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Being curious about the Maestro and past posts about the Cooper BR20 I bought one of each. I can say the Maestro is not exactly a BR20 but I am sure it started as a Cooper, I can even see where they brushed the name off. The Cooper actually weighs 2.6 oz and the Maestro 2.3. The Maestro seems more open at first but it is also more flat and tonally tipped up a bit compared to a stock Copper BR20. The Cooper actually has impressed me as it has a nice balance full round images, and just seems musical. I prefer a bone stock Cooper to the Maestro.
I have now bought a second Cooper BR20 that is now off to be cryoed, I shall see how it fares next.
Why do I bring up the Oyaide R0? I also own a Oyaide R0 which I have come to dispise and send it packing soon, why you may ask? It sounds good, but upon breif comparison it doesn't sound much different than the stock Cooper BR20, just my opinion. But the Oyaide is eating up my plugs! It has a death grip that I have come to find is eating the plating off my Furutech plugs, most a are now the FI-28M's. This is why I only briefly compared it to other outlets and there was not much difference upon a brief comparison with the Cooper.
I will update once I get the other BR20 back from being cryoed in about a week. Also this is on a dedicated line that I tied another 2 gang box to with the outlets (Cooper and Maestro) are inside, the Oyaide is on the same dedicated line in the wall.
I then plan to replace the Oyaide with another outlet that won't eat plugs!
Follow Ups:
All I'd add, is that I've followed the ongoing articles on AC Outlets since 2007, and myself find the Oyaide R0 | R1 types to be amongst the best sounding as well as made units I've owned. Having tried the Furutech's | MITs | Synergistic Research | Maestro | Afterburner 8s, it came down to sonics which had lead me to stay put.
But more importantly ( at least ) to me, was now each measured noise wise upon inserting an Entech Noise Sniffer onto each and listening through them, and then hearing local police calls, radio station broadcast and EMT calls wasn't what I view as quiet, and if these types of underlying noises are entering ones system unknowingly!, I'd then imagine one not hearing the fidelity of their systems at their best.
As far as the eating up AC Plugs goes, I'd think that if one buys whichever cords fit the respective gear best, it makes sense not to keep unplugging them to begin with, I find that once someone knows the sonics of any given cable or cord and uses them to dail their systems in......., and it works beautifully, why oh why do so many change things out when in fact one reaches a level of involvement that shouldn't be altered?.
Just curious as to when do we leave things be?.
I'm probably one of the worst for never letting things be, but my power cord plugging/unplugging is due more to thunderstorms than tweaking. We get some pretty raucous storms here (especially in the spring), and while I've never taken a direct hit that fried anything in the house, I usually pull the plug to the audio system when the booms start shaking the windows. Maybe anal, but it makes me feel better. :)
The Maestro I had wore out in less than 2 years to the point it wouldn't even hold the plug in the outlet. I've never tried any of the Oyaide outlets, but I've been very happy with the Furutech GTX-D, both sonically and for retaining its firm (but not harsh) grip....and without any visible scratching or damage to the plug (also a Furutech) after several dozen plug-ins.
For the thunderstorm risk I now switch off the breakers feeding my dedicated lines on my gear. I previously pulled the plugs and noticed significant wear (grooves) occurring on the blades of the plugs.
Edits: 11/23/17
The stellar sounding Furutech GTX-D provides an even less aggressive grip than my Oyaide R1 and R0 AC outlets. The notion of "the grip of death" is overrated when it comes to modern AC outlets.
Not being outlet knowledgeable, I an assuming the first one shown is the stock Cooper.
Yes, with the BR20 sticker on it. Sorry for the crappy pic.
I dunno, but I find the Oyaide R0 to be gentle. Oyaide and Furutech AC outlets are designed to be firm but not abrasive like old-school brass AC outlets with the grip of death tend to be.
If your Oyaide R0 is scraping the plating from your AC plug, there must be something wrong with the one you are using.
Hola Duster,
It was your older post that gave me the idea to check out the Maestro and Cooper.
As far as the R0 chewing the plating I have seen others report the same issue, it is not just me. I bought it new from VH Audio so I know it's not a fake.
I think Chris of VH Audio would also agree that an Oyaide or Furutech AC outlet should not be abrasive to the blades of an AC plug, since they both specialize in plated contacts, and would not allow normal use to damage their AC delivery products.
The Furutech male connectors' blades are pure, solid copper, so they are softer than Oyaide's male blades. The Oyaide receptacles offer great grip, but when using the unplated R-0 the lack of smooth surface you get with the rest of their line can result in some abrasion if you are doing a lot of plugging/unplugging, and using with the pure copper blades of the Furutech. Even Oyaide's plated receptacles can abrade the plating on Furutech's male copper connectors.
The older Furutech outlets (FT-D20, for example) had insane grip, but were like keying a car, as it relates to scraping plating from copper males. Their newer outlets (FP and GTX series) are fantastic, but you do sacrifice some mechanical 'grip' vs the Oyaide.
"There are two kinds of fools: one says, This is old, therefore it is good ; the other says, This is new, therefore it is better. "
- William Ralph Inge
Thanks Chris for confirming it's not just me who had that issue.
As far as unplugging the power cords, I had the R0 in place for 2-3 years and didn't give it much thought. Then earlier this year we had a bad hail storm here in Colorado and one if my windows was to be replaced which was behind my system. Hence the unplugging and re plugging as work was being done in the area. I was really not happy to see what was happening to the plugs ends.
Now as to an update to the BR20, I got my second one back from being cryoed and it sounds better than the non cryo version, but the difference in minor. I had to play with the R0 some more dispite my displeasure of what it did to the plugs and I can say without a doubt the Oyaide R0 is the absolute best sounding.
After all this playing around with stuff and driving meself nuts, I see why this place is called the "asylum." I now will order another R0 from VH Audio and now that the construction work is all done plug it all back up and call it a day. Sit back listen and enjoy.
I can say though that I thought the Cooper BR20 was better sounding to me than the Maestro, a good find for under $5 if one is on a budget. Similar to my Hubbell 8300H, but a bit more open.
I am returning the Maestro.
Well I ended up going with a Furutech GTX-D (G) instead of another R0. I use the Furutech for my amp, and the Oyaide for my front end. Works well.
The GTX-D (G) seems to balance well with the new power cord I built with Furutech FP-TCS31, and Furutech FI-28 gold and rhodium ends.
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