The Great Cryo'd Outlet Test

I did an initial round of listening tests, and, not to keep you all in suspense, I did not (so far) hear any effect attributable to the cryo’d outlet. Following is a description of what I did.

1. Some say that ac power is most important for low level source equipment. The first test was simple: just power the Denon 2900 DVD player and Rotel 1066 with the cryo’d outlet, and play my best disc through the whole multichannel rig. (The Rotel circuitry is almost all bypassed in discrete multichannel mode: it serves only as volume control). I could hear no difference with the cryo’d outlet.

2. I realized that I could cut my rig down to stereo without rearranging a lot of equipment. I turned off the rear amps and the center front amp. I used the cryo’d outlet to power the two CarverPro ZR1600 digital power amps for the left and right MG1.6 and their associated subwoofers. Then I played the Stereo programs of several SACD. Repeated the exercise with regular outlet/ cryo’d outlet/regular outlet…etc. No difference.

By the way, neither outlet warmed up enough to be detected. Temperature of both outlet boxes was measured while they were being used with a thermometer…62 degrees which was the cellar temperature at the time.

3. Next, I turned off all the front amps, and fed the front L and R signals into the rear amps, Kenwood LO7M monoblocks that are fairly conventional ss amps. The rear speakers are also conventional MTM boxes, Madisound Odin. I powered the amps with cryo’d and non cryo’d outlet. No difference.

I selected discs to play as follows.
Multichannel test…Tacet DVD D107..Mozart Flute Quartets. Awesome audiophile quality.
Stereo SACD…Pentatone PTC 5186 024 Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Good clear recording appropriate for stereo.
Stereo SACD…Telarc SACD 60579 “The Sound of Glory”
Massive Chorus, Orchestra, Organ.
CD, Eva Cassidy, “Live at Blues Alley” Female vocalist. Recording with good ambience and “low level detail”.
I would still like to do one test of the “scientific” variety. I will feed the two monoblock amps with the same signal, and tweek gains so as to minimize the difference signal between the two Hot power amp output terminals. (Ideally there should be no difference). Then I will plug one of the amps into the cryo’d outlet, and see if the difference signal changes. I will also listen to the difference signal, (with earphones) as the spectral content might change without affecting the voltage measurement. This test will plainly determine if the cryo’d outlet affects the electrical output of the power amp.

So I don’t think that a cryo’d outlet would be much use to me. Perhaps my 115 volt power is nice and clean. Maybe there is no RFI where I live. (I know that cell phones don’t work at my house). And maybe, just maybe, the cryo effect is psychological.

Now, now, Eldartford. If you were truly objective in your observations (are any of us really?), you would also allow for the following potential scenarios/conclusions associated with your findings:

1. Your hearing is not what you think it to be.

2. You are not the scientist you think you are.

3. Your equipment is not what you think it to be.

4. The product tested was not cryogenically treated.

5. You had too much chili the night prior to the testing.

6. Eldartford really does not exist. He is only a figment of our imagination. (Hey, it's a possibility!)

I'm not saying any of the above are true or not true, but any one or any combination of the above are very distinct possibilities and if mentioned would at the very least demonstrate greater objectivity on your part.

-IMO

Stehno: As the sender of the outlets, I know that #4 and #6 are not true.

That being said, Ed has drawn his conclusions and so be it. One thing I do have slight problem with is that Ed, in this situation seems to be doing the listening in a re-configured system that is quite a bit different than that which he normally listens to, and then doing quick A-B comparisons. I would feel more comfortable with comparisons being made in a system and room that is identical to which the tester normally listens to. I also feel that quick switching (sepecially within the context of a system that the listener is unfamiliar with) is less than ideal and that the system should be listened to for a considerable period of time fully powered up, perhaps even 2-3 days with one receptacle and then switched over to the other. Ideally, as I've said before, but not possible in this case, comparisons should be made with a system drawing entirely (no mix and match) from one type of receptacle. I don't consider myself to be a true scientist, but there are a lot of variables here.

I'd be curious, Ed, if it is easy for you to do, to compare either of the outlets to the stock outlet you are using to see if you could discern any difference between your stock and what I sent you. If it's too much trouble, don't bother.

But, I'm comfortable with Ed's conclusions and would only point out that one can argue just as vociferously that his conclusions are just as "psychological" as those arrived at by the pro cryo camp. Kind of an endless circle of an argument. At least we've gone through the process.

Ed,

I give you credit for at least doing your own listening and drawing your own conclusion.

Thanks for the report.

Eldartford, hopefully my previous post was taken tongue-in-cheek. At least that was the intention. Sorry for any offense.

But it is interesting that you noticed no difference. My experience with cryo-treatment only started two weeks ago and that was with just one 20amp cryo-treated Hubbell IEC connector from Jena Labs for my amplifier. And I was quite surprised at the improvements.

-IMO