I know both have been suggested as an upgrade to the run of the mill cheap outlets. I also know there may be "even better" outlets. I know the MRI grade has non magnetic metal components. Bottom line, does it make a difference one can hear? I have about 1/2 dozen Hubbell 30 Watt hospital grade outlets. Got them fairly inexpensively. Are the MRI grade worth the extra $$$?
the only thing you need from an outlet is good contact so your amp will have adequate current flow esp. on peaks and there is no need to spend more than a few bucks on an outlet -- if that
save up for some Wilson speakers or Reveles or big Maggies, etc.
The MRI outlets will not be any better than the Hubbel outlets. Most likely they will be made from the same type of brass material. Hospital equipment has a much different set of requirements than audio electronics. My suggestion would be to use your existing Hubbel outlets for now. Maybe move up to the cryoed Porter Ports if you feel the need. Above that, it gets very expensive with Furutech,and other brand when looking at gold/rhodium plated copper or phosphor bronze.
I'm not sure why you'd want to use 30A outlets. They would require using a plug not compatible with 15A/20A outlets without gaining any particular advantage.
The old style Hubbell HBL8300 standard body hosp grade outlet has nickel plated contacts and a nickel plated back strap for corrosion. The nickel plating has ferrous materials in the nickel. Ferrous material can and do affect the SQ of a sound system.
Avoid any outlet that has a galvanized steel supporting back strap. Bad for the SQ of an audio system.
Old stock HBL8300H Compact slim body? A very good duplex receptacle. Non nickel plated brass contacts with a non nickel plated supporting back strap.
Should read: Old stock HBL8300H hosp grade Compact slim body? A very good duplex receptacle. Non nickel plated brass contacts with a non nickel plated "brass" supporting back strap.
The old style Hubbell HBL8300 standard body hosp grade outlet has nickel plated contacts and a nickel plated back strap for corrosion.
Should read: The old style Hubbell HBL8300 hosp grade standard body outlet has nickel plated "brass" contacts and a nickel plated "brass" back strap for corrosion.
Looking at the side view of the outlet in the picture does it look like yours?
If so it should be an old series HBL8300 hospital grade duplex receptacle with a nickel plated brass back strap. You can find out for sure if you have a magnet. If it is nickel plated brass you should/might, (depending on the strength of the magnet), feel a slight pulling attraction to the magnet. If it is the newer style HBL8300 hospital grade outlet, that has a steel back strap, the magnet will stick like glue to the back strap.
ITS ELECTRICITY THAT COMES FROM AN OUTLET,NOT SOUND. Contact pressure is the primary difference between good and bad outlets. You can believe the hype,I'll put my money on more music buying, that's why I buy my equipment.
No personal experience with outlets, other than replacing existing one that seemed fine, with another generic, but "hospital" quality that was a couple of bucks more.
I figure the show rigs at hotels are plugged into a generic outlet no better than what I have. Some systems sound spectacular. I wonder if any companies installed nice outlets for their gear? Hmm..
Price and effort, the outlet change doesn't cause finanacial damage as the rest of audio madness.
Install the outlets you have now, turn away and run!
Or, demo a Power Plant and determine if you hear a difference. I did. What really convinced me was plugging in the plasmaTV.Great pic from the wall with stock cord. Nicer with aftermarket. Plugged into to PP, colors /detail increased still improved. I guess I have crappy electricity?(for audio)
I looked at E-bay and Amazon for snake oil, as Randy-11 suggested. However, there are so many different kinds, and brands to choose from. There was a guy downtown, on the street who I bought a Rolex from for $40.00, and he threw in a one oz bottle of snake oil for free. Not sure whether I should trust it, as it isn't any audio brand I recognize, and it doesn't mention which kind of snake it comes from. Should I use this stuff or get the good stuff for $1,5000.00 per oz? I'm guessing a lot of members have had experience with trying snake oil. Your experiences and thoughts, please.
I just got the Porter Ports wired to the outlet for my system and I a bit puzzled as I honestly expected zero improvement. I have called BS on the "fuse-heads" and a boatload of other tweaks I have tried and rejected. While my impressions are purely subjective, I am apt to concede that familiar music has taken on a bit more vividness and the LF seems a bit more impactful. The music just seems a bit more alive, with a greater degree of clarity. In contrast to other folks in this thread, it is nowhere close to upgrading my amplifier. Still, viscerally, I am liking what I am hearing and the $80 investment for two PP outlets strikes me as a fair price for a tweak.
At any rate, the PP outlets do grab my canted heavy power cords with far more authority than the outlets they replaced. A cheaper route would be to upgrade your basic AC receptacles to the standard non-cry-treated Hubbell 5362 receptacles, which is what the PP outlets are, and if you get an improvement in sound, that will be dandy, but for sure you will have a much more secure connection for your power cords. Cheers, Whitestix
I hope I don’t confuse things more. I began Porter Ports many years ago here at Audiogon as a personal project when I rewired my homes electrical to benefit my audio system.
I tried several brands and designs of outlets and preferred the Hubbell 20 Amp hospital grade and posted results about it here. People said they wanted a few for themselves and I agreed if I could get a bunch of people together and cryo treat 25 or 50 of them I would do that.
I delivered the first batch and assumed that would be that. Everyone was happy and ask for more. This was back in 2001, 16 years ago I never imagined it would go on this long.
Then as with all good things, Hubbell began making changes, some to cut cost and some to (supposedly) conform to government rules.
Basically, I can no longer get Hospital grade without the plating. So I worked a deal with Hubbell to deliver 5362 with (non plated) Hospital grade interior parts, heavy 5362 body and unplated back strap. I sold these for the past few years, all the while hoping Hubbell would return to production of alternate unplated outlets such as the original Hospital grade. So far they have not seen fit to do so.
Fast forward to the past few months, several people claim the IG (isolated ground) version of Hubbell sounds better. I do not hear a difference in my system but I have plastic boxes in my walls so Hospital grade (yes I still have some in my system) and the new 5362, both perform same as an IG design since the grounds of these outlets cannot share in a non conductive plastic box.
So just to cover all bases I am now ordering Hubbell to build IG version with no plating and that’s what I have in stock, probably 500 or so at the moment. With more on the way. So regardless if a person has plastic outlets or metal they should have same performance.
In any case there have been at least eight price increases since I began selling these 16 years ago here at Audiogon. With sales volume increasing every year I keep working better deals from Hubbell, buying as many as a couple of thousand at a time to keep sales price low.
I kept it at $36.00 until recently, even after all the price increases by Hubbell, cost of shipping, increase in price of cryo treatment and cost of ads here at Audiogon I am still charging only $41.00. A $5.00 increase in price over 16 years is not bad considering what everything else has done.
I have lots of people using them including two reviewers at Absolute Sound, a couple of recording studios and hundreds of Audiogon members. Most folks think they are an improvement and a good value.
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