Recommendations for 20 amp electrical outlets

I have dedicated lines and use the Hubbell 5362 outlets. I swapped in an Oyaide in my previous room, I did not detect a significant difference. I know that others have had good results with audiophile outlets, I may try again with my new room and a more resolving system. Regardless of the outlet used, you will realize some significant improvements with the dedicated lines, I did. 

@zlone I’ve read that the PS Audio outlets that I currently have are the same as the Hubbell 5362. Not sure if that’s true or not?

Thanks for your recommendation!

I just replaced my hospital grade outlets with “Furutech GTX-D NCF(R) Ultimate Nano-Crystal Rhodium-Plated AC Duplex Receptacle”. They were a notable improvement. 

I have NRG Edison and Hubbel, all on three dedicated 20amp circuits. I can't tell a difference personally when I switched components between the two.

I just had my house rewired and installed 2 20-amp outlets for my stereo wall. I used Monosaudio Audiophile Duplex Receptacle 20 Amp 125V Pure Copper Audio Wall Outlets bought on Amazon. These were wired with all 3 wires for each duplex outlet pulled back to the panel (no common ground). They’re reasonably priced and I got an almost noise free connection and my sound definitely improved ( and everything I have is connected to a Furman conditioner).

To warn everyone in the US, under the NEC code all new electrical outlets must be tamper resistant. You will be hit with this if you need an inspection for the work. Unfortunately I haven’t found an audiophile 20-amp outlets that’s tamper resistant if they’re round, only white square (decora). 

I’ve use the audioquest and it’s seems very well made, also comes with silver spades for your ground. I also use the Shunyata and can highly recommended that as well. One feature the shunyata has is the ability to grip the plug without it sagging and pulling out of the wall contacts. Great for heavy power cables. 

I use a Oyaide R1 Beryllium outlet. It has great grip for heavy power cables.

My view is that there are two main considerations about receptacles (also includes cord plugs and IEC connectors).

First, what is the base metal used for the product. There is basic brass that is the norm for commercial products, Hubbell, etc. The most basic form of brass is about 1/3 zinc and 2/3 "regular" copper. Next is Phosphor Bronze that is found in products from the companies that offer audiophile caliber receptacles and cord ends. Phosphor Bronze is a high copper content form of brass. Next is "pure copper". Well, there's more than one kind of "pure copper". Beryllium copper seems to be the top dog for receptacles and cord plugs.

Second, what is the plating? Nickel, gold, silver, rhodium, platinum, palladium or some combination or no plating at all. Each has it's own sound character. 

Since everyone has their own perceptions and preferences, you have to hear these different products first hand. While my preference is for un-plated receptacles and cord ends most of the time (I do have several Oyaide 004 cord ends on several power cords), many audiophiles like the sound of the various plated choices that are available.

For me, un-plated brass and plated brass are non-starters. The more copper and the better the copper is, the better the sound. The outlier here is the Maestro outlet. I seems to be some form of brass but, does not sound like a typical brass receptacle.

I use two different receptacles at the same time. My main system has two dedicated power lines with a two gang box on each line. Each box has two receptacles. Each box has one Maestro receptacle and one Oyaide R0 (not the R1). The R0 is an un-plated beryllium copper outlet (grips tightly). This allows me to tailor the system's sound more than I could using just one particular outlet only. The Maestro is somewhat brighter and a little more open sounding.

I choose, primarily, to use un-plated connectors since I am extremely sensitive to high frequency problems such as brightness, brashness, harshness, etc., etc. In addition, to my ear the system is more relaxed sounding than it would be otherwise.

I met Galen Carol (Shunyata) at the 2018 AXPONA and he told me a couple interesting things about outlets.

1. He recommended Hubbel 5362 outlets. He said they will perform as well or better than any exotic outlets.
2. He didn't recommend hospital grade outlets because they are built to withstand chemical corrosion as their first priority. They have stainless contacts which do not conduct electricity as well as copper.

I'm building a new house with an audio room and I will be using Hubbel 5362's for the three dedicated 20 amp circuits. However, I will have to install them after the electrical inspection because they are not tamper proof as @pcolvin mentioned.

@8th-note Buy some 20 amp tamper proof Levitons from Home Depot.  They're under $5 each. Then save them for a rainy day once you swap them out.

Per my dealer, I avoided the Furutech fancy outlets.  I have a total of six dedicated 10a circuits with 10 gauge wires (two systems).  I have a pair of Shunyata's and four PS Audio.  I can not hear a difference.  They both grip well, although I have made wall plates with semi circular supports under the bottom outlet to support my heavy cords, and they work wonders.

