What is your take on AC outlets
- Thread starter taters
- Start date
Yes i am certain, my receptacles have been folowing me from the begining of my Acoustat's 1984, 2 rented appartments 1984 to 1993 + 1 bungalow 1993 to 1999 + 1 condo 1999 to 2014 and still there.
PS: Is the Furutech GTX-D a better receptacle than the Hubbell HBL-8200HR ????? i'm sure it is BUT my $11.31 receptacles have been doing a great job for close to 30 years and are well broken in
at least i think they are, if i ever have the NEED to change i would probably give the Furutech a try BUT i think that my Hubbells will last longer than me.
Last edited:
Wow, they spend big bucks on testing and even bigger bucks for documentation of hospital grade receptacle's.
Not sure way everyone is having so many problems with receptacle's. At work, at the test bench we plugged cords in 20 or more times a day and I don't recall any need for replacements.
garylkoh
WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
+1
Especially the HBL8200HR referenced by MrAcoustat. IIRC are part of Hubbell's critical care line and those are tested to 1,000's of insertions without losing grip.
It's rather an easy test ... just plug into a new unit as opposed to a used version, and in every case I've tried, the new unit had a tighter grip. Metals, under constant pressure, will fatigue over time. And from my understanding, hospitals test & change mission critical plugs every few years.
That said, I've not tried Hubbell, but I soon will ...
tb1
Thank you for the insight Gary. I wondered why the Furutech outlets have the brand label oriented in a way that appears the outlet should be installed upside down (as seen in the pic above). My mains cable is not entirely flush and had I installed it upside down the fit would be better. I hadn't considered this before, but it would seem the best approach is to have the ground hole in the opposite direction the AC cable is running.
I use 10 of the Furutech GTX-D Rhodium duplex outlets with the Oyaide Carbon Fibre frames and aluminum covers. yes, they are spendy. but they sound great.
here is a little test you can do. take one of these Furutech duplex outlets and any competing outlet. drop them both on a hard surface from a foot to 18 inches. the alternative will rattle and buzz. the Furutech will 'thunk' solidly. that is what also happens to the sound. the Furutech does not add resonance, the others do resonate and you can hear it. the Furutech also uses 6 '9's' copper for their clamps and a stainless spring behind it to insure the proper connection without scraping the surface of your plug. most others get their gripping strength from using alloys that don't conduct as well and scrape the surface of your plugs.
superior mechanical construction and metallurgy does cost more to make.
you get what you pay for.
here is a little test you can do. take one of these Furutech duplex outlets and any competing outlet. drop them both on a hard surface from a foot to 18 inches. the alternative will rattle and buzz. the Furutech will 'thunk' solidly. that is what also happens to the sound. the Furutech does not add resonance, the others do resonate and you can hear it. the Furutech also uses 6 '9's' copper for their clamps and a stainless spring behind it to insure the proper connection without scraping the surface of your plug. most others get their gripping strength from using alloys that don't conduct as well and scrape the surface of your plugs.
superior mechanical construction and metallurgy does cost more to make.
you get what you pay for.
You should have installed them before you dropped $15K on the Entreq boxes and cable.;-)
PS- I installed them in my listening room two years ago.
I can tell you the Entreq and Furutech GTX-D Rhodium outlets are complementary; both get 'stuff' out of the way of the music!
It must be no coincidence that Entreq uses Furutech GTX-D outlets and wall plates in its Powerus.
it's also important to make sure that the duplex outlets are installed securely. a less than secure internal wire connection to the duplex outlet will also be a source of noise. anywhere that there can be a mechanical noise it will 'sing' along with the music. which is why the covers and frames are also important. basically the outlets have mass and the wall is relatively solid and the mass will resonate with the music along with the cable on the wall if everything is not solid.
and the quieter your system noise floor is the more it will matter.
and the quieter your system noise floor is the more it will matter.
The Furutech GTX receptacles are really good. I've been fitting SurgeX power boxes with them, and compared to a standard receptacle they make a rather large improvement. they do need a long burn-in and will do the break-in roller-coaster for quite a while... they will go from dark sounding and closed-in to open and detailed (where they stabilize to).
Vibration in AC components affects the sound to a large degree, which Furutech understands. Their FI-50 AC plugs are in the same league as the GTX receptacles and are a worthwhile upgrade to any power cable.
If you want to reduce noise as much as possible, I think you should have only one GTX in the wall with your entire system plugged into it via a high quality power distribution box containing more GTX receptacles. If you need more than one breaker I'd put a breaker box as close to the location of the receptacles as possible. You want the grounds tied together as close as possible and connected to your home's grounding system at ONE point. If you have 2 separate circuits and the box is 50' away, that's where the grounds are tied together, this is not optimal and may create differences in potential between the 2 circuit's grounds which will create noise... when you install a breaker box all the grounds in that box are tied together and run back to the service entrance in one run of wire.
Vibration in AC components affects the sound to a large degree, which Furutech understands. Their FI-50 AC plugs are in the same league as the GTX receptacles and are a worthwhile upgrade to any power cable.
If you want to reduce noise as much as possible, I think you should have only one GTX in the wall with your entire system plugged into it via a high quality power distribution box containing more GTX receptacles. If you need more than one breaker I'd put a breaker box as close to the location of the receptacles as possible. You want the grounds tied together as close as possible and connected to your home's grounding system at ONE point. If you have 2 separate circuits and the box is 50' away, that's where the grounds are tied together, this is not optimal and may create differences in potential between the 2 circuit's grounds which will create noise... when you install a breaker box all the grounds in that box are tied together and run back to the service entrance in one run of wire.
9 of my 11 power cords are very very lightweight Absolute Fidelity power cords from Genesis. so they do not stress the Furutech outlets. these power cords are so lightweight that they are not UL approved since you cannot step on them (they are not designed to hold up to being stepped on like most power cords).
the 2 very heavy power cords, Evolution Acoustics triple run power cords i use for my dart 458's, are supported where they connect to the Furutech outlets so they don't stress the connection.
it's crazy i know, but all this stuff matters.
if you rely on the gripping power of the duplex outlet for the security of your power cord plug that goal can distract from the performance goal. not to say that good duplex outlets cannot or should not grip, but the alloy that grips good is compromised in the electrical connection side of things so the whole design must be right for optimal performance.
Last edited:
WHY OH WHY do any of those high priced outlets have score lines so you can break off the ears???
No one who buys those outlets are going to take them off in their installation.
Umm, I do when I stuff them into my SurgeX power distribution boxes, there's not enough room for the ears.
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |