Powercenter for Hometheatre help

[rma123]

Hi: I need to decide on a powercenter for my hometheatre electronics. Are there any sites comparing whatz available in the market and also how to decide what specs I should be looking for?

Thanks
Ray

 

[jcPanny]

A/V Power Center

I recently purchased an APC H10 power center for use with my A/V gear. The build quality is excelent and it is suitable for the equipment rack with other high end gear. It even came with an audiophile type gold plated power cord. In addition to power filtering and surge protection it also provides voltage regulation (output 120V AC during power surge or brownout). I got it on sale at ecost for about $150 shipped, but now they are back to the regular price.

I also purchased a tripplite SMART1000LCD for use with my computer recently. The LCD voltmeter readout is cool and it includes battery backup in addition to filtering and regulation. The black plastic case is typical of PC gear and doesn't have the same fit and finish as the APC unit. It was only $100 at costco.

I would recommend both units for their respective applications. I have also seen some good deals and feedback on some of the Belkin line of power centers but I don't think they do voltage regulation.

 

[CraigA]

What kind of components do you have and what is your goal? Obviously you would want a good power conditioner...and if you have any type of hard drive devices such as a media server or DVR, you might want to also consider an UPS.

If you want to stick with some of the more common lines look into:
Monster
Panamax
TrippLite

If you are looking for a higher end power conditioning and power isolation...consider Richard Gray's line of products. www.richardgrayspowercompany.com

 

[aec]

The real issue is what kind of equipment you have and then your budget. I had a Monster HTS 5100 MKII and upgraded to the PS Audio Quintet for $495.00. I will be selling my Monster 5100 and a Monster 5000 soon. The Quintet is the same thing as their higher end box that sits in the rack (10 sockets, 5 isolated zones w/noise filters and a pull out MOV that is replaceable) but it is a heavy duty power strip for about $500 less. I believe that my picture on my plasma is cleaner and the sound coming from my receiver and Velodyne is also cleaner. But if I did a true A/B test I would not bet money that I can hear a difference. It is a piece of mind thing. Additionally, I went to Audiogon over the last year and upgraded (one by one) most of the standard issue power chords for my receiver, plasma, sub and DVD player. Again, more piece of mind and when you spend hundreds if not thousands for a piece of equipment, it does not make sense to power it w/a $5.00 chord. I did not go crazy and spend hundreds of dollars on each chord. Some I got at a good price from Signal Cable and some off of auctions on Audiogon. Additionally, I spent an extra $50 and upgraded my wall socket to better plug from PS Audio (it has to better than the 1.89 plug the builder put in my home). I purchased that off of Audioadvisor but I could have gotten it off of PS Audio's site just as easily.

 

[skizzerflake]

I don't mean to sound apocalyptic, but be sure your power center has a quick and easy way to remove everything from the power source so you can pull the plug on everything quickly. Last summer, I had the ugly experience of losing most of my HT components to a lightning strike. It was close enough to arc right past all of my "protection". When power supplies claim to be able to resist x-hundred volt surges, that's nothing when a strike sends a surge in the millions. When weather threatens you should have some place where you can physically remove everything from the lines at a moment's notice.

 

[Adam]

I can't answer the original question. I just want to say that skizzerflake brings up a good point: lightning. Some companies will insure against it, some won't. I have units from APC and Panamax, and the warranties on those units state that they will pay for any system damaged by lightning, but I don't think that I have the same warranty on my Belkin. Just something to consider, as you may not be home when a storm rolls in.

 

[Nick250]

Hi: I need to decide on a powercenter for my hometheatre electronics. Are there any sites comparing whatz available in the market and also how to decide what specs I should be looking for?
Thanks
Ray

Another position to consider is that in all probability a power center will not benefit you beyond being a really expensive surge protector and cable organizer.

Nick

 

[MDS]

Another position to consider is that in all probability a power center will not benefit you beyond being a really expensive surge protector and cable organizer.

I don't believe I currently have any power issues, at least I've never really noticed any problems but I am considering one nonetheless - precisely for the reasons you stated. It may be nice to have one central point to run all the power cables to eliminate the surge protector and mess of wires behind the AV rack.

Naturally I will not be spending big bucks on one. I like the looks and features of the APC unit that jcPanny mentioned.

 

[solomr2]

I got a Belkin PureAV PF60 on sale for $149 at eCost about 3 months. I'm quite pleased with it. There are number of significant features, not the least of which is power conditioning and filtering. For the price I highly recommend it, but I've never seen it that cheap anywhere since.