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The AC Plug Thread / The Benefits of Upgrading to Hospital Grade AC Plugs! |
maverick11359
Rank: Sony King
Joined: Dec 13, 2005
Posts: 1516
From: Coffs Harbour-AUSTRALIA
 |  Posted: 2006-11-13 15:36
[ This message was edited by: maverick11359 on 2006-11-17 03:17 ]
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Maxxwire
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From: Portland, Oregon - USA
 | Posted: 2006-11-13 15:46
For those who already have adequate spike protection and line conditioning downstream the $200 PS Audio Soloist has features that might seem somewhat redundant.
Another consideration might be the PS Audio Power Port which is PS Audio's $50 straight forward high quality Hospital Grade Outlet offering. I've seen more of these Power Ports sold down at the Audio sho than any other kind.
~Maxx~
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A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
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mykyll2727
Rank: Sony Pro
Joined: Apr 30, 2004
Posts: 4171
From: Las Vegas
 | Posted: 2006-11-14 20:56
I'll definitely be upgrading to hospital grade outlets. Nothing exotic just a high quality connection as I have quite a bit of excellent line conditioning downstream from the outlet. Once I do I'll report my findings._MMMike
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Maxxwire
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From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2006-11-15 01:01
On 2006-11-14 20:56, mykyll2727 wrote:
I'll definitely be upgrading to hospital grade outlets. Nothing exotic just a high quality connection.
_MMMike
MMMike- Just a few weeks ago I said something very similar to myself-
"I'll definitely be upgrading to hospital grade plugs. Nothing exotic just a high quality connection."
So far so good! At this point I suspect that different pieces of equipment may have different plug requirements.
~Maxx~
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A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
The OCCC Furu-Charged Sony DB 930
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mykyll2727
Rank: Sony Pro
Joined: Apr 30, 2004
Posts: 4171
From: Las Vegas
| Posted: 2006-11-15 09:52
On 2006-11-15 01:01, Maxxwire wrote:
On 2006-11-14 20:56, mykyll2727 wrote:
I'll definitely be upgrading to hospital grade outlets. Nothing exotic just a high quality connection.
_MMMike
MMMike- Just a few weeks ago I said something very similar to myself-
"I'll definitely be upgrading to hospital grade plugs. Nothing exotic just a high quality connection."
So far so good! At this point I suspect that different pieces of equipment may have different plug requirements.
~Maxx~
That's interesting because I have the same suspicions myself. Maverick's experiments with the different Oyaide plugs tend IMO to support that. I have a hard time buying that ANY piece of equipment would see a noticeable improvement with a $400 plug over a good quality one but then again maybe I'm wrong. For me the most compelling ramification of different types of plugs(w/regard to plating and materials) mattering are the connectors of interconnects and speaker wire. It seems that just using silver, gold, etc over brass wouldn't be nearly good enough if my suspicions are correct. Yes I realise many makers use copper or silver pins and some use teflon housing but it seems to me now that overall not enough attention is being paid to the materials used and plating of the connectors._MMMike
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Maxxwire
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From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2006-11-15 15:55
I had been using a number of Hubble and Marinco Hospital Grade Plugs which have Gold Plated blades long before I got the 4 $6 Leviton Hospital Grade Plugs and although I was familiar with the importance of the integrity of the surface of the blades since they were Gold Plated there was little I could do with them other than keep them clean and treated with Caig Pro Gold.
I find that I get a lot more out of dealing with what I have than than I do dreaming about what I don't have so I took the Solid Brass Blades on my Leviton Plugs into my shop!
As a Metalsmith I have a variable speed Foredom Flexible Shaft tool that I use to do up to 10 different surface treatments to and then finally polish the fine Silver and karat/fine Gold pieces that design and craft.
I first used a cutting compound to polish the Solid Brass Blades until they were absolutely smooth with a buff surface finish. This is something that you just can't do with plated metals like on my other Plugs because at high RPMs the cutting compound literally melts the surface and removes so much metal that even the thickest plating is competely taken off!
The next step was to polish the Solid Brass Blades with Black Jeweler's Rouge which is usually reserved to polish Gold with because of the ultra tight unusually bright mirror like finish that it leaves on the surface of the metal.
The Solid Brass Blades responded of the $6 Leviton Hospital Grade AC Plugs responded so well to the Black Jewelers Rouge polishing that they had a perfect mirror finish and a look that reminded me very much of the 75% Au/ 10% Ag/ 15% Cu 18kt. Yellow Gold alloys I've designed.
After they were cleaned I treated them with Caig Pro Gold G100L to preserve, protect and enhance their contact with the Hospital Grade sockets they plug into and hopefully they will look just as good the next time I clean them.
The one thing I regret is that I didn't test to see how they sounded before and after the polishing. Oh well, I know they made a huge difference when they were polished up and installed and that's what matters most.
~Maxx~
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A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
The OCCC Furu-Charged Sony DB 930
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mykyll2727
Rank: Sony Pro
Joined: Apr 30, 2004
Posts: 4171
From: Las Vegas
| Posted: 2006-11-15 17:35
Maxx_That's outstanding!!! Unfortunately most of us don't have the capabilities that you do. But there are makers like Oyaide that do it for us. From your efforts it would seem that there really is alot to be said for their plugs w/regard to their polishing and plating processes._MMMike
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Maxxwire
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From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2006-11-15 18:45
Oyaide is a good plug if you can afford the $85 ea for their plated and polished blades.
The reason I bought the $6 Leviton Hospital Grade Plugs in the first place was to see what kind of results us poor people could get with a bottom of the line "Everyman" AC Plug with no fancy Japanese designer name on it if we applied some creative application techniques.
