Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Bob Crump in his own words

I have alluded to Bob Crump recommending the Pass & Seymour 5262A outlets I now use in 4 different rooms for audio connection.

Here's Bob's last comment I could find at Cable Asylum:

http://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.html?forum=cables&n=23249

Bob mostly used 5242's, which he soldered into his commercial filters.  He did NOT like the steel 5262's.  It's not clear he ever tried an actual all-brass 5262A, but he said he thought the 5262A looked nice and would be probably be the best for wall installation with 10G wire because of the clamping strip (as compared with bare terminals on 5242 that you have to wrap the wire around).

He generally liked the clamping strength of the industrial Pass & Seymour outlets.  So do I, and I specifically removed a very nice looking purple/gold Oyaide outlet and replaced it with 5262A in my living room system for that reason.  I tried several different outlets, and the 5262A's were the only ones to hold heavy power cords tight and straight.  All others, and especially the Oyaide and Hubbel, tended to droop.  I have found that old Cu/Al Levitons hold power cords straight also, but those are horribly cheap looking, bimetallic, and probably bad sounding also.

Seeing that Bob lived in Texas near Houston, I still wonder if he owned the Ace/Crump hardware store near me (in east San Antonio) that shut down around 2001.  Very ironically, I bought fiberglass insulation there to repair my Mac ML2 speakers that I used as subwoofers until 2005, and the salesman was quite helpful after I told him what the insulation was for.

5242's (actually, 5242-I) are almost unavailable now except for ebay sales.  They don't look as nice to me because steel appears to be used in the grounding strap, while brass is used for the hot and neutral.  The 5262A appears to use brass for everything.