It's installed!
I had some extra time this morning so I jumped on this golden opportunity to install the first CopperCONN outlet. As I have previously said in my initial post, I installed only the one feeding my amplifier and source as I am just replacing the SR-Z1 for now to isolate the audio benefits of the CopperCONN, and in order to have a proper basis for comparison.
So I started to remove the SR-71 which you can see side by side with the CopperCONN for comparison. I took the extra time to cut the end of each wire and also the ground, which I also cleaned with some sandpaper (there was some leftover paint on it). I realized that I had installed the SR-Z1 wrong by wrapping the wires around the screws like you do with the standard outlets. So by cutting and stripping the wires with the proper clearance (which is shown at the back of the CopperCONN, approx. 1/2"), I inserted the wires the proper way by the back of the outlet. One thing of notice, unlike the SR-Z1 which is compatible with Robertson heads, the screws on the CopperCONN was Philipps only. No big deal but for us in Canada we use Robertson heads screws for about anything. Speaking about screws, I think it would have been nice to have two screws included to secure the outlet to the electrical box. I had to salvage the ones I was using for the previous oultet. Anyway, no big deal but some competitors offer this. Once installed, I turned on the breaker back up and (fortunately) there was no *POOF* so all was good
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I won't do any justice to this magnificent product since I am on the first hours of listening but what I can say right off the bat is that it is significantly better than the SR-Z1. If I relate to price alone, I think the CopperCONN is justifically priced in reference to its performance compared to the SR-Z1. The SR-Z1 is 100$ while the CopperCONN is 295$ and I think it matches equally the performance gap between both. Quite an assertion it does sound like it.
I will post the comments of user Mobiusman about the CopperCONN over What's Best Forum, which I find to match what I can hear so far:
"...much deeper bass with more authority, better percusion and much more realistic and musical sounds throughout. The imaging is already much deeper front and back..."
Please remember that I only changed one outlet. I know that if I had changed both outlets at the same time, the results would have been even more impressive. But for the sake of analysis I chose to change only one. Anyway, to install the second one, I will have to install another electrical box 32 inches away as the other one is too far (and since two is not enough).
So for me, I think I found the holy grail in audiograde outlets. It turns out just to be everything I was hoping for. And this is not even broken in. It has all the quality I like about the cruzeFIRST Maestro I had last year and expand above and beyond. The Maestro is an excellent outlet but it was lacking that tiny bit of bass slam that I like. But to be fair, at 89$ the Maestro is a steal for what it does.
I will report back again later but for now I will just listen even more. Kudos to Caelin for such an amazing outlet.