Power cleaning, surge protection... and voltage regulation?

[barty88]

OK, I think I messed up on power protection for my home theatre system. I did some reading and research and opted to go with a Monster HTS 3600 mainly because of its price and decent reviews. Now upon further research I hear it is very important to get something with voltage regulation. Is this true? And if so, whats my best option (low price, my budget is already blown) to add in a voltage regualtion of some sort, I cannot return the HTS 3600.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

Do you have power problems at your house? Specifically, do you have a lot of brownouts?

I don't think that AVR is extremely important, but others here might disagree. If you really want it, you don't need to pay a lot for it. I bought my Belkin PF31D for about $130. The APC H15 seems to be popular around here (one thread about it is linked here), and you can get one for $100 from TigerDirect via Amazon at the link here.

 

[highfigh]

Regulation isn't just for brownouts, it's also for clamping down on surges. Spikes are another issue and dealt with separately. Stable voltage is a must for anything with microprocessors and spikes are also really hard on the tiny leads in chips. Think of these leads as tiny fuse elements and if the current or voltage are too high, they go away.

The grid is old, dirty and needs serious upgrading. Why risk our electronics on someone else' equipment?

 

[Adam]

Regulation isn't just for brownouts, it's also for clamping down on surges

Thanks. In that case, is the Monster HTS 3600 sufficient? It may depend on if the OP has the MKII version. The MKII is supposed to disconnect power when voltage goes too high or too low in order to protect against surges. I don't see that description for the original.

 

[barty88]

Thanks for the replies... It is MKII, but does that mean "shutting off power" will actually shut things off, or is it a regulator?

I looked at the APS avr15 and that looks good (ugly, but good) but would that replace the HTS 3600 MKII all together or would they work in conjunction with one another?

And from what I am reading about all this stuff... would it make sense to put a cheap surge protector in the wall between the outlet and your main power source to ctually protect the power source unit form bad stuff?

 

[highfigh]

Thanks. In that case, is the Monster HTS 3600 sufficient? It may depend on if the OP has the MKII version. The MKII is supposed to disconnect power when voltage goes too high or too low in order to protect against surges. I don't see that description for the original.

Look for anything that refers to "crowbar voltage". That's what they call it when the conditioner/suppressor causes the voltage to be interrupted and it's often done in a way that sacrifices the circuit, instead of the equipment it's there to protect. Think of it like a crowbar thrown across power lines- dead short, stops the current from getting to the equipment. Some of the Furman models do it in a way that's not self-sacrificing. The analogy they give is that the crowbar type is like shooting a wire with a bullet when the voltage is reached. The wire is broken and the equipment is safe, while the new ones absorb/dissipate the excess voltage in a way that's similar to a spring connected in line and the bullet is fired in line with the current flow. The spring stretched/compresses, but survives. They said the reason is so the system will still work after the event, with no down time.

 

[highfigh]

Thanks for the replies... It is MKII, but does that mean "shutting off power" will actually shut things off, or is it a regulator?

I looked at the APS avr15 and that looks good (ugly, but good) but would that replace the HTS 3600 MKII all together or would they work in conjunction with one another?

And from what I am reading about all this stuff... would it make sense to put a cheap surge protector in the wall between the outlet and your main power source to ctually protect the power source unit form bad stuff?

Using more than one conditioner causes problems. Transformers can limit current and putting one after another just compounds that. Also, some are filtering as well as suppressing/regulating.

 

[highfigh]

Thanks for the replies... It is MKII, but does that mean "shutting off power" will actually shut things off, or is it a regulator?

I looked at the APS avr15 and that looks good (ugly, but good) but would that replace the HTS 3600 MKII all together or would they work in conjunction with one another?

And from what I am reading about all this stuff... would it make sense to put a cheap surge protector in the wall between the outlet and your main power source to actually protect the power source unit form bad stuff?

The only time I would ever use a cheap protector is if the equipment is more or less disposable, but it's nice to have around. Power strips with no protection do work for connecting low current devices like wall warts to one outlet when the rest are filled and the capacity of the conditioner won't be surpassed, though.

The good thing about having equipment that you don't want/need is that it's easier than ever to sell.

 

[barty88]

So... what is the deal with the HTS 3600 mkII? Should I try and sell that and get something with better voltage regulation and if so what? Or is that ok for cleaning surge and voltage? Or do i need to add something to it?

 

[Adam]

So... what is the deal with the HTS 3600 mkII? Should I try and sell that and get something with better voltage regulation and if so what? Or is that ok for cleaning surge and voltage?

That's what I'm waiting to find out, too!

I'll say this. I used a Panamax power strip without AVR for years, and I don't think that my electronics ever suffered. I've used an APC power strip for my computer gear since 1999, and I don't think that anything has ever been hurt because it doesn't have AVR. That doesn't mean that your place doesn't have such jacked up power that things shouldn't be protected more, but I give those examples as points of reference.

 

[highfigh]

So... what is the deal with the HTS 3600 mkII? Should I try and sell that and get something with better voltage regulation and if so what? Or is that ok for cleaning surge and voltage? Or do i need to add something to it?

I read the manual and saw absolutely nothing about constant voltage output. I know at least one of their conditioners does that but it's something I would look for, if it doesn't break the bank. I don't want my equipment to be on when the voltage drops that far and some pieces will actually suffer serious damage if the voltage drops that far, like VFet amps.

All this one does is filter and isolate noise. How it's isolated, I don't know but if each circuit is filtered well, noise from one device shouldn't reach the others, anyway, IMO. Regulation is completely different and I can't think of a single piece of equipment that doesn't work better with constant supply voltage, which this one doesn't provide.

PanaMax and Furman are part of the same company, so between these and TrippLite, I think you'd be pretty well covered. I don't have much hands on with Belkin or the other brands, but have used the other three with great results.

 

[GlocksRock]

For $99 you might as well just sell the Monster unit and get the APC H15 and be done with it.

 

[mperfct]

Happy H15 owner here. APC makes some serious quality stuff (I think Tripplite is pretty good too). I chose the APC because it offered great bang for the buck.

 

[MatthewB.]

Okay guys just found this thread. I own the Monster 3600 (bought way before I knew about monsters business practices) Anyway it is not the MKII and yes it will also do automatic shut off just like the MKII. I also own two Monster AVS 2000 Signatures Series (paid 299.00/ea) now they are very good Voltage regulators because unlike most that engage only when the voltage drops below 112 volts or goes above 127 volts, the Monster 2000 gives a constant 120 volts at all times. Granted there is no way I would spend the 1700.00 retail on these, but hey I got them on closeout from Circuit City. If shopping today I would look at Tripplite Voltage regulators that you can get for about 100.00 (I actually own three of these, all for subwoofers in two of my three systems) Granted 99% of the time they are never used (they click when activated) but if you live in areas with severe weather like Florida then yes I would buy them. Otherwise you should be good to go with what you have.

 

[highfigh]

Rural areas sometimes have really bad (read old and dilapidated) grid hookup. I watched a documentary that was taped with Kenny Wayne Shepard called "Nine Days In The South", where they went down to find some of the remaining old Delta Blues players. It was produced by Jerry Harrison, of Talking Heads and they were discussing the recording methods and some of the issues that popped up in some places, like 90VAC line voltage at one house. They ended up using the generator on one of the buses for power because the computers and mixers wouldn't work on that.