How important is it to replace your generic receptacles with audio grade receptacles . I already replaced my stock power cords to high end Shunyatas. Would it still be necessary to still change my generic receptacles to audio grade?
Well said dynaquest4. The joy of listening and experimenting can be a wonderful pursuit. I just think that too often people are being taken advantage of.
So...on the one hand we have an audiophile with an engineering degree in the science that is critical in the creation of the equipment we all love; who understands why and how electrical energy helps turn recorded media into beautiful music and is able to articulate his point clearly.
On the other hand...we have an audiophile whose apartment is filled with ultra-expensive AC plugs (many still "burning-in" via the refrigerator) whose credentials are merely the pair of ears we all possess.
You cannot eclipse reality by throwing a bunch of money at a receptical...no matter how badly you want it to work.
Well boxer, you laid out quite a stereotype at the same time as attempting to depreciate the works of many brilliant scientists who individually forgot more than a thousand average people combined will ever know. Believe what you want, and I will believe in the science that explains how every modern convenience we enjoy today actually works.
sleepy, A couple things: "
The laws of physics haven’t changed since the 80’s" Agreed, however power cord, interconnect, speaker wire, & audiophile outlets have. "
The insults from some members are probably a reflection of insecurity that stems from lack of understanding how power supplies and amplifiers really work" Or (try to think outside of yourself for a minute)... They are probably just tired of being told what they are actually hearing is not reality because another professor or engineer has been taught this by like minded professors or engineers that read all the facts required for audiophiles to understand from books that are really really old written by men who never heard recorded music at a level that even approaches the lower fringes of high fidelity.
To answer your question - yes you will hear a significant improvement in the music your system plays when you upgrade the wall outlet. It is simply that simple. Since this will be your first experience with this part of the audio reproduction chain, buy an outlet that you can return if you do not think the change is significant, or watch the used listings here at Audiogon and buy a used outlet that you can resell if you choose to do so. Elizabeth has done a lot of critical listening with the Furutch outlets and I have done the same with Furutech and Synergistic Research outlets. These outlets impart a significant improvement to a system.
I do hope you you will give audio grade outlets a try.
Your insults are probably a reflection of insecurity that stems from lack of understanding how power supplies and amplifiers really work. People, the laws of physics cannot be subverted by anything, let alone magic pixie dust sprinkled to obtain imaginary improvements in sound quality.
I’m not here to belittle anyone. Insults and behaviour such as some members have demonstrated is the downfall of social media, and only makes a mockery of this forum. To those people I say - go ahead and keep it up if you want. That is your prerogative. Not mine.
>>>>>Thanks for showing some restraint by not belittling or mocking anyone. 😬 And we applaud your defense of social media.
People, if you were Electronics Engineers, you would understand what I’m telling you. Granted that not everyone has a degree in Electronics Engineering, but that doesn’t mean that they have license to shove down everyone’s throats their own made up theories taking some kind of superior position over the likes of Georg Ohm, James Watt, Heinrich Hertz, Nikola Tesla, Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday, Albert Einstein et al.
The improvements in sound quality that you are experiencing are simply the result of maximizing the potential energy transfer to your amplifiers. That plateau is easily achieved with spec grade or hospital grade receptacles that are property wired to your (14 AWG or 12 AWG) romex branch circuit, and making sure your amplifiers have no lighter than 14AWG power cords.
By the way, I own a pair of NAD integrated amplifiers (3020i and 3225PE) in a bi-amp setup to my Energy Reference Connoisseur speakers. Speaker cables are 8ft Monster Standard 12AWG with Monster QL-GMT banana plugs. My source is a Technics SL-1700mk2 that I restored myself with an Audio Technica VM540ML Line contact moving magnet cartridge and fully balanced connection to the turntable with Belden Brilliance 1696A AES/EBU cable with Neutrik XLR connectors. My phono stage is a NAD PP2 with my own 2 Amp regulated 24Vdc power supply and Burson V6 Classic discrete op-amps.
The insults from some members are probably a reflection of insecurity that stems from lack of understanding how power supplies and amplifiers really work. The laws of physics cannot be subverted by anything, let alone magic pixie dust sprinkled to obtain imaginary improvements in sound quality.
I’m not here to belittle anyone. Insults and behaviour such as some members have demonstrated is the downfall of social media, and only makes a mockery of this forum. To those people I say - go ahead and keep it up if you want. That is your prerogative. Not mine.
sleepwalker, I couldn't disagree more. I suspect your system or hearing isn't up to the task. Because of that, nobody else's is either. To use your words... What "cockamamie bulls@$&t".
