[JoshK]

I am putting in a dedicated 20 amp circuit for my audio rig and have decided that I might as well go full tilt and do it all cryo style.  I bet I just made Francisco's ears itch!     Anyway, I am ordering up cryo'd 10-2 Romex from Chris VH along with some cryo'd P&S 5362s.

That leaves just one thing missing in my mind, the breakers.  Seems it isn't really full tilt if you don't plop in a cryo'd breaker for the line. Anyone know of vendor who sells quality breakers that they have cryo'd?  

Alternatively I guess I can buy the breakers and sent them to cryotweaks or CVH to have them done.  *note to self: need to find a local cryo shop*

[JoshK]

of course if I really want to get nutty, I'd cryo the breaker box rail too!  

[hanguy]

Hey Josh,

Can you share some of your experiences for cryo treatment?

I have done cryo treatments to wall outlets, power cords, interconnects, and speaker cables. The general trend is I hear a quieter background and music sounds more natural in each case. For the cost of a little over $100 for a big box full of cables, I think the improvement  was well worth it.

This is just my 2 cents worth.

Good luck.

Mike

[bubba966]

Anyway, I am ordering up cryo'd 10-2 Romex from Chris VH along with some cryo'd P&S 5362s.

Does VH have any cryo'd 8300's (20A hospital grade)? I've used some 20A industrial grade outlets before, and didn't get the same level of performance that I got from IG8300's.

As far as cryo'd breakers, they've been mentioned here on AC before, and I've ben to the site that was selling them (20A Square D if I recall properly, don't remember the exact Square D model though).

[JoshK]

Thanks Brian, I'll do a search, I hadn't seen that post or thread before.  CVH recommends the P&S 5362's and I trust his experience but I haven't tried them myself.  I have been using Hubbell 8300HI's to great results and really enjoy them but I thought I'd give the P&S a try.  If you were using the IG's (stands for interrupted ground) then those are a little different animal.  IG basically don't ground the outlet (making a three prong a 2 prong) which can eleviate problems you may have with ground loops or maybe you don't have grounded circuits.  In my case I will because I am putting in the circuit myself. My solution for ground loop noise is referenced to Jensen Transformer's white paper on isolating grounds in unbalanced circuitry.

[Mike B.]

I looked into offering cryoed breakers, but there are just to many styles to make it practical. I recommend you just pay a cryogenics outfit to do a new one for you and then use some contact enhancing product on it before installing.

[JoshK]

Mike,

I really couldn't tell you the difference that cryo'ing makes at this point because I've done little true A/B'ing.  When I put the cryo'd romex in the system it will be at the same time as putting my system on a dedicated circuit.  They are both likely to improve things so it would be hard to tell what is doing what.  I have played around with cryo'd outlets and non cryo'd ones but they weren't exactly the same outlet to start with.  The only think that I have had both exactly the same was power cords and the cyro'd was more 'refined' and better resolved but was a long time ago I did the A/B.  

It quite possibly makes a big difference but I cannot say for sure 100% and take myself seriously.  I am mostly relying on the fact that it can't hurt so why not?

[bubba966]

Actually the IG is Isolated Ground.

The ground isn't attached to the mounting strap as it is in all non-IG outlets. Therefore you must run a ground wire to the outlet to have it grounded. Where in a non-IG outlet, the process of mounting it in a metal box that's connected to metal conduit will ground the outlet as the conduit is grounded.

[JoshK]

I looked into offering cryoed breakers, but there are just to many styles to make it practical. I recommend you just pay a cryogenics outfit to do a new one for you and then use some contact enhancing product on it before installing.

Yeah, I plan to do some research on that because I will probably want to do the breaker box for S&Gs too.   Why the hell not?  We spend so much on things that have less scientific backing, so why go the whole wacky right?

[JoshK]

Actually the IG is Isolated Ground.

The ground isn't attached to the mounting strap as it is in all non-IG outlets. Therefore you must run a ground wire to the outlet to have it grounded. Where in a non-IG outlet, the process of mounting it in a metal box that's connected to metal conduit will ground the outlet as the conduit is grounded.

Oh...silly me.  I was getting those mixed up then.  In my electrical system you cannot ground the conduit or it shorts the circuit.  But that is because half of the system is still using BX instead of NM-B. Grounding BX is a big no-no according to code so I'm told.  I guess you would get the same effect (isolated ground) if you use Romex or plastic boxes though.

[JoshK]

Brian,

have you tried the P&S 53XX series before? just wondering if you had experience with them.

[byteme]

Josh,

I replaced my wall outlets and all the outlets in my OneAC and Powervar iso transformers with Cryo'd hubbel 5362 outlets from Virtual Dynamics just over a year ago.  I got them for $30 each shipped when they had a sale.  Made a very noticable improvement over the stock 15&20amp outlets I had.

From what I had read at the time the 5362, specifically Hubbell, responds so well to cryo treating because it has more copper in it than any other outlet.  I'm not saying that's for sure true, but dang, it was very well worth it and clearly noticable, lower noise floor, better dynamics, quiet quiet quiet!

[bubba966]

Brian,

have you tried the P&S 53XX series before? just wondering if you had experience with them.

The 20A Industrial Grade outlets I used were Eagle/Cooper 5352's. The 20A Hospital Grade outlets are IG8300's. Haven't tried just straight 8300's as they're not carried at Lowes. But the IG wouldn't matter as I've got the circuit well grounded with it's own ground wire.

The 5352's don't grip as well as the 8300's. And the 5352's don't perform as well as the 8300's.

Until I find an 8300 that's made any differently than all of the rest (Marinco, Hubbell, Eagle/Cooper, etc.) I won't be switching outlets. Though at some point I'd like to get my 8300's cryo'd along with the breaker & 10/2 Romex I've got in the wall.

So no Josh, I've not tried the P&S outlets. From what I've read, & my experience the grip matters more than make of the outlet. Sure, I'd love to have Furutech (or maybe FIM) make an 8300. But no one in the "high end" outlet market seems to give a shit about making nicer versions of 8300's...

[bubba966]

I replaced my wall outlets and all the outlets in my OneAC and Powervar iso transformers with Cryo'd hubbel 5362 outlets from Virtual Dynamics just over a year ago.

Ahhh! That's who had the cryo'd breakers. Upon checking now, they don't seem to carry them anymore. Probably not such a bad thing as they wanted waaaaaaaaay too much for them anyways...

[Lak]

I purchased cryo'd outlets (many types from different companies), 10 gauge cryo'd AC wire and a cryo'd circuit breaker from Virtual Dynamics.  I never heard a difference with the cryo'd breaker.  It's possible the equipment ran cooler however I don't know that for a fact.  It's also possible that due to my power filtration system the cryo'd breaker's improvement was not noticeable (for what ever this information is worth)!

[JoshK]

yeah I decided to skip the cryo'd breakers.  I can always look to ship them or have them done locally later on. thanks for the feedback.