What is your take on AC outlets

My Furutech GTX-D (g) has now been in place and passing juice for over two weeks. So, this morning I took the opportunity to listen closely. The music used was the CD of Kenney Burrell's Midnight Blue. In comparison to the adjacent Hubbel, I'm confident in reiterating my earlier comments: the presentation is definitely more vivid with denser tonal color and more apparent "energy" to the music. The bass is more articulate and seems to better "carve out" space. The entire soundstage expanded in all directions, growing in size like a more-inflated baloon.

The improvemets I've described are not "night and day" dramatic but are easily noticeable and significant. This is certainly not magic; anyone who has the opportunity to handle this outlet will be impressed by the quality of workmanship. It's easy to believe that the resulting improved efficiency in passing electricity will benefit most any system in the same manner.

Is it worth it? Most of us agree that everything matters in audio reproduction. Where is the money best spent is probably the salient question. If you already have good gear (including cables), have at least modestly treated your room and have spent time positioning your speakers, have provided support structure that drains spurious vibrations from your electronics, and installed a dedicated line (if possible), then you'll probably benefit from a high-quality outlet. I have.

Re wiring my room and installing 3 dedicated lines for the rig . Looking for advice/ experiences ,regarding siting the AC receptacles in the ground v/s on the side walls . The original floor was marble , having a new wood floor laid on top . Any detrimental aspects of installing the outlets on the floor behind the rack ? Floor borne resonances , vibrations etc . Look forward to your feed back . Thanks

Jazzhead said:

Re wiring my room and installing 3 dedicated lines for the rig . Looking for advice/ experiences ,regarding siting the AC receptacles in the ground v/s on the side walls . The original floor was marble , having a new wood floor laid on top . Any detrimental aspects of installing the outlets on the floor behind the rack ? Floor borne resonances , vibrations etc . Look forward to your feed back . Thanks

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Installing the outlets in the wall will most likely be easier and cheaper than in the floor. Electricians are skilled in doing this and it will probably be their preference. The marble floor would require major surgery to accommodate the required receptacle boxes. Make sure the electrician wires all 3 circuits from the same phase of the breaker box; unless he is an audiophile, he won't know to do this. Have him run 10 gauge wire. Buy the receptacles yourself of the highest grade possible, probably $60-100 each. Plenty of threads on this subject. Additionally invest in a Shunyata Triton, and 3 Typhons, one for each circuit. Of course this will be a major investment and can be put off until later if necessary,
but will make a jaw dropping difference.

MtnHam said:

Installing the outlets in the wall will most likely be easier and cheaper than in the floor. Electricians are skilled in doing this and it will probably be their preference. The marble floor would require major surgery to accommodate the required receptacle boxes. Make sure the electrician wires all 3 circuits from the same phase of the breaker box; unless he is an audiophile, he won't know to do this. Have him run 10 gauge wire. Buy the receptacles yourself of the highest grade possible, probably $60-100 each. Plenty of threads on this subject. Additionally invest in a Shunyata Triton, and 3 Typhons, one for each circuit. Of course this will be a major investment and can be put off until later if necessary,
but will make a jaw dropping difference.

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Have alloted one dedicated phase for the music room . Using the GTX-D Rhodium receptacles with Titan face plates . So that's pretty much sorted . Since the room is undergoing a complete makeover , surgery required on the marble floor to site the boxes is not a problem . From a performance viewpoint , is it preferable to site them on the wall as against them being laid on the floor . I was told that the wall mounted units are preferable , as vibrations , resonances are more easily induced at the plug points in a floor mounted unit . Anything to it ?

Does your AC outlet have some filtering capacity? No? then whatever noise is in your power circuit is going to move more efficiently into your system with a better connection. Simplistic? Yes. Doesn't mean that a better connection is not a good thing, but it's not magic that opens up your soundstage either. That's just you hearing what you want to hear. Sometimes explaining away voodoo is just not hard.

Tim

^^^i have to admit...I installed the expensive her fuhrer outlets and I didn't notice any difference from the Hubble hospital grade outlets they replaced. I did not go through the silly effort to a/b them....can you imagine ? I bought them based on other people's glowing reviews. I hear differences easily with audio cabling...fuses and outlets...not so much.

rockitman said:

^^^i have to admit...I installed the expensive her fuhrer outlets and I didn't notice any difference from the Hubble hospital grade outlets they replaced. I did not go through the silly effort to a/b them....can you imagine ? I bought them based on other people's glowing reviews. I hear differences easily with audio cabling...fuses and outlets...not so much.

