I follow though.

I Have not heard from Lall yet but a friend and I just completed some outlet testing. The comparison was done between the Hubbell HBL5362 cryo industrial grade and a Hubbell 8300 cryo hospital grade outlets. The 5362 is all brass and the 8300 is nickel plated brass. I will be brief here since many would like Cliffs.

5362: Solid bass, warm mids, and neutral highs.

8300: Thin bass, neutral mids, bright highs.

The 8300 was once popular but it is clear to me that the 5362 is the winner. JMO, YMMV.

Nice to see what others are saying.

Attn: LAll. Any news on your comprehensive outlet testing?

What happened to all the URL links here in AudioGon? All I get is 404 errors. I will repost the URLS.

http://www.cabledyne.com/hubbell-outlet.html

Porter ports are a joke.
Go to home depot for the same outlet for $5
LOL

Yes, I hope so. It will take some time as the receptacles have to be well burnt in to enable a decent comparison with my existing outlets.

This will be an "exhausting review," IMO. Look forward to it an please explain how you will 'easily' swap-out the outlets.

For your info, i've just ordered three cryoed HBL5362 from Cabledyne and am awaiting delivery. A friend of mine will loan me his Porter ports.
Will keep you posted

Both outlets are good. As with anything else YMMV. The Cabledyne HBL5362 is a deal IMO. They can't be making much on those.

Chinkwan

are ya just visiting for the day? is that why your in such a hurry. Tom

Lall

The single plug has less mass suspended upon the same amount of brass so the plug will transfer resonance faster. There are many more things that can be done to complete this whole transfer process. The empty plug test could provide insight if you used a cheater plug and stick it in the unused receptacle. This way you would be filling the empty contacts and have only one variable. Let us know. Tom

Cut to the chase..

Where can we source HBL8300?? Would those be the Porter?

The Cabledyne will be the HBL5362?

Is the consensus that 8300 slighlty edges out the 5362 but at a slightly higher cost??

Theaudiotweak
I have pondered over your last post, .. your hypothesis does make sense to me along the same line of thinking taken forward by Hdm... less resonance hence less noise in the system. Don't know if this would apply in my case though.. I have 4 duplex receptacles (each one feeding my mono amps, cd and preamp separately) but only one plug goes into a duplex receptacle.. that is only one of the two outlets of each duplex is utilized and the other one remains empty. Would the resonance factor in my case be as prominent if both outlets of each duplex were fully being utilized at the same time...

Oops, Oyaide WPC is here:

http://www.vhaudio.com/oyaide-wpc-z.html

Thanks very much for the compliment Lall! One of those makes up for all of the sarcastic comments from those who feel that receptacles in audio are all about snakeoil.

I have experience with a number of receptacles (most of the experimentation I did was about 10 years ago) but certainly not all and I can only say what has worked for me-there are lots of receptacles out there, including many that I don't have experience with and subjective preferences and system synergy certainly come into play so it's not a "one size fits all" thing.

That being said, I'd agree with the Audiotweak that resonance control does come into play (that idea is probably even more controversial than the effect of the receptacle itself). Current audio overkill resonance control with receptacles would probably be represented by the Furutech GTX wall plate:

http://www.furutech.com/2013/02/02/1780/

which I have no experience with, and the Oyaide WPC-Z:

http://www.furutech.com/2013/02/02/1780/

which I do.

I was given the opportunity to evaluate an Oyaide R1 and WPC-Z at no cost a few years ago. You'll have to dig into the thread a bit but if you'd like to read about my experience with that, the info is here:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/oyaide-r1-wpz-outlet-loaner-program.259008/

Hdm, i honestly feel you are an asset to the audiogon community.. keep up with the good contibution of imparting your experience and first hand knowledge.. better than any Hubbell catalogue.. imho

Theaudiotweak, I believe you make a very interesting and possibly very valuable suggestion. ... need some more research and comparative experience from fellow audiogoners to test this hypothesis.... contributions cordially invited..

Single outlets are the best sounding because they have less resonance..see the Hubbell HBL5361. Mounting screws are ferrous but those can easily be changed. Stainless steel is very slightly magnetic , go with brass. Tom

HBL 8200H (I have 3 of them here) and HBL 8300H have always been compact hospital grades with unplated Olin 688 brass contacts.

HBL 8200/8300 (have at least 3 of those here as well) is an entirely different receptacle, a typical full sized hospital grade with Olin 688 brass nickel plated contacts.

HBL 5262/5362 (have at least 3 of those here too) have always been full sized "specification grade" receptacles with Olin 688 brass non-plated contacts.

HBL 8300GY is simply a grey 8300. If you had a grey 8300H it would be HBL 8300HGY, a white 8300 would be HBL 8300W, a white 8300H would be HBL 8300HW, etc.

There's really not much confusing about the Hubbell catalog numbers if you know one thing: the better quality receptacles all share the prefix HBL while the lower quality contractor grades from Hubbell have a CR prefix. That is what Cabledyne is referring to on their website, although they could have done a better job on it and really spelled it out. Check out the price difference doing a google search on a Hubbell HBL 5362 vs. a Hubbell CR 5362. The key is to NOT buy the CR designated Hubbells.

As far as the 8300H being "special order", the only thing special order about it is that it is typically not stocked. Go to any Hubbell retailer, ask them to order it for you and you'll have it in a week.

Hope this helps eliminate some of the confusion.

HDM, Old or new stock 8300H, I don't mind as long as they sound good to me and, in my case, free from edge and harshness, and i certainly don't mind a touch of warmth if at all that's possible from an outlet. The revelator tweeters of my Kharmas are known for their aggressiveness in the highs and particularly in female voice.

Sonic genius, i read somewhere that the H versions of the Hubbell 8300 (i.e. ending with an H) are slimmer and are of unplated brass. If that is true then fine but, again, I've read conflicting descriptions in different Hubbell catalogues, some stating that the contact materials of 8300H are Ni plated brass, others stating they are of brass, and also same conflicting descriptions I've read regarding Hubbell HBL5362.

The HBL8300GY I have are nickel plated contacts. The HBL5362 is the one you want and sounds just as good Furutech FTX golds, IMO. The Hubbell product codes are misleading. See the cabledyne blog that explains this in detail.
http://www.cabledyne.com/1/category/hubbell%20outlet%20confusion/1.html

Lall: The one thing that disturbs me a bit about the e-bay link is that there is no HBL designation on the box. I have a couple of Hubbell boxes here, one from 2004 and another one from a few years ago (which was probably old stock), one for an 8200H and one for a 5262 and both boxes clearly have the HBL designation printed in front of the model #. The 8200H box is stickered, as yours is, but a slightly different sticker. The 5262 box I have is printed only, no sticker on the end of the box.

That being said, the receptacle in the photo does appear to be an 8300H compact slimline receptacle. I would expect, however, that it is very old stock, perhaps 10 years plus. There's not anything wrong with that and some might argue the old 8300H is superior as a result of having the brass, non-ferrous backstrap and mounting.

Is it an optical illusion or is there a chunk out of one of the holes in the receptacle? The box looks pretty ratty as well, the combination of the two leading me to believe that the receptacle might be used.

You can establish whether the contacts are plated by simply shining a flashlight into the recpetacle to check them out. If they're a shiny, silver colour, they're nickel plated and you definitely don't have a HBL 8300H; if not they should be dull gold, and that would inidcate a pretty high probability that you've got an 8300H with non-plated contacts, albeit probably quite an old one.

Just an educated guess here: unless Hubbell has started to manufacture the HBL 8300H with a brass backstrap again, I would expect your Porter Ports to be similar to what you have there with the exception of the backstrap and mounting, which would be a dull silver colour on the new Porter Ports if they're steel. Albert could jump in to clarify perhaps if he sees this thread.

For your info, this is what I just purchased and received.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-NIB-HUBBELL-HBL8300HW-8300HW-8300-HW-WHITE-DUPLEX-RECEPTACLE-HOSPITAL-GRADE-/130919080504?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

Is it the same receptacle used to make Porter Ports after modifications ? (i.e. the cryo; brass contact materials etc. (non nickel plated)? confusion, confusion ....

Hdm
thanks again for your insightful suggestion. Just inspected my newly received Hubbell 8300H (with a green dot). Oddly though, on the box its written Hubbell 8300H and nowhere i can find the wordings "HBL8300H" whereas those used by Porter (http://new.audiogon.com/listings/porter-port-20-amp-porter-ports-cryo-ivory-or-white-color--11) has the wordings Hubbell HBL8300H clearly written in the ads. In my case the letters HBL is missing.
Is Hubbell 8300H with green dot different from Hubbell HBL8300H? Why can't Hubbell simply use straight forward model identification numbers to label their products? Why are they creating confusion? And their catalogue does not offer much help in terms of differentiating between these models?
I've even seen on ebay Hubbells clearly with writings "made in China" being advertised as genuine Hubbell US products.

No problem.

Good luck with that-you'll be busy! No experience with the FIM here, but I am still using cryoed versions of the HBL 5362 and 8300H in my line conditioner. I think you'll find pretty big differences between the non-cryoed 8300H (check to see if they now have a steel backstrap as opposed to the 5362's which is brass-the old 8300H's used to be all brass and non-ferrous on the backstrap!) and the cryoed 5362 and 8300H but not so much difference between the cryoed 5362 and 8300H.

