hospital grade or commercial grade receptacles ?

Albertporter, my system is definitely not up to the task of letting me hear the difference between power outlets, or power cables for that matter. Nonetheless, as a previous poster insinuated, it isn't from Radio Shack either. A Levinson 39 feeds a Sony TA-E1 over a foot of balanced Blue Jeans, which feeds twin Levinson 334 amps over 45 feet of balanced Cobalt Cables, biamping a pair of Legacy Focus over about 4ft of 10awg Sound King zip cord with WBT bananas and some spades I can't remember the brand of. The power cables I described in a previous post. :) Now I suppose you're going to tell me that if I got rid of the, ahem, non-audiophile interconnects and speaker cables I could hear the difference when I switched power cables (which I just did a few months ago). Certainly my friend David thought so. If you agree with him I recommend a BS in Physics. (Advanced degrees are probably unnecessary for understanding simple stuff like audio electronics and audio frequency signal propagation.)

There are some puzzling things about this system. First, I think the ML39 sounds better feeding the Sony than it does in pre-amp mode feeding the 334's directly. It shouldn't, but I was convinced enough that it does that I bought the pre-amp. It might have something to do with the 334's having a lower than spec (100Kohm) input impedance at some frequencies, combined with whatever effects 45ft of balanced line has, but the truth is I don't know. I don't even know if the effect is real, but it seems that way. An ML32 sounded just as good as the Sony, but I wasn't paying that kind of green for a pre-amp. It was way cool though...

Then there's that bi-amping thing. What's up with that? Normally, I think bi-amping is a waste of good amplifier hardware, especially in the class of the 334. And especially considering the Focus is worth about 95db/2.83v or better (Legacy says 98db, but I'm not sure I believe them). Anyway, I try the 334's and, whoa, mucho effortless sound compared to a 335 (twice the power of a 334) or my old pair of KMA-100mk-II's. Why would that be? Well, I don't know. I suspect a bunch of reasons, but I can't prove any of them so it ain't worth discussing. Nonetheless, I bought the 334's and I've been happy ever since. So even I'm not immune to (probably) deluding myself, but at least this stuff is active circuitry in the signal path.

I'd also be willing to admit that I might be hearing differences that aren't there, and that I just may have chosen to bi-amp because it looks cool. (It does.) Every once in a while I use only one amp just to convince myself bi-amping is still better, and, funny, it always works! :)

Now I suppose you're going to tell me that if I got rid of the, ahem, non-audiophile interconnects and speaker cables I could hear the difference when I switched power cables (which I just did a few months ago). Certainly my friend David thought so. If you agree with him I recommend a BS in Physics.

I don't know if you would benefit from a superior power cable or not, regardless of your choice of interconnect and speakers cables.

Your quality standards and system performance are both unknown to me. As already mentioned, you can have all the right names for gear and still not get excellent performance. Manufacturers prove that every January at CES.

If you listened with the dozen or so members of my audio group you would have no choice but to drop the BS about the BS.

Your Physics degree (if you have one) is no more valuable in evolving a sound system than an engineering or business degree would be. In fact, I would trust the member of my group with a Grammy award on his fireplace mantle, a trained classical musician who knows nothing about Physics.

He listened to Purist power cables and invested in them the next day. The source he choose for the audition was one of his master tapes.

Albert, good to have you back posting again. Always lively. And I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE SAID IN THIS THREAD. Sorry I didn't read it earlier.
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Other than plating there isn't a heck of a lot of difference between hospital grade and commercial grade outlets even as respects pricing. Material used is normally 688 brass for either the Hubbell or the Pass & Seymour so get the ones that are easiest to obtain and look for the heaviest duty ones in the respective catalog. Also look for no steel parts as some have clamps that are steel.......You can take it a further step by looking into silver plated outlets that are available through ACME and others as these do focus a bit better than their unplated P&S counterparts........Cool thing about outlets is they are cheap in the scheme of audiophile things and you might like the ACME or the fancy Hubbell that Albert sells or a combination of the two or perhaps some other outlet mentioned above as they all sound a bit different from each other....

Albertporter, how can one be so righteous about a *lack* of knowledge? I can understand a distain for engineering and science in a field like oil painting, or maybe even making musical instruments, but in a field like audio equipment, which wouldn't even exist without science and engineering??? Do you have any idea how silly that sounds?

Ya know what, I haven't had this much fun in a debate since some kid tried to convince me a grounding kit added a bunch of horsepower to his Honda.