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not every situation allows for a straight forward A/B opportunity.

in my case I had enough outlets in my room (10) to be able to A/B the old and new easily and a dealer selling them to me who was curious enough about the degree of performance upgrade to do the install in phases. he wanted to use my system as a test bed.

and no doubt switching outlets, and doing it properly, is a PIA and not something most people would want to mess with multiple times. I was lucky to have a motivated dealer and he offered to go thru the effort. he is an engineer and has the proper tools and experience to do a top notch job.

this was 7 years ago.

initially I was switching from Jena Labs cyo'd to Oyaide R-1's with the aluminum housings and carbon fiber face plates. we first switched 6 outlets only and compared the R-1's directly to the Jena's. R-1's much better. then we installed the housings and face plates on 3 of the R-1's and listened. slightly but clearly better. so we installed face plates and the carbon fiber plates on the other three. next we invited a group of guys from the local audio club to come in and listen and A/B'd the Jena and R-1 with the face plates and aluminum housings. very, very, easy to hear the upgrade even not broken in. so I installed the rest of the R-1's.

two years later I went thru the same pattern switching from the R-1's to the Furutech GTX-D (R). we did half and then compared. this time I did not invite the group in halfway thru. but there was such a dramatic lowering of high frequency hash switching I was able to increase the gain for my tweeter for more air in addition to the lowered noise floor and the increased bass decay and over all ease and energy.

I have not looked back and enjoyed the Furutech's since. visitors always comment on the very low noise floor and micro dynamics.......of which the outlets are part of the equation.

I'm done with thinking about outlets, but do know that I got what I paid for.

Thanks guys for chipping in ... Still unanswered .... Wall v/s Floor ?

Jazzhead said:

Thanks guys for chipping in ... Still unanswered .... Wall v/s Floor ?

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It's a tough call, depends on too many unknowns. Thus it come down to what would you prefer.

Jazzhead said:

Thanks guys for chipping in ... Still unanswered .... Wall v/s Floor ?

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I agree on the likely sonic advantages of the wall mount.....but have never compared it to a floor. carpet use is limited by floor mounted outlets.

the floor has many potential hazards and downsides that need to be considered, with one advantage.....the weight of the cable will not be a problem. a secondary advantage could be getting the outlet closer to amps for shorter power cable runs.

outlets on floors can get dirty, if you spill a liquid it can be dangerous depending on your circuit protection. placing gear is limited more by floor mount than wall mount.

I did place two outlets (and a conduit for audio cable) in a recessed box in the floor below my listening position; one 'dirty' and one 'on transformer'. I used it for my digital transport when I first moved into my room. but I've not used it for these last 10 years. it is nice to think of future possibilities when things are torn up to solve future problems ahead of time. but it might become a waste of money.

one planned thing that did work out is the side to side conduit for cable runs that allows me to have my Studer RTR decks and an additional tt on the other side of my room from my preamp and main tt and digital. but many folks have their gear between the speakers and that is a non issue. I prefer that the gear (except the amps) be on the side for ideal soundstage reasons.

Thanks Mike for your valuable input . Yes, the main incentive with a floor mount is the shorter PC length . I guess I'll go one on each side wall , with the third centrally located on the floor . Just in case the need arises in the future . Yes ideally would like my rack situated by my listening chair , however do not think can pull it off given my room dimensions and the depth required to lay out behind my rack signal , power and grounding cables .

For longer lengths, Transparent has the ideal pricing structure . You pay for the 1st metre , then not much more for longer lengths . Some of the other cables in longer lengths work out ridiculously expensive .

Jazzhead said:

Thanks Mike for your valuable input . Yes, the main incentive with a floor mount is the shorter PC length . I guess I'll go one on each side wall , with the third centrally located on the floor . Just in case the need arises in the future . Yes ideally would like my rack situated by my listening chair , however do not think can pull it off given my room dimensions and the depth required to lay out behind my rack signal , power and grounding cables .

For longer lengths, Transparent has the ideal pricing structure . You pay for the 1st metre , then not much more for longer lengths . Some of the other cables in longer lengths work out ridiculously expensive .

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Like Mike I have one dedicated AC line on the floor at my sitting position that I plan to use for Computer audio.I use 11 Furutech Rhodium Gold AC outlets in my room as well as 2 MIT AC outlets with noise suppression which I use for my laser lighting. These outlets are all mounted "sideways" on my base boards

Steve Williams said:

Like Mike I have one dedicated AC line on the floor at my sitting position that I plan to use for Computer audio.I use 11 Furutech Rhodium Gold AC outlets in my room as well as 2 MIT AC outlets with noise suppression which I use for my laser lighting. These outlets are all mounted "sideways" on my base boards

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Wonder why you would need so many outlets , 11 in your case and 10 in Mike's case . One for each mono plus another to feed the Triton , which in turn gives you 8 outlets to feed your sources and pre . Should cover most situations . That's how I have arrived at 3 duplex GTX-D units . One each for the amps into wall , the third feeding my Gigawatt Evo PC4 .... Which gives me the option of 4digital/4analog /4high current (power amps , should I wish to plug em into the Giga)

However , I am digital only . Donot do vinyl or tape like you guys . Maybe that is why the extra ?

