Audio Grade Duplex Cryogenic

[Kingrex]

I have always been a fan of the standard Hubbell 5362 industrial duplex with heavy brass backstrap. Its a solid duplex. You can get them from a supply house for around $35. Recently I was introduced to AV Options. They actually reached out to me with a customer that needed help powering a whole home and audio system. In our conversations AV Options told me about taking the 5362 I recommend and having it deep cryo treated by a plant they feel does some of the best cryo in the country. They sent me one of their duplex to try. I believe these duplex sell for $75. I am going to insert the duplex this week and use my amplifiers with it. I have high hopes as I use to have Porter Ports in my system which are basically the same duplex. I was sort of bummed when Albert stopped making them. I am happy to have a new source. I will give an update next week after the duplex has settled and I can compare it to a stock 5362 with no treatment.

 

[RnRmf]

Cryo'd Hubbel 5362 duplexes are my favorite after trying Furutech GTX D gold and rhodium versions, Audience (rebranded Cardas with their own treatment) and Audioquest Edison and maybe another I am forgetting. I may revisit the AQ Edison at some point as I liked a lot about it.
But for midrange tone, the Hubble 5362 nailed it for me when I did comparisons a few years ago.

 

[Kingrex]

Hubbell alone are very good. Period. And they are affordable. The past cryo oness I had, and still have in my power strip had a little more body. We shall see on this new one. Looking at my rack today and assessing how to approach it

 

[Kingsrule]

Any follow-up thought on the AV Options Hubble duplex?

 

[Kingrex]

I put the duplex in yesterday. It only has a few hours.

 

[TheFlipSide]

Rex,

AV Options uses Cryogenics International (Charles Beresford) for Deep-Cryo - it's on their website. In my experience Charles is the best in the business.

Naim Audio Service and Restorations NAP NAC NAIT DR | AC Power Accessories SuperWiremold Tibia Deep-Cryo | Chord Electronics DACs Cables, Rega, Quadraspire, ProAc

AVOptions LLC services and restores Naim Audio equipment and also offers AC Products and High-End Audio equipment. We offer SuperWiremold, Tibia TibiaPlus TibiaPlus12 Deep-Cryo, Roon, Roon Labs, Nucleus, Chord Electronics DACs Qutest TT 2 Hugo M Scaler, Chord Cables, REL Acoustics, Rega, ProAc...

www.avoptions.com

 

[Kingrex]

I have had the duplex in for few days. My stereo sounds very good. Its about time for me to do some swapping while listening and compare the cryo to the same duplex not cryo treated.

 

[allvinyl]

I use this cryo'd duplex:
https://www.jenalabs.com/ac-products/jena-duplex.html

I'm not able to confirm which model Hubbell Jena Labs uses as the base component for their modified, cryo'd duplex.

 

[Kingrex]

I use this cryo'd duplex:
https://www.jenalabs.com/ac-products/jena-duplex.html

I'm not able to confirm which model Hubbell Jena Labs uses as the base component for their modified, cryo'd duplex.

Looks like a 5362. It has the heavy brass backstrap. Thats what you want. Its a 1 piece ground. There are other Hubbell with a steel strap with welded ground straps. You don't want that.

 

[Kingrex]

I let the cryo dupex run for weeks. Then I moved the power to my non cryo Hubbell 5362 for a few days. Then I did a compare.
They are sonically closer than I expected. The cryo has a touch less hardness. Its not a lot, but I notice if more when I start to push the amps. I can go a little louder with the cryo. Being a non cryo 5362 is about $35 and a cryo is $75, I would spring for the cryo.

Next up I have a Furutech NCF to install. I will leave my cryo 5362 and replace the standard one with the Furutech.

 

[J007B]

It should be noted that the cheapest shipping option was FedEx at $32. Almost half the cost of the outlet itself. I ordered it, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Kingrex]

I have been asking about $270 to ship a panel. Its cost me about $250 out of pocket. It takes me about 4 hours to pack a panel. I really need to bill for my labor. If I can't find compensation for my time, I can go back to service work and bill $250 an hour here in Seattle.

Just saying.

 

[J007B]

I think there is a difference between packing an electrical panel and dropping a duplex in a USPS padded envelope.

 

[Kingrex]

Yep. Its probably 15 minutes of employee time when you get to thinking about having boxes and packing materials on hand. Plus the actual postage that could be $22. Depends on how it was sent. You need someone overseeing and ordering stock of packing supplies. Then there is the accountant that has some time with the associated billing related to shipping. With Amazon and free Prime shipping, people seem to forget there are real cost associated with running a business.

I am not disagreeing and saying I love paying shipping cost. I am just saying its a very fair price for a duplex and we are lucky someone is willing to make them. Albert Porter use too. He got sick of the hassle and stopped. That left us with stock or a $300 Furutech. Most of the people I lead to something like this are going to get 2 to 5 of them. So that shipping cost becomes negligible in the end.

 

[Kingrex]

Well, I was playing music and it was a little hard. I'm thinking whats up. I checked the power cords and they were in the stock Hubbell. I switched them back to the Cryo Hubbell and later when I got back around to listening I felt the hardness has gone.
I think its worth it as a budget friendly duplex.

 

[stehno]

On a hunch, I replaced my Furutech outlets with Hubbell outlets from Jena Labs who employ the superior full-immersion cryo'ing method. In my case, the gains were quite substantial and quite a surprise, since I've probably tried maybe 4 or 5 different audio-grade outlets over the past 20 years. IOW, I was only expecting no or somewhat insignificant gains and instead it was quite an eye opener.

Then again, we're all in different places in our electrical journeys, right?

 

[Kingrex]

What Furutech did you have?

 

[stehno]

What Furutech did you have?

I can't remember but I think all 4 of them were one step down from their top of the line. The Furutechs were in my system for maybe 10 years or more.

 

[Kingrex]

Ok, Thats a lot different than comparing it to a new NCF one. But interesting non the less.

 

[tony22]

Rex, after building a hard wired box years ago that let me test up to four duplex outlets at once, I found the CruzeFirst Maestro outlet to better (at the time) outlets from Oyaide, Furutech, and the Hubbell 5362. My friend also picked it out as best (in my system) in a blind test. The Maestro is a darn good outlet for a decent price, if price is a factor for anyone.