Okay, first a disclaimer:
I have read numerous threads on both this forum and many other places on the web, and this post isn't intended to open up the decades-old debate on whether or not power conditioners or any variety x,y,z surge protector improves system performance. That topic has been beat to the ground and I am in agreement that at best whatever "benefits" are achieved in terms of picture or sound quality are either the result of a.) confirmation bias or b.) an actual improvement if the incoming line voltage is sufficiently poor in quality that a conditioner may actually help. Personally I think they are expensive, pretty looking power strips and not much more. A way for manufacturers to make more money on the back-end, after consumers have already spent thousands on their nice amps, TV's, etc., that will likely keep them from buying more gear for a long time. I think most average consumers buy nice things with the intent of keeping them for a while and just enjoying their systems. But this of course fails to make additional money for those who make the stuff we buy... to an extent (see also: golden arrow of consumption
).
Yet, despite the vast array of threads out there on the topic, I have not seen many people, if at all, ask another simple question: We all here (mostly) agree that power conditioners, UPS's, etc., don't really do much to
improve system performance, but can lesser ones actually
degrade performance?
The reason I ask this is because with all the poking around I've done lately behind my rack, I've had to plug/unplug things a lot from my current little power conditioner, which is of meager build and price. It's an APC AV-C5, long discontinued. Not a very large device, I basically got it for one main reason. It's slim profile lets me tuck it underneath my rack and the outlets are on the side vs. the top, so all my plugs go in horizontally from the bottom. This makes for a much more tidy look and keeps things orderly and out of sight. So it's had me thinking about power reliability and given that I live in Florida where lightning is very common and where I experience all too frequent blinks in my power (even when the weather isn't bad; I come home to find flashing clocks a LOT), I was considering better protecting my latest big investment in home theater gear with a more robust UPS-based device. So naturally I'm comparing specs and prices and such.
The little APC I have now is a unit that has sat underneath my rack for many years and I rarely, if ever, even think about it. It's never given me any problems (at least that I'm aware of). But out of sheer curiosity I decided I'd look up the specs on this old thing just because I never really bothered to look when I bought it. On both the APC and CNET sites (CNET just mirrors the APC specs) it rates it only for current output, at 15A. One other site claims a spec of power output capability in terms of 330W (which I could not verify/confirm anywhere). The device's manual, I believe, is intentionally vague... stating, and I quote: "
The C5 is rated for 15 Amps. The C5 is capable of supplying the dynamic peak current draws required by any component designed to work on a 15A circuit. Despite their nameplate power ratings, high performance AV equipment draw much less than their listed power ratings. The C5 can inform the user how much of the power capacity is available as equipment is connected to the unit." ----Except that it really only has an overload indicator LED, and an LED to indicate that it is filtering. I'm not sure I have the biomechanical telepathy powers needed to aurally communicate with this device in order for it to tell me this information that it supposedly offers. *Shrug*. I never needed to know anyway.
Nevertheless, my brain got to churning over this.
Could lesser conditioners actually sap power from your system? Could they limit what gets through to your amps to some extent? Can those that are of the "lighter" variety like mine not be quite sufficient at maintaining a full load under the system's most demanding transient conditions, especially if they are higher end AVR's and amps? I think this is a legitimate question to ask and not one I've seen asked that much. We debate over how much improvement one can make (or not make) in PQ/SQ, but rarely have I seen one raise this question and I've yet to see a sufficient answer to the question when they do.
