What is the best AC receptacle on the market?

Read: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?raccs&1065488253&openusid&zzLak&4&5#Lak

Feel free to email me if you have questions.
Good luck...You can't go wrong, it's a matter personal preference.

The Porter Port. Hands down.

The Wattgate 381 was a great upgrade over my stock receptacle.

I've tried 3. Hubbel, Power port and Porter Port. Porter port wins by a wide margin.

Hey Jfrech,

Have you tried those cryo'd receptacles? I keep hearing a lot about 'em. If so, what do you think? What is your assoc. gear?

PS Audio Power Port

The Furutech FP 2g or 2r is the best that I have had..
Had wattgate, ps audio.. Furutech is just built better and has a better grip than the others.
Happy listening,
Joe
Custom Audio LLC

In order of preference:

Furutech FP-3G, this is the less expensive 15 amp gold plated version (~40$). Very good balance top to bottom, rich, vibrant, and detailed.

Cryo’d Hubbell 5362, sound quality varies based on source. I have the Jena Labs, and a gray colored version from another source. Good balance top to bottom, very good macro and micro detail, quiet, and has a slightly recessed presentation.

Cryo’d Hubbell 8300, this is the nickel-plated version. The 8300 is similar to the 5362, although slightly more forward sounding, and has more presence in the treble region.

FIM 880, non-cryo’d high copper content outlet. Very long break in period required, emphasizes bass extension and weight, and is slightly lean in the upper midrange.

ACME Silver, I have the 20 amp non-cryo’d version. The ACME Silver is lively and fast sounding, and emphasizes the presence region, but overall sounds well integrated. Long break in period required.

Thanks Tom nice job!
I've been meaning to put a list together (simular to yours) of the outlets I've used and still own, but I have not had the time.

Hey Lak - Do you agree that the furutech is better than the porter port?

Hey Audioman4 - Have you tried the porter port?

Hey Tom - I checked the furutech website and couldn't find an fp-3g. Where did you get your's from? How is it different from the 2g & 2r?

Thesaint519,

The Furutech FP-2G and Wattgate 381 are both excellent gold plated outlets with good contact pressure points. If you want the smooth rich sound on certain components.

The Porter Port is a Hubbell 8300, I believe it’s sound has something to do with the fact that the contacts are not nickel plated and the outlet is treated by a long computer-controlled cryo immersion as opposed to a long computer-controlled cryo vapor. The sound it produces is very similar to a Gold plated outlet with detail in the lows, mids and highs, a sweete timbre and background accompaniment detail. The sound is not as smooth but still very desirable.

Personally, I don’t think one is better than the other, just different applications. You have to mix and match cryo’d outlets with your different components to see what produces the best sound you prefer to hear, it’s a personal choice.

Another outlet to consider is the Hubbell 5362, no nickel plating however it is usually cryo’d with long computer-controlled cryo vapor, 24 – 48 hours depending whom you purchase it from. It’s good also; I use some in my Equi-Tech Q2, just sounds a little different than the Porter Port.

I hope this helps, just my opinion, lot’s of brands out there to choose from.

Thanks Larry. With 8 dedicated outlets I've had the opportunity to try all of the outlets I listed side by side over the last two years. I'm currently using the Furutech on my cdp, the Hubbell 8300 on my amp, the FIM on my sub, the Hubbell 5263s on my HT gear, and the ACME on my projector. At one point I had all ACMEs.

Thesaint519, Vh Audio is selling the 15 amp Furutech for 39.95. According to the literature on Chris's website the FP-3G is virtually identical to the FP-2G (20 amp version?)other than having the horizontal slot for a dedicated 20 amp plug. I'm not familiar with the 2r.

I have 2 Wattgate's , 2 PS audio's . PS audio is a good buy for the money. The Wattgate's I bought for the Power Amp section , but found through trial and error and a Bob Bundus comment, that it really excels on the digital Side.
Joe's comment above is interesting about Furutech, having a better grip in his experience, because thats key. A tight grip is 90 percent of what its all about. But Im very happy with Wattgate . Try it on your CDP, DAC or Pre if it is digital based.

My opinion is that a tight grip is important, but not necessarily the major factor in a receptacle's performance. In my experience, for example, the Pass & Seymours have a very strong grip, stronger in fact than the Hubbell 5262's and 5362's that I currently use and stronger than the Hubbell 8300 (which I have also used) that the PS Audio is based on.

The tighter grip of the P&S (which I think is sonically inferior to the Hubbells), however, is a result of the design and configuration of the power contacts. This design gives it a better grip, but at the expense of the surface contact area that the power contacts make with the prongs of a male plug when inserted. While the Hubbells have less grip (which is still quite good in any relative terms), they will, by design, have a vastly larger contact area with the male plug. My thoughts are that this may be much more important than straight "grip", per se.

I have no experience with the Furetech, so cannot comment on its design or sonic characteristics.

Ps Audio keeps getting rave reviews.

Okay, then what about this: This receptacle is going to feed a PS Audio P1000 and Levinson 33H's (which regenerates pure ac). In the future I'll run the 33H's directly into a RGPC Substation. When these variables are added in to the equation, does the receptacle become less of a factor or not?

Thesaint519,
In my opinion regardless of what you do, the AC outlet is always important. I can hear the differences in my high resolution systems fed from two isolation transformers 5 KVA each.

As Lak says, the receptacle is always a factor. You should also take into consideration, though, that the receptacles in the PS Audio should be replaced, and probably the Richard Gray (I'm assuming that's what RGPC is-hope I'm not wrong). If you don't do that, you're only reaping about 50% of the benefit.

Thanks fellas. Ooops, I mean everybody.