Is the Maestro AC outlet basically a cryo'd Cooper BR20 found at Lowes for $3.47?

Jim:
That’s intriguing, but let me think that over. I am not sure that I want to pull the outlet out, as it’s in a tight place with a bookcase in front of it. And if I decide to do it, no need for you to get the outlet: Lowe’s is nearby and it would be intriguing - if I have the time to test the outlet - to do it.
Justubes: remind me which setting is the "clean wave" as I can’t find my PS Audio owner’s manual (I know it’s online, so I’ll also look for it there). I have traditionally used the setting on PS 2 and 120. What is your preferred listening settings for normal listening?
I was just listening to Joplin again. An interesting experience, but not sure it’s a valid one, since I had to plug the power cord into the P300 on a Teslaplex SE outlet, and, of course, the NCF at the wall. I heard the "organic" nature you refer to, but tonight, I plugged the power cord directly into the SR Black again. I noticed that the throat/chest region of Joplin’s voice was more fully developed on the Black outlet, but then, that’s going directly into the wall, whereas, the other way, I have no way to put it directly into the wall: the outlet would require a 4 meter power cord (waaaay too expensive). Just listening for the emotiveness, I’d have to say going directly into the Black is preferable to going into the SE outlet on the P300. I could "place" Joplin’s voice more clearly and hear "into" the center of her pitch better with the Black. Again, not a fair "controlled" experiment, but just speaking from a "feeling" point of view, I prefer the Black to the P300/Tesla SE/GTX NCF-at-the-wall combo, w which surprised me, since the last test with the Shunyata power distributor and the P300 was a ’wash’ as far as I could tell.
I don’t find the Black to have that somewhat highlighted presence region that the SE does, and while I agree that the NCF sounded more organic, I didn’t detect that Joplin soulfulness was as pronounced as it demonstrably is with the straight-into-the-wall Black outlet. When the PS8 is fully broken in, the cord will be long enough to test both outlets, but for now, I prefer listening NOT thru the P300 for the amplifier (the CD player is still plugged into the Tesla SE outlet in the P300 and, again, the NCF at the wall. Perhaps the Tesla SE is the weak link here and influencing the sound unfairly. Don't know yet. But the amp going into the Black outlet on its own dedicated circuit,  is decidedly more soulful, and that went for the Rolling Stones, Rick James’ CD, Joplin, Nina Simone and Ella. I’d agree that there is a very slight loss of liquidity, but it (the Black) is not what I’d call ’dry-sounding’ either. But I clearly hear the organic nature of the NCF. Perhaps on something other than vocalists, it shines, but the Black seems to allow the pitch center of a mezzo-soprano (which is where Joplin and Ella both sing, although in different ranges, and Joplin, from what I read, had a wider range [3 octaves] than Ella) to sound "pure". I’m speaking purely of vocalists, though. I would say the Black is more ’exciting’ in this way, although, knowing a decent amount about Black singers (family members who sing, and church and the community), I’d say the Black outlet favors - no pun intended - Black singers, both male and female, easily as good as the NCF. Don’t know why, but the ’grittiness’ and soulfulness factor is in full swing in this genre of music. I’ll have to play some Etta James and Aretha to confirm this, but that’s how it sounds so far.

Jtubes, incidentally - and I meant to say this earlier - I also use a SR Red fuse in the P300. I bought a Black fuse, but actually didn’t like it in that application. it’s interesting we both use the Red in the P300, or at least that’s what I thought you indicated you have in there. If so, that’s pretty fascinating we both heard the SR Red as the best fuse for the P300.
And, could you clarify something? You referred to the "narrow Black" which I took to mean  Synergistic's outlet. Is that what you meant? If so, it sounds like you can put both an NCF and a UEF Black into the P300. So, is your testing with the NCF at the wall, and also installed in the P300, with a UEF Black as the second outlet? Sorry if I'm being slow here: it's late and as you can see from the 'time' post, it's late. Zzzzzzzzzzz time is approaching...

