Recommendations for 20 amp electrical outlets

@jea48 what I ordered know how to read. Thanks. 

I would suggest, that you have a qualified electrician check for voltage on the neutral, and a clean ground. If your power supply is clean, then buy whatever you want. I have used isolated ground outlets in the past, but I think most "noise" and distortion comes from a dirty neutral leg. Make sure that's not an issue, and of course, a good ground. An electrician can (should) check your ground with a "Megger" or similar ground test equipment. Good luck

@jea48 

I re-read that and it doesn’t now, while fully caffeinated, make that much sense to me either.  Thanks for catching it. Not sure I can even recreate what I was trying to say at the time.

@jea48 no I ordered the Hubble 5362. No replying needed. 

(FYI you will not wire the IG, Isolated Ground, outlet as an IG outlet to your existing branch circuit wiring. I assume your branch circuit wiring is three wire. Hot, neutral, and EGC). EGC, Equipment Grounding Conductor.

@jea48 , sorry that due to my limited understanding  I have to ask, but what do you mean by this?  If I bought these outlets (either the Levitons or Hubbles) . wouldn't I simply replace the existing outlets that I bought from Lowes by connecting the existing black, white, and equipment ground wires to the Hubble or Leviton outlets that I bought?  Am I misunderstanding this?

As a proposal to be looked at for the Termination of the Audio Systems Devices and cutting down on the Quota of Wall Sockets to be considered. The Link will introduce a Device to be used, that when shown as a Link in another Thread has been made not to meet USA Code.

The Device has Pure Copper Contacts and can be produced to be the Termination point for all Devices Cables prior to the Wall Socket being utilised.

I also recollect designs from Wago that are Wall Mounted as the Wall Socket?

https://www.wago.com/gb/electrical-interconnections/discover-installation-terminal-blocks-and-connectors/221

I know individuals using Wago Termination, where the rep[orts offered on usage, are ones where the user is extremely pleased with the impression it has made. Expensive Wall Sockets that were Superseded by the Wago Option, were not detected to have been Outperformed when the Wago Method was introduced, noe was the Wago Methos detected to have been lesser in its performance. The tidying up of the Cable Termination End is also claimed to be a satisfaction.

Additionally, When taking the Power Supply to a Audio Device as a serious consideration, it is always worthwhile looking into the option of have the Devices Power Chord bypass a IEC Connector on the device and have the Power Chord attached as a Hard Wired design. This as design if utilised  removes the need to be considering using an improved metal as the contacts on a uprated IEC that might be considered to be retro fitted. This as a Method is regularly seen to be reported on as having a Impact that is a Betterment.

If interested in the Hard Wired Power Chord as a method, the use of the Power Chord in the Link, which is offered for very fair monies. Can be used as a Cable for an investigation. From what I know today, this Cable  has the potential to make a impression not thought achievable for such a Outlay of Money.

The Cable has Superseded  the use of both Furutech and Nanotec Cables using PC Triple C Wire.

https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/japan/en/special/order/confirm/audio9:10000582/2_1/      

I had 2 20 amp circuits put in 15 years ago. Best investment I ever made. The gift that keeps on giving!

@immatthewj I am not recommending using an IG (Isolated Ground) outlet to feed audio equipment in a dwelling unit, house. My recommendation for the old stock Hubbell IG5362 120V 20A slender/compact style duplex outlet for the reasons given in my post on 08-29-2024 at 12:31pm .

@jea48 , I apologize for asking what I guess is going to be some stupid questions about what is I guess some basic stuff.

But you are saying not to use an IG outlet, and isn't an IG outlet one that has three "holes" (hot/black, neutral/white, equipment ground/uninsulated)?  And I did click on the link you provided for those Hubbells on ebay and that appears to be what those Hubbell outlets are?  

Sorry, I know that this is pretty basic stuff, but I guess I am misunderstanding something about it.

What is an IG outlet? The safety equipment ground contact on the outlet is insulated, isolated, from the metal supporting back strap and the center 6/32 threaded metal hub of the outlet used to hold on the outlet wall cover plate.

@jea48 Oops. Sorry again. I just reread your post for the 4th or 5th time and I went and looked at a duplex outlet I had bought a while back ago at Lowes (Eaton) and the equipment ground (third "hole"/uninsulated wire) IS in fact connected to the backstrap. So this Eaton that I bought a while back ago at Lowes is NOT an IG, correct?

I'm currently using Audio Envy's OKTA PRO Gold receptical.  In addition my Naim dealer, AV Options carries a deep cryo Hubble that performs well and both outlets bested  the PS Audio and Pangea in my system.  Good luck with your upgrade. 

N

@nutty Thank you!

@immatthewj Here is a very comprehensive article on IG receptacles. Fig 6 shows the basics at a glance.

https://iaeimagazine.org/2006/march2006/isolated-grounding-receptacle-circuits-got-clean-grounds-or-dirty-grounds/

Not very onerous to implement if installing a new circuit, but what are the benefits in terms of noise suppression over a 12/2 Romex homerun? This is a straight question, I don't actually know the answer.

