Surge Protector or Power Conditioner?

[crackinhedz]

Have a question reguarding power supply...

Both my father and I use a standard surge protectors (Monster MPHT700HP) for our hometheater set-ups...but was wondering if anyone knowledgeable with electricity and what not would know if maybe a Power Conditioner (Monster MP HTS 1600) would be any better?? if so what kind of benefit would it give?

Im asking more for my dad as he lives in Florida and thunderstorms all the time...Im in Virginia, so power outage and surges are not too comon...but we defintiely want to be on the safe side.

Thanks to all

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

Have a question reguarding power supply...

Both my father and I use a standard surge protectors (Monster MPHT700HP) for our hometheater set-ups...but was wondering if anyone knowledgeable with electricity and what not would know if maybe a Power Conditioner (Monster MP HTS 1600) would be any better?? if so what kind of benefit would it give?

Im asking more for my dad as he lives in Florida and thunderstorms all the time...Im in Virginia, so power outage and surges are not too comon...but we defintiely want to be on the safe side.

Thanks to all

I personally think that a power conditioner is better than a surge protecter. A surge protecter will put a ceiling on your power, but wont protect fluxuations under that ceiling. A conditioner should control all fluxuations in the elecrtic supply. I believe that they are necessary because of the precise power needs of these advanced TVs and surround sound systems. I personally believe that it is hard to spend too much on power protection.

I am interested in hearing what others think.

[slpbird]

I would recommend a power conditioner. I personally do not have one at this time just waiting to bite the bullet and spend the $400.00 for one.

[CptGreedle]

There is one more thing you can get that will help in the case of a power outage... they sell power boxes that contain batteries. They keep themselves charged with the current of electricity from the wall and you plug your devices into that. Then if there are surges in power it protects against them, and if there is a drop or even total loss in power, it can give you up to 5 minutes of power before it dies. That should let you turn off everything before the power goes. It's better for the devices.

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

There is one more thing you can get that will help in the case of a power outage... they sell power boxes that contain batteries. They keep themselves charged with the current of electricity from the wall and you plug your devices into that. Then if there are surges in power it protects against them, and if there is a drop or even total loss in power, it can give you up to 5 minutes of power before it dies. That should let you turn off everything before the power goes. It's better for the devices.

I know Monster makes some pretty insane Constant Power Supplies and Voltage Converters that do the samething...except Monster's cost about $1500+

[Manco]

PS AUDIO

PS Audio makes the best power conditioners in the industry, actually called power generators. Way beyond what I can afford.

Furman

Furman also makes a very good product. But these are more like glorified surge protectors. I use these and do see a somewhat enhanced picture and sound quality. These are much more affordable but some will lecture that they make no difference and don't waste your money. Your call.

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by Manco

PS AUDIO

PS Audio makes the best power conditioners in the industry, actually called power generators. Way beyond what I can afford.

Furman

Furman also makes a very good product. But these are more like glorified surge protectors. I use these and do see a somewhat enhanced picture and sound quality. These are much more affordable but some will lecture that they make no difference and don't waste your money. Your call.

HAHAHAHAHA http://www.psaudio.com/products/premier_power_plant.asp

Starting at [U]Just[U] 2195.00! Wow, they are doing us a favor. Thats PS Audio for making your power centers SO affordable!

[ellldiablo]

The line conditioner is a better buy for a home theater setup. the line conditioner will not only regulate the electricity to your components but it will filter out electrical noise to give you the true hd picture your supposed to get. Also with the line conditioner, it work with relays instead of fuses so if you ever have a power surge, you wont have to purchase another. and also the conditioners can handle the amount of power your home theater requires to protect your investment and prolong the life of your tv. hope it helps, i see these at Circuit City so i know a little bit about these units.

[Rustmonsteru]

one word: Panamax

[freakadeak]

If you have a Home Theater setup, then you should get a true Power COnditioner.
Belkin makes a wide range from $100 to $800. It is technicaly better than Monster, not to mention a lot cheaper.

As mentioned above a Power Cond will control the peaks and VALLEYS in electricity.

[Snowgod]

I use an APC UPS(uniterupted power supply) that does condition the power as well as protect me from small power outages and it cost less than $99. I would not claim this is the equal of some of the better power conditioners but it works well and has never been a problem.

PS. you buy them based on the number of watts you plan to plug in to the device.

[The Guardian]

Also if your sound system is good enough you can actually hear the difference clean power makes...

I don't have a full power conditioner at the moment, but I use this and even for $130 it makes a noticeable difference:

http://www.bluecircle.com/index.php?menu_id=1755

You just plug it in to the outlet above the one you plug your power bar into, and poof, cleaner power and better sound. There's actually a video on this site that SHOWS the difference,

http://bluecircle.com/video/pillow.mpg

[jcdDigix]

I'm using a Belkin ( see my sig). That is a big difference to when I had a Monster Cables power surge.

[jermwhl]

All electricity is "dirty" to some extent. Power conditioners are ideal, however pricey, which is why most people opt for plain old surge protectors.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_conditioner
In case you were wondering how they work.

[Chuey]

[QUOTE=Manco;231353]PS AUDIO

PS Audio makes the best power conditioners in the industry, actually called power generators. Way beyond what I can afford.

I agree, PS Audio makes some of the better power conditioners our there, it is better than most other units mentioned here. Their more affordable unit Quintet has done a great job for two of my friends audio and video systems. Compare to the unit they had before, this is a huge step up. Color pops out, video noise disappear and you can see more details especially in the dark area. I woundn't say they are the best but to beat it you have to pay a whole lot more.