“I recently replaced my old $5 hospital grade outlets with $100 Oyaide R1's and replaced my old dedicated line comprised of 13 ga Romex with cryo'ed 10. The improvement; minimal. “
Uggghhhh!!!! THIS is testament to the ridiculousness of the pursuit of hifi from power cables. First, there is no such thing as “13 ga Romex”. Second, we are talking about alternating current at 60Hz, which is filtered for high frequency transients, then stepped down on the order of 5:1 then rectified and filtered again, then regulated and filtered once yet again.
As long as you are not experiencing a significant I*R voltage drop across a puny 18 AWG power cord and 59 cent duplex receptacle with backstab connections to your amplifiers, you have more than sufficient energy transfer at your amplifiers(‘) disposal to maximize their design potential.
Please people, don’t buy into the mythical notions that a rhodium plated silver power cord (or some other cockamamie bulls@$&t) is going to revolutionize your listening experience with “blacker blacks” or other nonsense. It is simply and purely a function of the amplifier, not the power cord.
boxe12: Congratulations on the upgrade. Your Synergistic Red outlet will continue to improve over the next 100 hours. Adding a SR Blue outlet o feed the rest of the system is a great idea. The Blue will sound already partially broken right out of the box, really good after 3 days and reach it's maximum improvement after about 10 days. The combination of using a Red and Blue outlet in a system is working great for me.
Put an SR red in the outlet powering my mono blocks. I have a little over 50 hours on it now & all I can say is it's the absolute best upgrade I've ever done for $100. Now I'm going to have to get the blue one for the outlet feeding the exactpower transformer, which feeds the rest of the system (LOL, kind of).
Exciting developments. I am confident your system will only improve over the next 4 to 6 weeks. I applaud your hard work and drive to improve your system.
Rhodium is often frustrating to use. I think you will hear it settle in but it may take 3 - 10 - or 14 days. I appreciate your efforts and your reports. I have had positive results with coating the connecting wires with the Total Contact by Perfect Technologies. It seems to “tame” some of the harshness of rhodium. Best wishes for a good weekend.
As an Anesthesiologist I spend all day in the Operating Room, and hospital grade outlets impart a far worse sound to a system than any of the audio grade outlets such as Synergistic Research and Furutech outlets. And david_ten is correct - the acoustics in an OR are terrible.
I cheated - - and bought six hospital grade plugs. If they're good enough for the electronic equipment in an operating room, I'll trust them with my audio electronics.
Elizabeth: Welcome to the exciting world of outlet swapping! Isn’t It amazing the amount of change one outlet can make! when things have settled in a while I hope you will try an upgrade outlet for your TV. My Sony 4K and the LG- OLED TV’s both improved when attached to a Synergidtic Research Blue outlet. I think you will be impressed with a Fututech outlet for your TV.
Two othr duplex in the Technical power section run the plasma TV, the power for Kuzma TT motor, and two DVD players. things I do not think need the Furutech touch!
Actually power supplies for turntable motors are just about one of the most sensitive parts of any setup -- please do try upgrading the power cord and the outlet for your Kuzma, you may be very surprised at the impact
I use "hospital grade" receptacles for my audio equipment. Hospitals are always plugging and unplugging equipment at patient beds. Ordinary household receptacles are not meant for this type of abuse, the receptacle blades lose their "spring" in no time at all. The electrical industry came up with extra heavy duty/sprung receptacle blades, tested with pull out weight tension, for the hospital industry. This construction is also beneficial to audio equipment, assuring a good solid connection. I use "20 amp" receptacles regardless of whether the receptacle is on a 15 or 20 amp circuit, as I would expect the 20 amp receptacles to have more copper and offer a better connection. There is a limit to what can be achieved by a receptacle and a good tight connection is about all that is reasonable to pay for, so I don't buy "audio grade" receptacles.
I think you will notice an even greater positive effect from the Rhodium connectors in 10 days to two weeks. During that time you may well have some days where the system sound 'tight' or even just plan bad.
A few mins after I posted the above, I thought I’d swap back in the rhodium power cord to check if what I wrote from memory was correct. Put it this way, it’s not the same stereo it was earlier. It is louder and fine detail is much enhanced...illuminated even. Cymbals and delicate percussion are much clearer. Bass is tighter and snappier. The music seems to have taken on more drive, coherence and nuetrality. I swapped back to gold to check. This is ridiculous. I’ll have to listen to the collection again. I'm glad I read your post!
I bought 2 power cords for my phono preamp. Both OFC stranded 12 gauge. One has gold plated pins, the other rhodium. The latter has a *slightly* steely black clean sound -more dynamic with less hash- with blacker chromium silences. The gold version does not have those qualities and is a touch warmer. It is as if the rhody is clean water while the gold has a drop of burbon in it.
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