Hospital Grade Wall Outlets

Commercial grade duplex outlets have the same contacts and construction as do hospital grade and can be had for around $3.40. Try Home Depot.

Is anyone familiar with Pass and Seymour hospital grade outlets? According to a local electrical supply house they are cross referenced to the Hubbel and rated at 20 amp 125 v. Dievoyager the commecial grade are a great improvement over the standard but I suspect for the price spread the hospital grade must have better parts and construction?

I don't doubt for a minute that you're all hearing something different with these various outlets and plugs. After all, I just assembled a threaded rod and mdf equipment rack and it made an astounding difference in soundstage as well as tonal balance. However,except for whatever changes are caused by the materials of a power cord, wouldn't we all be better off just continuing the romex direct to the equipment? Or going to the logical extreme, taking the amplifier out to the transformer, or driving across town to the generating plant? I vote for a direct connection from the housewiring to the power cord, sans plug. Any takers? (Please be kind, I work with wood)

The Pass & Seymours are recommended by Bob Crump of T.G. Audio. He has done extensive listening test with almost every available outlet and recommends the Pass & Seymour 5242. Cost, about $5.00 !!! What makes one outlet sound better than others is a factor of how the contact elements make physical contact with the blades on the AC plug and the materials used for insulation. I think that the insulating materials are what gives the outlets most of their sonic characteristics. I've been testing several outlets in my home because I've been building Bob Crumps DIY power cables. I've found that different outlets from the same manf. sound different even though the contact elements seem to be the same. The only difference seems to be the insulation materials so that is how I've come to this conclusion. As far as using straight Romex into the equipment, I would say part of the job of the power cord is shielding related. Going straight Romex would definintely eleminate any voltage drop across the cord but you would have a hell of time wiring 12Ga Solid Romex into you equipment. :) I would tend to agree with the idea though. No connector is the better than a direct connection.

Sorry to burst your bubbles guys. I used to work for Hubbell for a number of years. Their receptacles are truly built like tanks, with the highest of quality & will last forever. Although they are fairly expensive for what they are, (compared to competition) most architects spec them into their commercial buildings simply because they are trouble free. You will notice they make a solid connection to what ever is plugged into them & require a healthy amount of force to remove the inserted plug. Due to this solid connection you may hear a very very slight sonic improvement. That is if you really strain your ears, concentrate fully & of course the mood has got to be right (if you know what I mean). As far as hearing sonic differences between hospital grades & commercial grades, 15 amp & 20 amp receptacles, so on & so on, well...there would be virtually none. Hubbell never has & never will make any claim to thier receptacles making any audio sonic improvements. In fact, (no offense) the Hubbell engineers find the subject thier receptacles making sonic improvents to be quite amusing. The Marketing guys like it though!!!