For what it's worth, I'm now running a cryoed Oyaide R1, along with the Oyaide wall plate at the wall as the main feed to my system and line conditioner. Never thought I'd spend that kind of money on a receptacle (I did end up e-baying the wall plate at a significant discount) but someone sent me a non-cryoed R1 to try out and I was hooked.

But definitely a lot more money than the cryoed Hubbells, which still represent really great value for money in the $25-$35 range (the Cabledyne's are very reasonably priced at $25 inc. delivery) and a huge upgrade for anyone coming from a stock receptacle.

I tend to agree with Sonic Genius on the isolated ground thing with a typical residential installation. It should be noted, though, (should have made it more clear in my earlier post) that the slimline Hubbell 8300H does have Olin 688 brass non-plated contacts (as does the 5362) unlike the standard Hubbell 8300 which has (like most hospital grades) nickel plated contacts and the full size body of the 5362.

Lall: You will have a lengthy break in period with all those receptacles. It's hard to do when they arrive (as you want to get them into your system right away!) but I'd really recommend you slot them into your house where you can have a very high current draw device like a refrigerator or chest freezer draw on each half of the receptacle for about a week and a half before you put them into your system.

Hdm
i always appreciate your enlightening contributions in such threads and will buy both (Cabledyne and Porter) for comparison.
I have also just purchased two HBL8300H (non cryo) and will do a comparison of my FIM 880, the Cabledyne HBL5632 cryo, the Porter Port 8300H cryo and the standard HBL8300H (non cryo). Will post results of my findings in my system/room.

Thanks for your inputs, but i was hoping more in the direction of any first hand experience with the cryoed Hubbell HBL5362 sold by Cabledyne and/or whether anyone had a chance to compare these with the Porter Ports.

By the way currently I have dedicated a/c lines with an FIM 880 receptacle for each of my mono amps, while my CD and Pre are plugged in standard Legrand receptacles.

Explain to me why you would need and isolated ground outlet with residential wiring.

Also many hospital grade outlets are nickel plated such as the Hubbell 8300 series.

My mistake. Albert did stop using the 8300H a few years ago and switched to the 5362 as Hubbell changed the materials in the 8300H and started manufacturing it with a ferrous backstrap. See here:

http://new.audiogon.com/listings/porter-port-20-amp-porter-ports-cryo-ivory-or-white-color--11

It appears that he's now gone back to the 8300 (probably the 8300H by the looks of things).

Having used cryoed versions of both the 8300H and the 5362 personally, I can tell you that there is not much of an audible difference between them. I might give a very slight edge to the older version of the 8300H with the non ferrous backstrap-not sure about the new version as I haven't heard it.

The 8300H is a "slim line" hospital grade, so has a much smaller chassis than the 5362 which might be of benefit if you are putting them into an existing power strip or conditioner. To the best of my knowledge the current 5362 is still completely non-ferrous; not sure about the newer version of the Porter Ports.

As to the actual contacts, the differences were always minimal between the 8300H and the 5362; as I recall the 8300H had very slightly (and I mean very slightly) beefier contacts. In my experience it would be very difficult to distinguish between cryoed versions of those receptacles.

At a considerably lower cost (33% is considerably lower in my book), I'd take a cryoed 5362 over a cryoed 8300H unless you needed the much smaller chassis of the slim line hospital grade.

You guys do realize that the Porter Port is a cryoed HBL 5362?

Then how do you explain the different appearance of the outlets?

HBL5362 @ Cabledyne

Porter Port

Besides the green dot, cover plate mounting holes, and backside of housing, the words "hospital grade" are engraved in the back strap of a Porter Port.

The Porter ports are not an out-of-the-box stock 5362. They are a special order un-plated version.

http://porterhouseaudio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52:porterports

You guys do realize that the Porter Port is a cryoed HBL 5362?

Or do you?

Another vote for the Porter Ports here. It was the best $36 I'd ever spent on my system. I was shocked at the improvement that it provided over the cheapo stock wall sockets.

I have tried PS Audio,Oyaide,and settled on Porter Ports.The other brands have a "house sound",the Porters are neutral IMO.

Or to confuse you even more or perhaps not.

And why create confusion, although I am curious about the voodoocable outlet?

The Hubbell IG8300 datasheet states brass, or is it custom manufactured with phosphor bronze? Then why use phosphor bronze, when this states it's electrical conductivity is inferior to brass?

I do have a fried that tried various outlets, a standard 5362 being one, but not cyroed. He finally settled on the Porter Ports.

The Hubbell IG8300 has a true isolated ground if that matters to you.

Or to confuse you even more or perhaps not.

http://www.voodoocable.net/VAPO.htm

I use Porter Ports and find them to be very good. Never tried the Hubbells you mention. Maybe buy one of each and try them. You could always sell the one you decide against here on the 'goN.