[Manco]

...also...

You can check over at Audio Advisor to get a sense of different offerings and pricing. They don't necessarily carry all the brands but it's worth a look.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/products.asp?dept=11

[m6bigdog]

I recommend some form of transit voltage surge suppression (TVSS), but don’t spend too much. The devices inside the box (MOV) that provide the surge suppression are prone to failure over time, so you should anticipate needing to replace the equipment providing the surge suppression, especially if it saw a large voltage spike/surge.
Also, these devices will not improve the PQ or SQ of well-designed equipment. Equipment designers anticipate both voltage fluctuations and noise on the AC power.
If you read the equipment specification the AC power will have a fairly wide input voltage range. Also, other sources of interference are anticipated and reduced if not eliminated by the circuit design considerations.

The market for the very expensive cables, power conditioners and acessories are just trying to sell a product.
Please, find one manufacture of high-end A/V equipment that recommends the use of these cables or devices!!

Electrical utility power distribution in the US is very good without any need for conditioning. We have the Department of Energy and the Public Utilities Commissions to thank for this. Utility companies distribute electrical power through low impedance step-down transformers that isolate the power utilized over the regional distribution network. Local power distribution (your neighborhood after the transformer) can be an issue but only if the distribution lines have problems, i.e. I installed 6 GFCI circuit breakers in my house and it took the local utility almost a year, I kept calling them back, to find the bad neutral connection in the local transmission line that was tripping the GFCI breakers in my house.
Surge protectors are a good idea to prevent the local low voltage (US power 120/240V 60Hz) power line spikes/surges. However, there are no devices that will protect your equipment from a close-by lightening strike. Power line voltage spikes/surges can degrade the insulation and dielectric properties of the components on the primary side (AC input side) of the power supply causing the failure of the component subject to the voltage spike. The power delivered to your home is transmitted over transformers and wiring with relatively little resistance to reduce the power loss in getting to power to you home. This makes the voltage very ridged and resistant to fluctuations induced by equipment connected on it. Power surges caused by switching of other devices connected to the utility are high-frequency voltage spikes riding on the AC power and have very little actual power. Lightening is the real killer as far as power surges go.

To better understand the issue or need of power conditioning you would want to study the theory of the internal power supply, inside every piece of electronics equipment. Pretty much a power supply, is a power supply, is a power supply, with only minor differences in technical implementation. I designed many over the years and understand the theory very well.
1) The power supply converts and conditions AC power to DC, to power the internal circuits. The power supply internal filters and voltage regulators make the output voltage from the power supply almost totally immune to short duration power dropouts of a power cycle (16.6 mil-sec.). Also, the circuit designers will install filter capacitors all over the circuit boards to minimize transit power supply voltage fluctuations.
2) The high-frequency local power distribution surges (over-voltage spikes) are also limited by the power supply internal filtering. Therefore, rarely will a power line voltage spikes/surge cause interference with the electronic equipment.

IMHO, a fairly inexpensive surge suppressor will do the same job and work as well as the most expensive Monster one. If you want complete power conditioning for brownouts and long power dropouts you will want an uninterruptible power supply and they do no more than the surge suppressor when the power is good.
Buy an inexpensive surge suppressor and spend more money on Blu-ray equipment and movies with the savings.

[maximiza]

I sell electronic components and it really depends on your local area. Some areas have more unstable electric supplies then others. I know here in NYC you can get spikes and surges that can throw off electronic equipment. I have usually seen conditioners used for lab equipment, telephone systems, and security systems. Depending on a computer setup you might need one too. With home audio to get ride of some back ground loop noise it could be used but sometimes the problem is actually in the structures electrical system and has to be fixed.

You can check out Sola/Heavy Duty and Tripp Lite too never heard of complaints of quality

[Manco]

Nice write-up m6bigdog. Very imformative.

[m6bigdog]

Originally Posted by maximiza

I sell electronic components and it really depends on your local area. Some areas have more unstable electric supplies then others. I know here in NYC you can get spikes and surges that can throw off electronic equipment. I have usually seen conditioners used for lab equipment, telephone systems, and security systems. Depending on a computer setup you might need one too. With home audio to get ride of some back ground loop noise it could be used but sometimes the problem is actually in the structures electrical system and has to be fixed.

You can check out Sola/Heavy Duty and Tripp Lite too never heard of complaints of quality

I design build and install this stuff and what I said is the power quality in the US is typically very good without a need for conditioning and the TVSS is a good device for what it dose, just don't expect it to solve problems of A/V PQ & AQ.
Yep, there are section of the US that could use an upgrade.
As far real power conditioning, these devices will often cost more than the equipment it is supplying. Unless you understand the specific problem you need to solve you can spend a lot on money on equipment and get no benefit.

I don't need to check with Sola, TrippLite, etc, as I return their lifetime warrantee stuff all the time due to the internal TVSS failure. The TVSS (MOV) failure is why they put the status lights on them. Also read their instruction, they expect the device to fail at some point.

Power conditioners do not solve ground loops.
Ground loops are cause by miss wired equipment, faulty building wiring or poor cabling and interconnection practices. Most often a ground and neutral swap that causes current to flow on the ground wire. Equipment designers understand the connection requirements that prevent the hum and noise from ground loops and design accordingly. However if you just start plugging equipment in to any outlet you find I anticipate you will have problems.
I suggest using a single receptacle with a power strip (get one with a TVSS) to power your equipment and if you need more than one 15-20 amp breakers worth you will want to use another receptacle with a breaker on the same phase.