I replaced my circuit box and then ran 12 gauge to the HiFi.  Interesting, every box I looked at used aluminum for the breakers and hence, aluminum to copper wire. So I don’t understand all the debate over which outlet is used. From the source, we probably all have a problem with connecting aluminum to copper.  No outlet, no matter how sophisticated in materials science, will alleviate this problem.  I just needed a very good outlet to make a very tight connection and then let the DC filter and line conditioner cleanup the mess.  So far, very good .

I’ve used the Cardas for about 5 years now and remember the sonic changes to be a positive in my system.  All I have plugged in it are a REL S812

and a Parasound A21+.  
affordable and made in USA

Good luck Willy-T

Furutech

My persistent tinnitus is much cheaper.

I encourage use of hospital-grade outlets - they are designed and are tested to quite rigorous specification:  https://protectiondevicesandreceptacles.leviton.com/hc/en-us/articles/4402326499483-What-is-a-hospital-grade-receptacle  There may be plenty of good outlets/plugs that are not certified as hospital grade, of course, but when you see the "green dot" on the outlet you know for certain that it met some minimum technical specification, otherwise they wouldn't be admissible in life-critical locations.

Furutech FPX cu you can't go wrong with these.. $63.00 @ VH Audio.com

I have many of the highly regarded and reviewed outlets.. but ended up with these and the most Musical/Natural of the bunch...

God Luck, the outlet is what feeds everything else in your rig and to me is one of the most important things to consider.

@pcolvin Yup, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I have to have outlets installed when the inspector comes but I can change them out after he's gone.

I have two dedicated lines terminated with two duplex outlets each. There’s a Furutech gtx-d ncf(r) and a cheap Home Depot outlet on each line. I’m thinking to upgrade the HD ones to Shunyata just to compare with Furutech.
And yes the Furutech outlets are very good. They do impart certain flavor to the sound that you need to hear to determine if you like it or not. My system sounds good with these outlets and the difference is audible when I switch to HD cheap duplex.

I have Maestro outlets for all my components.....dead quiet...never a problem

You guys have been very helpful with all of your impressions concerning your outlets! I know we all are listening to our music in different homes, different rooms with different gear, so it’s always hard to come to a conclusion on what’s the best sounding outlet with various systems. @8th-note mentioned Galen Carol (Shunyata) recommended the Hubbell 5362. That’s interesting because they have their own outlet, yet he recommended the 5362. Then some of you guys couldn’t hear a difference between your premium grade outlets vs. PS Audio or Hubbell outlets. Most seem to love the Furutech line and that Maestro keeps popping up in the comments. I haven’t heard anything bad about The Maestro yet. The Furutech costs too much.

I will have (4) dedicated lines running 10 gauge romex and this could be an expensive adventure, but I plan to pick one brand and I won’t be doing any outlet shootouts like I’ve done with cables and components. So, I’ve had the PS Audio outlets upstairs for several years and they sound good, but I haven’t compared them to any other outlets.

I’m waiting to hear back from First Cruze Audio concerning the Maestro. They don’t have any specs on their website, just reviews. Are any of the outlets mentioned in this forum tamper proof besides the HD stuff?

Thanks all for your help and feel free to share more details!

Top Furutech rhodium NCF. But be patient, it takes time (!) to settle. 

OP,

Consider just installing direct lines with hospital grade outlets at first. You’ll get the boost in sound quality. Then a few years down the line when everything is optimal, swap out one of the hospitals for a Furutech. You will be able to make a judgement whether to upgrade the rest. You’ll have financially recovered from earlier big purchases. If spend a $1K on outlets you will never hear the difference… it’ll just come with the improvement in direct lines.

This is something simple to do yourself. Makes it an easy thing to do later.

I've used a wide variety of outlets over the years. There is no single outlet that's best, these are subtle tuning devices that are best decided on once you've tuned system. Hubbel's mentioned on warm side, Rhodium far more neutral. I use a combo of PorterPorts and Oyaide R1's. As previously mentioned rhodium takes long, long time to burn in, but maintains consistent performance without degradation over time.

Any thoughts on which components are affected the most by outlets? If you only had one fancy outlet and two dedicated lines, would you use it for the front end components or the power amp? 

@dbt Wrote:

I will have (4) dedicated lines running 10 gauge romex and this could be an expensive adventure,

Maybe this will help see here. FWIW, I use four Hubbell receptacle see here.