Gbmcleod,

Yes and yes, we have the similar conclusion with the fuse in the p300 (btw, mine has multive II , so there will be the cleanwave function, sort of like a degausser and helping giving details and clarity a little boost after a period of time. I also prefer the red fuse in the wrong direction in the p300 which is less hard and direct sounding, topped of with a WA quantum chip. No descernable improvements with the black (also in the wrong direction) and still dont prefer it over the red here. black at all.

The gtx-d ncf does smooth things a little more than the black and finding it has more pastel shadings, richer tones and not as revealing as the black outlet. The black does have an edge organising all the sound in the stage enabling for a better revealing of details and inflectiona of voices and intruments, not that the gtx ncf is missing any details over the black outlet.

Yes, you can fit a black outlet and gtx together in the p300 or 2 black outlets.

I did detect intially that the black has noticeably less brilliance or sparkle in the highs, and not surprised that the rhodium has likely allowed for better high frequencies typical of silver or rhodium platings. It was a bit detracting for me that the black outlet sounded more monochromatic with especially with cymbals and wonder if you also detected this.

Not surprising that now addng the black fuse in the p300 did amolerate this duller high frequencies encountered with the black oulet over the teslaplex se used for other dedicated line for my router, modem and fmc for streaming tidal. This charteristic also shows when comparing the gtx ncf directly with the black outlet at the p300 outputs.

I have 3 dedicated line used.

1. Teslaplex se wall to p300 then 1 black and 1 gtx ncf for cd, pre
2. Teslaplex se at wall feeding mono amps
3. Ps audio power port at wall to Black (most recently from the Teslaplex se) which powere the modem, router and fmc for streaming Tidal.

I dont feel the need to upgrade the other SE’s as i think they currently provide an overall balanced enough quality sound. I still have the old gtx r  but it could possibly steer towards a warmer balance i dont seem to need. Replacing the Se’s with another black could possibly steer the overall balance a little cooler than i may want based on what experience i have gained with these testing these outlets. That’s why i then tried adding another black fuse i the p300 which did not work out well. 

Currently my conclusion seems to steer to the fact the the last black outlet replacing the SE hasnt made much of a further improvement or change sonically and would be hard to tell either outlet if took a week of listening to the system.

The extra black fuse which i am not using actually makes for a more appearent change sonically which i felt was over the top by adding too much clarity along with some hardness which i dont care for or prefer.  On the objective side of evaluation tells me it is adding change and improvements, but musically feel less connected and ultimately finding the extra clarity tiring.

So it seems  the red fuse and used in the wrong direction makes for a much more enduring listening sesions for me on a wide range of different music. 

Jtubes, which direction do you have the Red dust facing in your P300? With the writing on the fuse going left to right (the way you read a sentence), or the writing going right to left? I have my P300 on Stillpoints Ultra Mini Risers, which works extremely well, although I’ve moved them around under the unit and found the sound changes. The Absolute Sound had an article on several different footers in the December 2015 issue, and the authors found that the exact placement of the footers affected the sonics considerably, which is the same as my experience, and explains why some people just think most footers "tighten up the bass" when they do so much more than that: they clarify the rhythmic patterns in classical compositions and remove "haze" from around instruments and increase liquidity.
It’s striking though, that we have the same conclusions, given that I have the NCF outlet in one dedicated circuit at the wall and the SE in the P300, whereas you have them reversed. You’d think that there’d be differences in the overall sound, but here we are with the same observations. Apparently, the P300 has a decided preference for which SR fuse delivers the most true-to-life sonics. So, others with other PS Audio regenerators (and even newer ones) can try out the Black AND the Red. I have to give props (credit) to SR for that 30 day trial. That really shows their confidence in the product, although it does make me smile that manufacturers get someone else’s $20 unit and then charge $250 for it. I can see why people are cynical, but given the only thing they’d lose with the SR products is the shipping costs, I can’t see why anyone would mouth off without simply buying and trying.