If someone wants to polish the brass blades on their AC Plugs they could simply pick up a piece of crocus cloth at the hardware store, break it in first and then polish the blades by hand.
Having lived with these $6 Leviton Hospital Grade AC Plugs for over a week now on the power cords of 4 pieces of my equipment and gotten one of the biggest collective improvements in sound quality I have ever gotten from any upgrade I have done I am wondering how much more of an improvement the 12X expensive designer AC Plugs would be able to make?
Has anyone here actually compared one of these expensive designer AC Plugs to an affodable Hospital Grade plug?
I'm just wondering how much of a real practical difference we are talking about here because the opinions I've read on these designer plugs from end users who have compared them against several different kinds of AC Plugs in their Audio system span the entire spectrum.
~Maxx~
A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
The legend of the linear relationship between outstanding performance and pricepoint can be rendered nothing more than a myth thru the skillful application of knowledge.
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2006-11-15 19:24 ]
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mykyll2727
Rank: Sony Pro
Joined: Apr 30, 2004
Posts: 4171
From: Las Vegas
| Posted: 2006-11-15 21:38
Maxx_I'd never heard of a crocus cloth. I'll have to check into it. The only Oyaide plugs I have are on my Mav 3.1. I'm not too keen on swapping them to see. I don't want to damage my 3.1. I can say the fit of the Oyaides is fantastic. Better than the fit of any of the Wattgate and Marinco plugs I have on some of my aftermarket power cords. Some of my ZuCable PCs have their own billet-backed plugs. I've never been pleased with their fit though they look really cool. I've actually wrapped a little electrical tape around their IEC plugs to get a snugger fit.
I was aware of the full line of Oyaide plugs/products (And the $400 Acrolinks too.) long before I got the 3.1. I didn't realise that's what they were when I got the 3.1 as they don't have their name on them. Their look is top quality and their fit is the best I've experienced so far. I was VERY skeptical of their claims when I first found out about them. I'm beginning to think there may be something to it. I don't know how much of an effect they have on the sound of my 3.1. What I do know is the effect my 3.1 has on my system and that's awesome. It'll be interesting to see what effect improving my outlets and the IECs on my components has._MMMike
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Maxxwire
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From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2006-11-15 23:01
I've been using crocus cloth since 1962 when I began using it to polish the copper commutators on the AlNiCo magneted slot car engines that as young Maxxwire I had rewired with either 29, 30 and 31 AWG wire to suit the track I was racing on..
If a tight fit was the only critera to be used in determining the quality of a plug then things would be much simpler and I would not have read scathing reviews panning different brands of very expensive AC Plugs and the colorations they introduce into the sound of an Audio system.
For now I am going to approach AC Plugs as I have every other aspect of Audio playback which will be on a listen as I go basis because up until now I have always been able to find equipment, wiring and speakers that in combination made the ultra expensive brands sound totally inept by comparison.
You're right about the importance of AC Outlets. Even the $6 Leviton Hospital Grade AC Plugs I've been experimenting with grip so tightly in the Hospital Grade Outlets they are plugged into that it takes a good grip and a lot of effort to unplug them.
As far as IEC's go on my Power Amp I chose to have the Power Cord straightwired into the power supply to eliminate the degradation that even the best male IEC I could find would introduce because the one thing better than even the most expensive connector made is straight wire!
~Maxx~
A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
The legend of the linear relationship between outstanding performance and pricepoint can be rendered nothing more than a myth thru the skillful application of knowledge.
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2006-11-15 23:24 ]
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mykyll2727
Rank: Sony Pro
Joined: Apr 30, 2004
Posts: 4171
From: Las Vegas
| Posted: 2006-11-16 10:21
Maxx_From what you've said and what I've read it seems that well polished blades make a big difference. It seems that the smoother the surface the better the contact and therefore the better the flow of current. I'll be looking into a crocus cloth.
The first time I added an IEC convinced me just from observation that straightwiring must be best. To have a quality power cord running into an IEC and from there have wire that's little more than lamp cord running to the power supply seems to me has just got to hamper performance. I just wish I could do it myself or had someone competent to do it for me. Since I don't I'll have to make do._MMMike
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RickeyM
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Rank: Sony King
Joined: Sep 09, 2004
Posts: 1408
From: Baltimore, Maryland
 | Posted: 2006-11-16 20:51
Hey Maxx, do you think the blade polishing/buffing is something that can be done with a Dremmel tool? I have access to some red rouge and at one time became a pretty proficient jewelery polisher.
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maverick11359
Rank: Sony King
Joined: Dec 13, 2005
Posts: 1516
From: Coffs Harbour-AUSTRALIA
| Posted: 2006-11-16 21:01
[ This message was edited by: maverick11359 on 2006-11-17 03:13 ]
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mykyll2727
Rank: Sony Pro
Joined: Apr 30, 2004
Posts: 4171
From: Las Vegas
| Posted: 2006-11-16 22:36
Maverick_Thanks! I didn't bother to look at the bottom of them. I definitely feel they are top notch._MMMike
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Maxxwire
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From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2006-11-16 23:46
On 2006-11-16 22:36, mykyll2727 wrote:
Maverick_Thanks! I didn't bother to look at the bottom of them. I definitely feel they are top notch._MMMike
Maverick and MMMike- I've been familiar with Oyaide products ever since I first saw them on the VH Audio website several years ago.
I've done quite a bit of research on them in the meantime and some of the people who have compared them with a number of other highly competent plugs said that the Oyaide plugs sounded "digital" and "aluminum plastic" by comparison which kind of put me off of them.
What variety of other AC Plugs have you two compared the sound quality of the Oyaide's with that might encourage us that they are worth paying so much more for?
~Maxx~
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A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
The OCCC Furu-Charged Sony DB 930
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