Mike

@ghdprentice That’s a great idea and the conclusion I have come to after careful thought.  I think I’m going to go with the PS Audio Power Port outlets for now as I  already have two of them and my system sounds great.  The 10 gauge Romex should be an upgrade to begin with.

@ditusa Thanks for your feedback and the links!

@dbt,

You're welcome!

Mike

One Oyaide R0, Berylliium/copper NOT plated, others are Hubbell 5362W.

Dedicated 20A circuit with independent surge suppressor.

Keep in mind, “separate” ground at the panel, even a separate panel not bonded to the main breaker box STILL goes into the SAME ground (earth) as the other ground rod(s). Even if the ground rod is on the other side of the house there will be SOME interference, some energy exchange (ask Tesla how he lit up all those lamps in Colorado).

👍😊

@jea48 said:

Shunyata’s outlet is a Hubbell 5362.

It’s still interesting that Galen Carol would recommend the Hubbell outlet if he is selling his version of it. Just a rhetorical statement.

Galvanized steel supporting back strap... Not good for feeding audio equipment. Can add grain and brightness to the sound depending on the equipment used. YMMV

The Maestro has more positive reviews than negative, so they must have put some magic into the outlet! If the $3 Lowes outlets are the same as the Maestro and they sound like The Maestro, then I’m buying them for the entire house!😆

I’m good for now as I plan to let the system settle in the new room upon completion, then I’ll have a baseline to assess a new outlet. I bought several PS Audio outlets for now. My system is sounding top notch with the PS Audio outlets that I’ve had for several years, so anything better will be icing on the cake!

My Rep. at The Cable Company stated that the Furutech GTX-D (NCF) R was the best sounding outlet that he has owned and he liked the Audioquest NRG Edison outlet, but felt it was way too difficult to remove power cables from it due to the tight grip. Lastly, he said the Cardas outlet was really good and just below the Furutech. I’m hearing and reading all kinds of opinions on most of the same outlets mentioned in this forum, so I will narrow it down and select one when I’m ready to pull the trigger on an outlet.

Thanks so much guys!👍

@jea48 

Keep in mind, “separate” ground at the panel, even a separate panel not bonded to the main breaker box STILL goes into the SAME ground (earth) as the other ground rod(s).

Please explain in more detail what you mean.

****************

entire book(let)s have been written about the subject of grounding. Most of what I know is from setting up ham radio equipment at home, installing towers here and it’s a topic dweebs, geeks and “auty”/“aspy” folk will argue to death - or blocking - on the internet.

Basically:

I’ve read SO many posts here and on other audio forums about people spending beaucoup dollars installing a “dedicated”, “isolated” 20A power source for their audio equipment AND mentioning “with a separate ground.”

Typically, there is only ONE service entrance for power per home. ONE breaker panel. Ground (the bare copper wire) and Neutral (white wire in the US) are “bonded” at the breaker panel, meaning, connected. Ground goes to a ground ROD outside, outside the footer, usually a copper-clad steel rod (some use copper pipe which is fun to install)

Now someone wants to install a SEPARATE box, a SUBPANEL which is tapped off the main breaker panel, this box doesn’t have a separate grounding rod (I’ve read where others have done this) AND neutral (the “return” line for the hot feed) is STILL going to the ground rod(s) by the house (NEC code, IIRC, now requires two, connected to each other. I used Erico Cadweld one-shot thermite welding to fuse #4 copper wire to each ground rod for my ham radio tower), bottom line being, ALL ground goes into THE GROUND, the same ground (earth) beside the house. One service panel, one ground.

Any other appliance in the house is going to be on the same circuit no matter how “isolated” it’s made as hot and neutral go to the “appliance” (including stereo gear) and neutral is BONDED to GROUND at the panel - again - the ground lead going to the ground ROD.

It’s why so many people are using power conditioners on their equipment.

Hope this helps.  And puh-lease, “experts,” geeks, dweebs, techies, “I’ve been an electrician for 40 years” guys, save it for another forum.

Good point “you’re hearing many opinions on the same outlets”  My guess is then most of it doesn’t make a difference and it’s a wee bit of a scam…you think ? 

@normb I shared you advice with my electrician yesterday and he advised he will install the grounding as you mentioned. He clearly understood what I was trying to convey and advised it was definitely a great idea. The subject matter has come up before, but I didn’t think about pursuing the idea, so thanks for sharing this information!