Thanks for clarifying that you can put a GTX and a Black in the P300. I’m going to give that a go at some point. I don’t use the FIM outlet unless I need more than 2 items plugged in. However, I may swap out the SE for a Black after I’m sure everything else is broken in, which won’t be for a few weeks (I like to make sure things are COMPLETELY broken in) at least. Also, I’ll be putting the Venom PS8 into the system in another week, at which point it will have 400 hours on it. I think my P300 had Multiwave I on it. I once had a P300 and upgraded from Multiwave I to Multiwave II, but even though I had great electronics, I didn’t notice a significant difference.
By the way, I also found the Black fuse, when installed in the P300 to have a (slight) hardness to the sound. I went back and forth a couple of times before I settled on the Red fuse, but now I’m happy with that.
And Jea, why not extend the same offer to Jtubes you did to me? (Sorry, tubes, not to put you on the spot: it’s just that you might have an easier time getting to the outlet than I do. I’m loathe to move my Shunyata Cobra speaker cables, THEN the record albums, THEN the bookcase itself, in order to get to the outlet. At least for the next 2 months. I want to listen for a while, and quick changes, I find, can cause me to reach incorrect conclusions about what I’m hearing. And I don’t consider my listening "subjective". I consider it observational. I consider my emotional reaction to be subjective, but I can clearly hear what a component (even a wall outlet) shaping the sound in some way, without having an emotional reaction if I’m in "detective mode" ( a former profession, which requires one to be pretty detached, but observant).
Really enjoying your input a LOT. Where are you located in the US (if you’re in the US!)? I’m in Connecticut.

Incidentally, I have NOT noticed less sparkle in the highs or a more monochromatic color. Brass sounds quite good on the Black outlet, as does a tuba, and a glockenspiel. Are your amps solid state or tubes, just out of curiosity?

gmbcleod,

The red fuse runs from the side of the p300 (SR) in the same direction of lettering on the fuse. Please note what i meant that i reversed installed based on listening, the other direction from R to S is what i feel "IS" the correct direction with slightly more focus and upfront details, but just didnt like it here. All my other fuse, i think is wiring in the correct direction offered a more solidity and focus to the sound. Strange but that was how it ended up. 

I have tried Audiopoints and SR M.I.G, thought again offering more focus, tightening of the bass etc, i now use is sideways(due to space constrants) on a 5 inch block of Massacar ebony. i havent really further experimented. I also find the most balanced sound is using sinewave at 60hz.

Position of the outlets i feel do offer possibly better synergy in the correct location, but it a bit more work than i want to do, unless i find that particular installation not at all to my liking and would be compelled to perform more test and swapping locations. I do think from the instals of these outlets is that there signature will somehow permeate though no matter where they are installed! I have pick up a reference from another forumer in the fuse thread has even installed these outlets in not audio connected location and experienced an improvement. I believe it does have some impact!

I think it would be worthwhile having a black instead of SE at the back of the p300.

I used to be a tubehead, Cj's, jadis's  but gone from tubes to solid state (not those with a typical clean, SS sound) but one i could still identify with tubes and yet have all the bass slam i could want). But that musical connection is still very much important to me.

Jea, i might add that from the early days of the Teslaplex, SR20 fuse, i am most certain that there is something from Quantum tunneling and use my audiodharma religiously because it does offer an improvement. 

What would be interesting is that does the tunneling SR does retain this character over an extended period of time, or will it revert over time to sound like that exact $3 outlet.

As proponents of cable cookers do state periodic 6 monthly recharges of 1-2 days is required as the burn in effects are not permanent.

It is of interest that i had a conversation with a designer and manufacturer of a burn-in device which was to be offered with a few thousand dollars worth of Duelund silver/copper caps in the PSU or circuit as somehow, the characteristic sonic properties of these capacitors somehow find their signature being passed on into whatever is being conditioned with their burn in equipment.