What exactly does "Hospital Grade" mean?

Nerspellsner, I found a few errors in the Stereophile article.

Besides that one you mentioned,

The Hubbell HBL8300I receptacle. The I does not stand for plated, it stands for ivory.

The picture of the two outlets, the top outlet sure looks to me to be the non nickel plated Hubbell HBL8300H, not the plated HBL8300.

On the whole they did a pretty good job with the article for being laymen when it comes to electrical.
Jim

Studioray, I installed the Hubbell 5362 outlets for my ARC VT50 power amp and my Sonic Frontiers Line One preamp. Plugged things back in and turned the system on. Right off I could hear a difference. As I have read from others the bass was deeper. I first started with a Female vocal and did notice siblence sounds, the dreaded sss sss. I was hoping that was due to the fact the outlets were new and needed some break-in time. For lack of anything else I could think of to plug into the two outlets and let them cook for about 24 hours, I used two table lamps with 3 way bulbs. I turned the switches on the lamps to the highest wattage. Tonight I unplugged the lamps and plugged back in the equipment. Turned things on, let the system warm up for about a half hour and sat down for a listen. Siblence were gone. The bass from my system is deeper. The sound is darker, sound stage more layered. The Hubbell 5362 beats the Leviton Hospital Grade outlets hands down. It has to be that steel supporting yoke,strap. Or maybe the Hubbell is more dampened.

I still have to change the outlet for the CDP, one thing at a time.

And then there is the outlet cover plates. I am presently using the Leviton magnetic Stainless steel plates with a nylon trim screw. I know Nerspellsner, I am guilty, busted!
This weekend I will experiment with the nylon outlet cover plates.

Also I am Still going to try the Hubbell 8300H Hosp Grade duplex outlets. I just need to make up my mind whether I am going to buy the Cyroed outlets.

Studioray, You did not mention in your thread if you have dedicated audio branch circuits.

Hi Jae48, yes I do have one dedicated line coming from the main circuit breaker box at present. Right now it only contains just a consumer grade receptacle - meaning one dual outlet. I have an Arrow Hart 8200 on the way to me, which I've read some good things about, and so that will replace the outlet that's there.

Although I've been an Audiogon member for awhile, I've only recently stumbled upon the whole clean power/dedicated line thingy, and as of right now cannot even tell you which components are plugged into the dedicated line. I figure when the AH8200 comes, I'll either 1) Run only the amp and pre-amp from the dedicated line and run the PC (which is my CD player) and everything else from a common house line, or 2) Do the "split everything off of one outlet" approach and see how that sounds.

In my case, "everything else" is a lot of audio recording gear as my main listening place is also my workplace, which is a recording studio. So I've often got at least a dozen things on at one time that never get shut off and remain on constantly: outboard effects processors, microphone preamps, mixing boards, power conditioners, etc.. I know that this is not the audiophile best case scenario, but I spend only enough time at home to sleep, and so my studio has become my listening room.

Cheers,
Ray

Jea48, I find it interesting to know that the "pull pressure" of hospital grade recepticles is tested for the hospital environment. I didn't know that and I work in a hospital. However, I'm sure our maintenance personnel are aware of that. One thing to note, at least in our hospital, is that the red recepticles are the only recepticles that are used for normal power and power from the back-up generators. The red recepticles are used for computers, ventilators, etc. Also, it takes between 10 to 15 seconds for the generators to come on line, so there is a slight interruption in power, except for anything also plugged into a battery supply. Our ventilators have a builtin backup battery supply of about 30 minutes. Thanks for the education!

Facts:
Hospital grade plugs provide more robust grounding than a regular plug. They are built to a better quality. Grounding and isolation transformers are very important to medical equipment. The 15 and 20 amp (three prong plugs) are not suitable for use around flammable materials. There are explosion proof 15 and 20 amp hospital grade plugs that look totally different than a regular plug. You have to insert these turn them a quarter of a turn. These are usually found in older operating rooms. No one at a hospital checks the force required to remove a plug.
(My boss is going to laugh when he hears that.)

I am a biomed tech and I work on and test medical equipment.