Yes as I have just gone through this. It appears that the PP is a modified Hubbel hospital grade outlet. I have three dedicated lines in my listening room and have installed two PP on two of them leaving the third with hospital grade outlet. Jumping back and forth with my amp from one with PP and the other with HG outlet the PP wins hand downs. The sound is more dynamic, peeling yet another veiled layer away from the music.
FWIW I would not worry too much about the nickel plating, though that was my concern initially as well. PSA's claim is that precious metal plating will not hold up well under this sort of application. Plugging and unpluggin gear I suppose. The bottom line, is that this is a very worthwhile tweak for $50.00, though it will not be a night and day difference, but certainly an improvement. |
I used to work for Hubbell. You will get no sonic improvement from the hospital grade as opposed to the commecial grade, regardless of what anyone tells you. Leviton is junk. |
I work for Nokian tyres they are the best, everything else sucks, if you use anything besides Nokians your an idiot and wasting your money. There is no other possibilities but what I say for I am the all mighty. I figured Sagger offered his help I should as well ;)
FWIW I use Leviton and noticed a very audible improvement from my 25 year old falling apart standard commercial grade outlets, but I guess I am kidding myself. I have never compared directly to hubbell, 6 one way half a dozen the other. YMMV.
Tim |
FIM has an outlet for about $60, which Galen Carol really raved about in his last newsletter. |
Routlaw, If you worked for Hubbell, you should be able to access the same data on their web site as the rest of us. Specifications on Commercial grade, 20 amp outlets, versus Hospital grade, 20 amp outlets are listed as follows:
Insulator for Commercial Grade = Nylon
Insulator for Hospital Grade =Thermo Polyester
Material for ground strap, Commercial Grade = Steel
Material for ground strap, Hospital Grade = Brass
Material for voltage contact, Commercial = Alloy Brass
Material for voltage contact, Hospital = Pure Brass
Material for mount strap, Commercial Grade = Steel
Material for mount strap, Hospital Grade +Brass, Ni plate.
The materials used in manufacturing Hubbell hospital grade products are higher quality, and should not surprise anyone that they sound better. Just compare the insulators and conductors, not even considering the plating and grounding specs.
Tireguy, for what it is worth, the Hubbell is better than the Leviton. Why don't you gamble $15.00 for a single piece and do the test yourself.
What you save on tire balancing alone could equip your entire system :^ ) |
I've got EIGHT Legacy AWD Wagons you guys can use to drive to HD in the snow to inspect the differences among AC connectors! Come and get' em!
Seriously, whereas the Leviton hosp grade is considered flawed, they make a GREAT Pro-grade PLUG for $10 that I prefer to the Hubbell. For outlets the P&S as modded by ACME is great. Wish somebody would make a cheap IEC that's sturdier than the Schurter.... |
Ernie, the best IEC's that we've found came on a YBA Diamond power cord. I've never been able to find out who made them for YBA though. Much more contact area and sturdier overall. I forgot about this as i was checking into it, but i've got SO many projects going on, some things fall by the wayside until i get back around to them.
By the way, i did not forget about you and our conversation about the sniffer / power cords / PLC's. I haven't been able to make much progress on that one yet, but as soon as i do, i'll let you know. Sorry for not getting back to you. Sean
> |
Stay away from Leviton HG...they somehow deteriorate sonically over time. I was left for 6 months trying to find the source of an upper-mid resonance. Who would have thought it was an outlet...but it was.
Anyhow, I converted my 3 outlets to FIM and they are very, very good. No power conditioning needed. Very smooth (analog) and dynamic sound for my SS system. I spoke with Galen and while he hasn't done direct comparisons with the other brands, he does claim he hears more positive remarks from those customers using FIM. Bias? Not sure. They do sound good here.
-- Greg |
I just ordered a FIM from Galen. It is $55, not $60 as I said before. One of those tweak impulse buys. |
I replaced my outlets with the FIM several months ago with noticable improvement. With that said, the one's that were replaced were 15 years old. Jcbtubes (Agon member) did a direct comparison with the FIM against another highly touted outlet and preffered the FIM. I wasn't there but I guess I'll take his word for it. Sometimes he guesses right.
