"Furutech FT-D20A Gold duplex receptacle. Did not expect much but a strong grip on my heavy power cords. I heard a tremendous improvement in bass and clarity. When my wife came home and asked what I had done to the system with a cheerful tone I knew that I hadn't gone crazy."
This ia the post I made on my system after I added the Furutech plug. I have a dedicated 20 omp line.
Hifiman5; Your experience , with the dryer , is the reason that we should also install an isolated ground to those dedicated lines ! Doing so removes any affects from the household electrical system .
I had 10 gauge wire (30 amp) dedicated line put in when the house was built. As time passed, I noticed a lack of dynamics and weak bass. One day the stereo was playing in the dedicated basement listening room as I was attending to the clothes dryer. I noticed a change in the sound as I touched the dryer. After some thought and running a line of copper wire from the dryer chassis to the brass water main pipe, I established a strong ground for the dryer and the system sounded better once again.
This experience led me to, TAKING PROPER PRECAUTIONS, open the door to the 200 amp service, and with a flat head screwdriver, tightening the grounds of every line in the service. Please trust me, this made a tremendous overall improvement in the system.
In addition to adding a PS Audio Power Plant Premier regenerator, replacing the orange "hospital grade" outlet with a PS Audio Power Port Premier was a great improvement. The new outlet tightened the sound and significantly improved transient detail and dynamic swing. My PS power cord is as in a vice grip in the Premier outlet.
My house is about 12 years old and at least average in construction quality but I was struck by the difference in the quality of the wire I had installed in my dedicated lines and the wiring in the existing lines which I saw while while installing the new receptacles. Get as heavy a wire as possible installed if you do have the lines put in. You can put receptacles in yourself as long as you exercise caution; trip the main circuit breaker and plug a lamp in if you don't have a meter to make sure the current is off. Lines are best left to pros unless you are an advanced DIYer.
Dude, Your's is not to wonder why, your's is just to do or die. Any (Hubble, Bryant)... 20 amp Hospital grade receptical will be much better than the regular receptical. I can't emphisise enough the importance of using silver conductive grease on the wires going into it, the plug... Willian "Tweaker" Shakespere
When I tried these premium outlets then, I didn't have dedicated lines yet. But replacing those cheap $1.50 outlets that come with the house with the audiophile grade ones brought huge improvements. Try it.
Agreed that wall plugs are not filters - the water filtration argument is more accurately ascribed to the idea of using after-market power cords and conditioners.
I just get bothered by the logic of the argument: "if there's 8 miles of crappy electrical wire leading up to your house, why bother with the audiophile stuff?" Whether it's filtering, or whether it's the connection to the power, it's all about making the best out of the power that comes in.
The idea, as I see it, is to connect to the electrical power as securely as possible (via a dedicated line and quality power outlet), then remove the grunge that comes in from the 8 miles of crappy wire. Removing that grunge is not an easy task - many a power cord also seems to remove some good stuff too. But in my experience, a good power setup has more of an effect on my system than interconnect changes do, given a similar budget for each.
Think about it - there are 2 inputs in an audio system. The CD or record or digital file, and electrical power. That's it. Care should be taken to (a) preserve the source signal and (b) deliver the electrical power as effectively as possible, in order to power the equipment that is converting the source into what we hear.
Al , they do make a difference. At least if you have dedicated lines. Like the poster above I put one on a standard line and didn't notice much, if any, change. I had not expected much change on my dedicated lines but it was in line with 883Dave's experience. If you have dedicated lines you should try them, if you don't you should get them if at all possible. Makes more difference than almost anything else. Stan
Thanks Stan. I respect your opinions, which are backed by a great deal of experience. I don't have dedicated lines per se, but there is essentially nothing else on the line feeding the system other than some incandescent lights.
I do plan to give audiophile-grade outlets a try eventually, after I finish baselining and optimizing my present setup which has undergone several component changes recently.
Al , they do make a difference. At least if you have dedicated lines. Like the poster above I put one on a standard line and didn't notice much, if any, change. I had not expected much change on my dedicated lines but it was in line with 883Dave's experience. If you have dedicated lines you should try them, if you don't you should get them if at all possible. Makes more difference than almost anything else. Stan
The premium outlet (like PS Audio's PowerPort) that I am using does make a big difference. In fact, it was one of the best upgrade I have ever made in my audio life. I am not an engineer. I can't explain why.
If you were an engineer you wouldn't be able to explain why either. At least based on generally recognized science.
You are not improving the quality of the electricity coming out of the wall . You are improving the connection to it
This is what is well put, not the reference to outlets serving as filters and cleaning things up (which they don't).
And of course improving the connection will only help if the original connection is somehow deficient, and if the deficiency is somehow great enough to affect the signal path despite the filtering and isolation which the power supply of each component provides between the ac and the signal path.
Disclaimer: I have not tried any audiophile-grade outlets, so I express no conclusion about them, just a lot of skepticism.
Start with some Porter Ports..Very inexpensive and work very well..You may never have the urge to go any further...I put mine in a few years ago and have been totally happy with them and have moved on to other things to worry about.......
If water travels dozens of miles through dirty pipes, why does putting a filter at the end of my spout make it taste better?
While it's better to have the pure filtered spring water to start with, that isn't always an option. So I try to clean up the crap that comes in as much as possible before consuming it.
I did not experience major sonic advances on a household shared circuit by upgrading to a Hubbel industrial or Leviton commercial, although there was definitely worthwhile improvement in either case.
However on a dedicated 30 amp circuit when I swapped the Hubbel for a Wattgate 381 (made by Leviton) the difference was fantastic, amazing, incredible, unbelievable! Best return on audio investment I ever made. It's hard to believe the difference realized for a measly $150, which is peanuts in this hobby.
I used the FIM in place of a "Hospital Grade" receptacle on my two dedicated lines, I was expecting a possible slight improvement but it was a considerable one. By "Logic" no power cord or other change you make should produce a difference given the distance the current travels before it gets to your house. But it makes a difference to my ears and there are explanations why this should be so; there are many threads on this topic.
Well, believe it or not. The premium outlet (like PS Audio's PowerPort) that I am using does make a big difference. In fact, it was one of the best upgrade I have ever made in my audio life. I am not an engineer. I can't explain why. The premium outlet has better metal and it also allows very tight grip on the power cord. That may explain the sound improvement.
Ok, I'm not looking to start a flame war. But can someone tell me why the power from the plant to my house is going to be noticeably improved by an outlet? I have an open mind some please tell me.
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