Power Conditioners, are they really necessary?

[jaydoc24]

Hi all, I know this topic has been discussed in other forums but I wanted to get up to date recommendations from you all. I know the major brands being Panamax, Tripp Lite, and Monster. What do you all have and why did you buy that one? I have a little $50 Monster Power strip now, but think something more may be necessary. Thanks.

[devils3023]

I have the monster hts1600 power center. I went with that one because it is very slim (dvd player size), has eight outlets on the back and provides plenty of power surge protection for my equipment. It also has an auto-disconnect feature that will "unplug" my equipment electrically if any sudden surge/drop in power is detected. Also, if the unit trips I can just reset it again unlike some models where they blow a fuse and sacrifice themselves to save the equipment, forcing you to go out an buy another unit. It sells for about $299 but I used to work for ccity and got it for $160.

[1Fish2FishRedFishBlu]

To clarify, an UPS can perform "Power Conditioning" a power strip/bar does not. Typically a strip prevents large surges from reaching the equipment and trips the circuit preventing damage.

Manufacturers such as Tripplite and APC as well as Belkin offer fairly low cost UPS units that monitor and normalize the flow of electricity to your equipment. Surges either high or low voltage can damage equipment and the UPS monitors and maintains a constant flow.

If you live in an area where you experience brownouts, loss of power, construction etc. It is wise not only to have power strips to prevent surges, but conditioning to ensure your equipment does not work harder then necessary and strain the power supply as well as the other components of the system. It is not uncommon to see in new construction larger units being places at the powersource of a high tech home that filters power to anything inside. My next home will have this as well, then all you need is simple strips at the outlet level as the entire home will be conditioned. A system like this is surprisingly inexpensive especially compared to on piece of high end AV being damaged by not having something protecting it.

As far as brand... ive used all three mention here in home, small and large office settings, your best bet is to use a UPS sizer from a major vendor and see which brand has the best deal for your money. Each model offers different bells and whistles so look closely at the specs.

[guitarist155]

i use a furman pl-plus series 2 power conditioner in the rack for my recording studio equipment and would strongly recommend one the furman has smp 2 protection, over and under voltage shutdown and takes out almost all of the noise from the line, in the event that high voltage or lightning hits, the furman will disconnect the power within a fraction of a second instead of just trying to clamp the high voltage. and the furman does not sacrifice its self

the biggest reason i have mine is peace of mind, if your going to spend thousands on equipment it is well worth $200

as to weather they work the furman is used in almost every pro rack on stage and in recording studios and studio gear is highly tempermental. i love mine and will buy one for every rack i ever have

[jaydoc24]

Okay. Thanks for the input. To answer questions, no I have not noticed any degradations in performance that I would attribute to bad AC power, but I notice at high-end retailers, they sell them and I have asked around and was curious. I am renting a house now that is at least 40 years old so I am sure the power coming to the house is not the quality it could be.

As far as the UPS back-up is concerned, is that an external protector (on the house) or is it another brand of power conditioner?

[jaydoc24]

Guitarman, where did you get your Furman?

[gearyt]

furman's are avail at any music distrubitor... they are the best
try markertek.com

[guitarist155]

i got mine from musiciansfriend.com but i would also recommend sweetwater.com and music123.com

[coolmilo]

Originally Posted by gearyt

furman's are avail at any music distrubitor... they are the best
try markertek.com

Careful now. Furman is OK but the company is now owned by Panamax.

I would say that some of the top tier are PS Audio, Richard Gray, and Furman.

Next lower tier would be Panamax and APC.

Then at the bottom is Monster and a power strip surge protector.

I am sure there are others but that is all I can think of at the moment.

P.S. By the way I bought Richard Gray because they use a simple yet very good design in their products.

To answer the question: Yes, a good power conditioner not only protects your investment it helps improve the performance as well.

[jaydoc24]

Are Richard Gray or PS Audio available online?

[jaydoc24]

Okay, I probably should have specified that my budget is more like $400 tops!