Thank you, @devinplombier .  I truly don't have a good understanding of the subject of home electrical and the isolated ground nomencalure confused me (which is not hard to do).  Amm my circuits, including the dedicated circuits I installed for my system, are NOT isolated ground circuits, and obviously none of my duplex  receptacles are IG receptacles.  I was confusing IG with the uninsulated equipment ground.  Just something else to put in the "what I learned today" column.  Thanks again for helping me out with that.

Gotcha, @jea48  .  That definitely clears it up for me now.  I did not know what an 'isolated ground' was before, and now I do.

None of the duplexes I installed in the circuits I installed for my system are IGs, and on the existing circuits in my home that I have worked on before, I do not remember seeing any insulated equipment ground wires, nor do I remember seeing any insulated ground wires connected to the neutral bar behind my panel, except for the insulated white wires.

That typed, one of my many flaws is that I have tunnel vision and if I am not specifically looking for something I do not see it or I often forget what I saw assuming that I did see it.

This is interesting though, because back in the '90s I bought a DIY home wiring book at Lowes, and a few years ago when I was installing some more dedicated circuits I referred to it to see what I needed to do behind the panel, and the pictures were actually showing insulated (green) equipment ground wires coming back to the neutral bar behind the panel.  Now I have to assume that the pictures were of an IG?

Anyway, TMI, but I didn't feel comfortable working behind my panel using what that book was showing me, so I watched a few youtubes of people putting new circuits in and used those as my reference.  

Some of these house wiring YouTube videos are lethal. Literally. Just saying :)

I'm glad I'm poor ,I just plug my Amp into the wall outlet...what will be will be....rock o ...

@limomangus I like your thought process!😆 It’ll save you a ton of money!💰 

Yup Dedicated 10 gauge panel to hospital grade outlets solidly installed is an excellent starting point. Should you want to listen to the Burn in this is better than that type Rabbit hole conversations, that option will always be there. Good luck

Cheers 

Some of these house wiring YouTube videos are lethal. Literally. Just saying :)

@devinplombier , I am sure that they could be.  I just was not comfortable with the instructions in the book I bought.  I actually watched a few youtubes and the ones I watched basically showed all the same thing.  Fortunately I wasn't doing anything very fancy, just adding three new circuits, but I just was not exactly sure what all I had to do at the electrical panel end of the job.

@1971gto455ho Thanks

This is incredible. I can't believe people think brands of outlets or circuits matter to sound. This forum has found a new low.

@squared80 

Or, perhaps, you do not understand.

squared80 - Have you done the experiment or do you just know or don't understand?

It's like a lot of things--it depends upon what you have in it and what you  want to get out of it.

@ghdprentice

Your experience with the new outlets is interesting and I thought about doing this with my dedicated 20 amp line.

Have you considered using grounding boxes? I guess it’s helpful to ensure you don’t have backflow contamination from any returning current flow along the grounding wire, strictly a 1 way path sort of thing

🙄

squared80

I too did not know if receptacles would make a difference, but instead of just accepting that fact; I ordered 7 different receptacles and did a many month  comparison in my system and home. I kept the receptacles I liked and improved the sound, and gave the others away to friends.

To me this is the proper way to see for yourself, not blindly saying they make no difference.

By the way, a good friend loves the Cardas 4181 that I gave him so much, he wired his entire listening room with them; and had 2 dedicated lines installed.

@vthokie83

+1 Good approach, I’ve done that before with other accessories. Not being in a hurry is really important when evaluating changes likely to be subtle.

@emergingsoul

The quick answer, no. Not that I might not try that some day.

I tend to go through an upgrade cycle… speakers, components, wires, and adjust for a year or two and then just listen for many years. I’m in the listening period. During this time I know exactly what my system sounds like, 2 - 3 hours of listening a day. Then every once in a while I’ll think of some little tweak I have not tried… like a few months ago I got Cardas caps for my unused RCA outputs on my preamp. I didn’t notice any difference… but then the cost was very low. Then I tried one outlet… nice improvement… then the one to the amp… small improvement, not as much as the one to the other components… but worthy of the $200 investment.

Anyway during the long period between upgrades… for me usually about seven years, I use this time to evaluate more subtle small upgrades.

@ghdprentice 

You need to do a video to immortalize all that you do. Clearly a lot going on under the hood. 

Thanks for your kind words. I am a scientist at heart (also by training) and am very intensely interested in what I am interested in… and drive to understand the forest through the trees. My interests are very long termed.

@jea48 no I ordered the Hubble 5362. No replying needed. 

Made zero difference. Will let it run a while. 

I also have PS Audio receptacles,

my neighbor is retired electrician 

He installed for me he impressed with these.

I live a Condo, So all is good with that.