The

Jazzhead said:

Wonder why you would need so many outlets , 11 in your case and 10 in Mike's case . One for each mono plus another to feed the Triton , which in turn gives you 8 outlets to feed your sources and pre . Should cover most situations . That's how I have arrived at 3 duplex GTX-D units . One each for the amps into wall , the third feeding my Gigawatt Evo PC4 .... Which gives me the option of 4digital/4analog /4high current (power amps , should I wish to plug em into the Giga)

However , I am digital only . Donot do vinyl or tape like you guys . Maybe that is why the extra ?

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You're absolutely correct. I put those in with the purpose of one piece per dedicated line then I bought a Triton and my whole world changed with 8 components plugged into it

Jazzhead said:

Wonder why you would need so many outlets , 11 in your case and 10 in Mike's case . One for each mono plus another to feed the Triton , which in turn gives you 8 outlets to feed your sources and pre . Should cover most situations . That's how I have arrived at 3 duplex GTX-D units . One each for the amps into wall , the third feeding my Gigawatt Evo PC4 .... Which gives me the option of 4digital/4analog /4high current (power amps , should I wish to plug em into the Giga)

However , I am digital only . Donot do vinyl or tape like you guys . Maybe that is why the extra ?

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I originally designed my room for multi-channel. so I have 5 dedicated outlets on my speaker wall for 3 mono blocks and two subs all with their own 20amp breakers; the two sub outlets have a digital filter inside my Equi=tech wall panel anticipating class d amps. I wanted the amps to have plenty of current. then I have one dedicated outlet in each rear corner for the surrounds combined with one breaker, and then three dedicated outlets on the left side, one with a digital filter at the Equi=tech wall panel for my digital, and then one (4 gang) outlet on the right side for my RTR decks, tape repro and extra tt.

since my speakers have a powered bass tower with a pair of 1000 watt amps each that requires 2 power cords for each side, I think I anticipated things correctly. my 3 extra outlets (one in the center front, and the two in the rear corners), do come in handy with extra RTR decks or an amplifier i'm checking out without having to unplug other gear if I choose not to.

all my gear has individual dedicated circuits except; 2 bass tower power cords on one circuit per side, and the 2 RTR decks, tape repro and EMT tt share one 4 gang outlet. typically only the repro (also a phono pre) and one unit is on at any time....and they are all strictly analog.

my Equi=tech 10WQ wall panel comes with -10- 20amp circuits; which I designed the layout anticipating even though I did not install it until 6 years after I moved in.

the life of the system is the power grid.

I just installed 5 duplex (10 inputs) Hubbell receptacles and have all of my gear (8 inputs required) going directly into the wall. I had most of my gear going into a Monster unit before. Unless I have been handcuffed by the placebo effect, I believe I am getting a lower noise floor now and there seems to be more meat in the overall presentation of the music.

My only concern is a lack of protection now, which I will need to resolve. Luckily, Calgary has an excellent electrical power grid and interruptions or total failures haven't happened in years.

Mike Lavigne said:

I originally designed my room for multi-channel. so I have 5 dedicated outlets on my speaker wall for 3 mono blocks and two subs all with their own 20amp breakers; the two sub outlets have a digital filter inside my Equi=tech wall panel anticipating class d amps. I wanted the amps to have plenty of current. then I have one dedicated outlet in each rear corner for the surrounds combined with one breaker, and then three dedicated outlets on the left side, one with a digital filter at the Equi=tech wall panel for my digital, and then one (4 gang) outlet on the right side for my RTR decks, tape repro and extra tt.

since my speakers have a powered bass tower with a pair of 1000 watt amps each that requires 2 power cords for each side, I think I anticipated things correctly. my 3 extra outlets (one in the center front, and the two in the rear corners), do come in handy with extra RTR decks or an amplifier i'm checking out without having to unplug other gear if I choose not to.

all my gear has individual dedicated circuits except; 2 bass tower power cords on one circuit per side, and the 2 RTR decks, tape repro and EMT tt share one 4 gang outlet. typically only the repro (also a phono pre) and one unit is on at any time....and they are all strictly analog.

my Equi=tech 10WQ wall panel comes with -10- 20amp circuits; which I designed the layout anticipating even though I did not install it until 6 years after I moved in.

the life of the system is the power grid.

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Now that's Comprehensive!!! Great to have further insight into "THE" room .