[guitarist155]

i would also like to add that most ups systems DO NOT regulate power this is a common misconception, for power regulating you need a power regulator like this one http://www.ambientweather.com/dblc2400.html

for best results alot of studios use a power conditioner plugged into a power regulator and i heard this is the best way to go, i have not done it but it is on my to do list, also furman makes a power conditioner that also regulates power http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ner?sku=181119
but these are expensive ( around $600 )

also i believe panamax only does the home theater line of furman, furman audio inc still takes care of the studio power conditioners

[1Fish2FishRedFishBlu]

This one is from APC and is slightly over your budget at $499 but should give you a good starting point. This ones designed specifically for AV equipment.

High performance AV systems
http://apcc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=310

Surge protection
Isolated noise filtering
Voltage regulation
Battery backup

[coolmilo]

Originally Posted by 1Fish2FishRedFishBlu

This one is from APC and is slightly over your budget at $499 but should give you a good starting point. This ones designed specifically for AV equipment.

High performance AV systems
http://apcc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=310

Surge protection
Isolated noise filtering
Voltage regulation
Battery backup

I agree. APC is making some great products for reasonable prices. My friend is testing an APC unit now to protect part of his $50K worth of audio and AV equipment. Also, APC is a great company and has been protecting IT equipment for many, many years. One of the most trusted brands in IT.

The top tier are very nice but also very expensive. The Richard Gray RGPC 1200 is about $2200. I have the Richard Gray 600 and I paid around $900. I do not have a ton of AV gear (Pre/Pro/LCD/DirecTV HD DVR/Blu-ray player).

[Johk]

Originally Posted by 1Fish2FishRedFishBlu

This one is from APC and is slightly over your budget at $499 but should give you a good starting point. This ones designed specifically for AV equipment.

High performance AV systems
http://apcc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=310

Surge protection
Isolated noise filtering
Voltage regulation
Battery backup

Great choice!

Just be sure not to buy a cheap UPS that will only give you kind of a "square wave" AC current instead of a smooth sine wave.

[Rustmonsteru]

Panamax!

[MouseRider]

Originally Posted by guitarist155

i would also like to add that most ups systems DO NOT regulate power this is a common misconception

"Regulate" can become a very relative term in the hands of a marketing company.

There are basically two types of "UPS" systems, online and stand-by. Most of the consumer grade UPS systems you get out there are stand-by types which means you're pulling power straight from the wall until there is a problem, then it switches over to the battery.

In a way, most UPS's do "regulate" as problems will include power dips (brown-outs) and power spikes (surges) but as they are stand-by and require switching, they do rely on your device's power supply to do the "last mile" regulation to smooth out that blip.

That said, there are some very cheap UPS systems that don't protect against dips and spikes, just provide backup power.

In the more expensive systems, you're constantly running on batteries and the wall AC just charges the batteries. Sometimes, the marketing folk call these systems regenerators because in essence you are turning the AC into DC then creating your own AC.

What this gives you if the manufacturer does it right, is constant, clean and stable AC. Systems like this are used by many applications that need critical power like data centers, some studios, hospitals and the like.

PurePower is one manufacturer that makes regenerators for home theaters.

While many have talked about the consumer APC products, APC has also got an entire line of professional products meant for data center operations which are very reliable and great, but expensive.

Many of these systems will exceed your budget but I just wanted to put it out there for a complete picture.

Depending on where you live, power conditioning could be important. At the very basic, a power-conditioner/UPS/protection serves as an insurance policy for your investment and what you spend on it should be proportionate.

[eulogypros]

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[ls7z06]

I have dual Panamax 5100's running from dual dedicated 20 amp circuits. I guess they are doing what they are supposed to do! I have power.

I guess the main reason I have the Panamax units is to protect from spikes or surges. The main reason I have the 2 separate dedicated circuits is to make sure I have plenty of power available.

[gcchifi]

Originally Posted by Rustmonsteru

Panamax!

Ditto...