@1971gto455ho Said: My guess is then most of it doesn’t make a difference and it’s a wee bit of a scam…you think ?

I wouldn’t declare it a scam unless I decide to test multiple outlets in my system and don’t hear a difference. The exaggerated advertisements may be a bit of a scam.  However, I’m not so quick to call something a scam just because I don’t hear a difference in a hifi product. What I’ve learned in this hifi hobby is, we tend to put a value on what sound we want. If a product squeezes a little bit more juice out of your system, you have to ask yourself, is this incremental improvement worth the asking price?  So, people may hear a difference in the outlets and feel a $300 a Furutech is worth the upgrade.  Some people totally discount an expensive speaker or component simply because they can afford it, so they trash the product and never heard it. I understand expectation bias and all the other things that might make one feel like they hear a positive or negative difference in any hifi product. We all have different rooms with different gear and any biases that may come into play, so we’re gonna get various opinions, but I still value the feedback from the hifi community. I tend to learn information above and beyond what I was initially seeking. It’s all good!

@dbt 

Thanks for that.

One of my best friends is a master electrician who’s finishing the wiring on my new house in a few weeks (I hope, I hope, I hope) and I ran an aluminum sheathed 10 AWG line from the new breaker box to my audio room/man cave ending in an Oyaide R0 (non-plated copper) 20A outlet.

I told him how I wanted a single, independent circuit and he said “well, it’s all on the same ground.”

And “ground” and neutral are at the same impedance level as they’re connected.

 DOH!

That got me rethinking some of the posts I’ve read here and around the web regarding “a separate line into my audio room” and rereading some of the stuff I’ve got on grounding.

https://esgrounding.com/blog/bonding-neutral-and-ground-at-main-panel

I DO USE a power conditioner (Running Springs Audio DUKE) though and believe it makes a difference taking out the hair dryer/HVAC transients/DC line noise. 

A person could have a 2nd service, meter and panel installed that would serve their audio equipment only. No appliance and / or motor noise since wirings would be entirely separate.

dbt

I went through about a 9 month comparison with high end receptacles, and in the end there are 4 I can recommend:

(1) Furutech GTX-D (G) - Gold plated and my favorite receptacle

(2) Oyaide R-1 - Gold plated, really close to the GTX-D (G).....am installing both in my new audio room

(3) Furutech GTX-D (R) - Rhodium plated, was too detailed for me; but I can see it being the favorite for anyone wanting to boost detail......takes a LONG time to break it

(4) ACME Audio Labs - Silver plated with CFC coating. Excellent performer for the money, better than Hubbell and hospital grade for me.....1/3 the price of the Furutech and Oyaide, great for budget option

Best value ,quality $99 Pangea  heavy Copper gold hd body and

grip connectors super good  I use 2 .I have had other brands if you want to spend $250 each with cover for Furutech  that’s up to you 

the Pangea does a great job and copper -gold sounds so much better then cheap brass Hubble , the $3 ac outlets that come with house pure crap 

like using a wall wart on your router ,a LPS pS only  

if in a  apt. Buy their cheaper $50 ac outlet thinner copper gold. But after 75 hours runin  your music will thank you 3x better conductor then brass.

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-8300-R-125-Volt-Receptacle-Grounding/dp/B002090BBC/ref=sr_1_9?crid=11S7J3OFFSYQS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.UNbhfvTLJ5XirzkRdrMjM1pl8uyFLHa8rG7EibW5OPPB44gXfhRphd0tHD6dNoZXfRDhJ4F-4MopIFx2VS3OF75QXHplodFHUVCuvU_QYNfUp1sgf4CUhfMxJkay4IjIPB0sPRcUxMn3fbnDod5IUpwTG9WxeNzfWpYQv_cc6hcaDQELb4JyuN06gXLPuETdzfcFvkEu2P-tqqio6sgqicAL5u5OjLDdvOffWRpK6_XoYOGoA5JmQfmSJqREVXeQ.fuiZVLMgYVXyme9LNGWI1zlqO_bYnmTRnZzlZZGCnAs&dib_tag=se&keywords=hospital+grade+outlet+20+amp&qid=1724889851&sprefix=Hospital+grade+o%2Caps%2C127&sr=8-9

@vthokie83 ​​​​​@audioman58 

Thanks!

DBT any time !

@jea48 Thanks for the insight. Going to bet $100.00 if I change them out it will make ZERO difference. But I willing to give it a shot when I get back from my Michigan trip.