SOMEtimes. |
Thanks for the opinions, and especially the detailed information from albertporter...can anyone shed some light on cryo treatment? |
Boy, do i feel like a BIG dummy now. I missed the last meeting of the Chicago Audio Society, otherwise i would've been able to give you the run down on cryo. They had the owner of a cryo lab come in and explain various aspects of what takes place, what it does, etc... They also did some single blind listening tests with before / after pieces that had been cryo'd. The general consensus according to what i was told was that the differences were quite noticeable and beneficial as far as sonics go. Other than that, can't help you. Sean
> |
Rsuminsby, most likely the meeting Sean missed in Chicago was hosted for Controlled Thermal Processing of Downers Grove IL.
I had this same company do a Benz phono cartridge three few years ago, with great results.
You might check with Sean (click his name to send an e-mail). If you ask nicely, perhaps he will verify the vendor of the test, and if from the same vendor I am describing, you have very little risk in making the move. |
Sean...A good FRENCH IEC? I spent a decade trying to teach french engineers a bit about QA, but eventually the masochism/hedonism quotient tipped the wrong way.
Where do I find it?
Cheers. |
Sean...A good FRENCH IEC? I spent a decade trying to teach french engineers a bit about QA, but eventually the masochism/hedonism quotient tipped the wrong way.
Where do I find it?
Cheers. |
Ernie, i have NO idea as to what brand of IEC it was ( it was not labled ), where it was made or if it was a factory assembled cable. It might have been put together by a dealer, a DIY'er, etc... using whatever parts they could find. I contacted YBA and got NO help or responses from them whatsoever, so i forgot all about it. I ended up selling the cable to "Figuy" (aka Sean H. over at AA) as a favor and i don't know if he still has it or not. He had an "all French" system going and wanted the cables to match. Either way, i know that he too was impressed with this cable / connector but has since sold some of that gear. Both of us had commented to Bob Crump that it was a superior IEC to the Schurters that we were all using at the time. At this point, i have pretty much given up on trying to find out who made it. I should have probably kept the plug and sold the cable : ) Sean
> |
I have the Synergistic, the Power Port and the plain Hospital grade Hubbell and I would describe them as follows;
Synergistic; Magical sound spatial 3D I use these with a Marantz top of the line receiver and Definitive tech speakers and made a huge difference in sound BEST $99spent.
The PP is also fantastic and made a big difference for $40 but not magical like the Synergistic,
The regular HG Hubbell I am not sure if it really made a difference I know nothing like the PP and absolutely nothing as compared the Synergistic.
The Synergistic is phenomenal. You will be amazed by it. If you compare a regular Leviton and the Synergistic Leviton. The proof is in the pudding. Meaning you will a see am immense difference in sound. AMAZIIIIINNNNNNGGGG what the Synergistic. Synergistic seems to give the best result on my home theatre as compared to my two channel audiophile system. I guess it might have to do with the spatial multichannel effects! It just create amazing up in the air magical sounds. I do not work for Synergistic or any other. |
Besides changing your receptacle to the Synergistic receptacle, Change your AC power cord to Neotech power cord. you will be amazed at the difference in sound. I made my own power cord using Neotech NEP-3003 power cable and Oyaide plugs and there is a huge difference in just changing one power cord!!! Make the power cable as short as posssible. Neotech cables are Fantstic. |
Hi all, is anyone even aware of the Ps Audio Power Port Premier? No its not the Power Port, its construction is on par with the well regaurded R1 if not better in some respects. I had the Leviton and when I switched to PPP the sound was outstanding not thin or overly eteched, deep bass, crystal clear highs, beautiful tonality in the mids and black slience. Well worth the $99.00 I spent. |
How about the PS Audio Power Port Decora style receptacles? Are they as good as the conventional PS Audio Power Ports? I'm seeing the Decora styled PS Audio Power Ports on sale on various sites on the net now but I never really see forum posts about them. I don't know if that is something telling about them. I have lots of Decora style outlets in my audio systems so I was thinking about changing them out for the Decora Style Power Ports. Thanks |
Maestro outlets are the best that I have tried. Read my review on them. |
Lol Hifisoundguy....Your reviews are plastered all over the internet. One cannot escape from them or you on the Maestro. It is as though you're trying to shove what you preach down people's throats. |
Thanks for the suggestion Hifisoundguy but the Maestro is more than double the prices of the PS Audio Power Port or the Porterhouse Audio Porter Port receptacles currently. These 2 I'm looking at right now because they are almost the same price new and are friendlier to my wallet. My system isn't there yet for me to justify a $90 outlet. |
