Anyone compare outlets?

Buy commercial grade. Same contacts as hospital grade. Price about $4. at Home Depot. Yes their is hype out there.

All electrical Outlets are manufactured by Arrow Hart, Schurter, Hubbell, Leviton, Eagle, Pass and Seymour, or other large electrical manufacturers.

$200.00 for one of these ( regardless of what is done to it ) is absurd.

I saw an entire case of "Audiophile" AC outlets sitting in the floor of another manufacturers facility last year. When I ask if he had bought them to install in his system, he replied, "No, I' me just getting the plating and cryo treatment done for them so they can resell 'em."

We are talking about outlets purchased for $3.00 to 5.00. (Maximum). Add $2.50 for plating and $12.00 A POUND for cryo treatment. Do you think this makes it a good value?

The new 20 amp slim line Hubbell is the best I have tried. It has huge contact area with a strong grip, and features unplated copper in the contact areas, including the back strap. It is constructed about three times the mass and strength of a typical outlet.

Cost is $15.00 from your local Hubbell dealer, and available in gray, ivory, black or orange. All are marked with the identifying dot that means it passes "special ground" specifications.

No question that cryo treatment improves the Hubbell, AND every other brand of outlet. I personally started with the best and then got the cryo treatment done myself

As for the Arrow Hart 8200 Killerpiglet, there is nothing wrong with this outlet at all. In my opinion, better than the ones I saw in the floor at my friends. You are definitely in the best bang for the buck category right now. If you want to go crazy, cryo what you have or do a set of Hubbell and forget about the high price spread.

In my modest system, I've compared some older orange isolated ground Levitons and Bryants, the Pass and Seymour 5262, the Arrow Hart 8200 and the Hubbell 8300 (the P&S is and industrial grade plug-the Arrow and Hubbell hospital grade). In my system I prefer the Arrow Hart and have replaced all the receptacles (at the wall and line coniditioner) that the system draws from. As Albert says, the Hubbell 8300's are built very solidly, but I actually prefer the AH 8200. If you were to try something else, you might want to try the ACME outlet over at Audioasylum for $25 to $35 (depending on cryo or no cryo I think) with one outlet to see if you get an improvement. Lots of hype on that one being great-I'd be curious to see if it was significantly better than your Arrow Harts, but I think you've got a pretty good receptacle in those.

Good outlets ARE important, but I agree with Albert and Hdm above re going "overboard". I personally use Hubbell audio grade from the Cable Co. @ 2/$25., Leviton hospital grade, and I have 2 Acme w/o cryo treating. The Acme's initially cause a significant brightness in the mids and low treble (they are a Pass & Seymour that has been silver plated), but that goes away in 2-3 weeks. I tried them 'cuz it's a local company (to me), and the guy offers your money back after 30 days if you're not satisfied-- I have been satisfied. Cheers. Craig.