Any "Power Conditioners" for an affordable price?

[Landmonster]

Hi guys.

I'm just wondering if there are any worthwhile power conditioners out there, which might sell for a reasonable price?

I don't have anything for my home theater yet, besides a cheap $5 surge protector.... but I realize I do need something. I'd rather wait and save, though, if all the cheap ones are junk.


As an bonus, I'm looking for possible ~$100 or less Christmas gift ideas to ask for, to upgrade my home theater, without having people buy me actual components (amps, speakers, etc). If anyone has any worthwhile accessory ideas.

 

[lovinthehd]

Why do you need a power conditioner?

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

What lovin said: What for?

A surge protector is not the same thing as a power conditioner. A power conditioner regulates what could be fluctuating wall voltage to something that’s a stable 120 volts, +/- a few volts. There’s no way you’re getting that cheap.

A good buddy of mine used to live in a place where various electronics in his house (hi-fi components, cordless phones, etc.) would just die for no apparent reason every now and then. If you have a situation like that, you could probably benefit from a legitimate power conditioner.

If not, then don’t worry about getting one.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Speedskater]

about Power Conditioners

In that 'power conditioner' is an undefined term. It could mean almost any combination of the following.

a) Noise filter - a low-pass EMI/RFI filter.
b) Surge protector - although it's better to have surge protection at the home's service entrance.
c) UPS - note that many UPS's are not really UPS's!
d) Line voltage adjuster.
e) Balanced power transformer.
f) Isolated power transformer.
g) DC blockers.
h) Regenerators (PSAudio)
i) Power Factor Correction
j) I forget? But I think that there are more.

* * * * * * * * * * *
most hi-fi systems don't need one.

 

[Grandzoltar]

So you need more outlets then the 2 that may be available and your looking for a strip with better build quality then the one you are using. Try this Furman ss-6b or Furman pst 8d. They are labeled as power conditioners with common and differential mode filtering but let’s call it what it is an outlet extender with surge protection. Don’t get wrapped up in it’s an upgrade or changing the sq with one. Just simply something that adds more outlets with over voltage protection.

 

[JerryLove]

b) Surge protector - although it's better to have surge protection at the home's service entrance.

More specifically: I'd recommend both a stage 1 (protects from grid-surges) and stage 2 (protects from inter-circuit surges) surge suppression, as well as lightning rods with grounding.

 

[Landmonster]

I don't really know if or why I need one.

I'm getting back into home theater from a 10-year absence. Back in the day, every audio dealer had their gear hooked up to one of those monster Cable power conditioners.

 

[Verdinut]

If your home voltage varies by more than +/- 5%, I would recommend the APC H15 power conditioner. It has 10 outlets and features voltage regulation and some outlet sequencing:

APC AV Black 1.5kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V - H15BLK | APC USA

H15BLK - APC AV Black 1.5kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V | APC USA

www.apc.com

 

[JerryLove]

If your home voltage varies by more than +/- 5%, I would recommend the APC H15 power conditioner. It has 10 outlets and features voltage regulation and some outlet sequencing:

Why? Can you show the effect of 100V that you are trying to prevent?

 

[Verdinut]

Why? Can you show the effect of 100V that you are trying to prevent?

Digital circuits are fragile and a too high or too low a voltage can damage components. Why do you think surge protectors are widely used nowadays? Most electric power companies recommend them to protect electronic equipment as they will not be responsible if you didn't use them when there has been a surge after a power outage, or you hadn't disconnected your digital electronic gear.

 

[JerryLove]

Digital circuits are fragile and a too high or too low a voltage can damage components.

Are the digital circuits in the equipment 120V?

Because I'm pretty sure they are much lower voltage, DC, and powered by capacitors that isolate them pretty will from the AC current. Can you offer actual data that would suggest otherwise?

Voltage regulator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Why do you think surge protectors are widely used nowadays?

I mostly use them because they are the cheapest PDU.

Do you believe that popularity effects physics?

Most electric power companies recommend them to protect electronic equipment as they will not be responsible if you didn't use them when there has been a surge after a power shortage, or you hadn't disconnected your digital electronic gear.

Surge supressor != voltage regulator.

I too recommend a surge suppression. Two in fact. A level one at your connection point and a level two in your breaker panel.

My experience comes mostly from three decades in the server world. I'm open to data that some piece of audio gear is more sensitive to a 5% voltage swing at the outlet... do you have any such data?

 

[BriReeves629]

I have a Furman PST-8 and it is very affordable.

 

[TankTop5]

Some surge protectors advertise sine wave correction, is there any benefit?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JerryLove]

Some surge protectors advertise sine wave correction, is there any benefit?

AC motors (like in a refrigerator) and certain classes of medical equipment are vulnerable to modified sine waves.

Other things that shouldn't be damaged, but would potentially be unhappy with a very abnormal sine wave are:

• Devices that use thyristors like laser printers and photocopiers
• Devices that use silicon-controlled rectifiers
• Lighting that makes use of electronic ballasts, like many fluorescent lights

Oh, and radios might pick up signals from very bad sine waves (such as square waves).

To the best of my knowledge, everything else is immune.

 

[Alex2507]

Why? Can you show the effect of 100V that you are trying to prevent?

There's always talk about power supplies running out of juice with the all channel driven scenario. They're powered by 120 volts, so wouldn't they have to draw more current at a lower voltage to reach the same SPL thereby creating more heat, distortion and other bad stuff or as POTUS would put it 'very, very bad stuff'.

Back in the day, every audio dealer had their gear hooked up to one of those monster Cable power conditioners.

I got one of those APC 10 or 15 things for my sister and was put off by all the clicking and switching it did. Granted the electrical was hockey and the poor thing had its work cut out but I didn't like all the clicks and pops.

The Monster things go for just over 100 bucks used. They're reliable and have timed/switched outlets for amps, players and streamers. My first one was $160 and the next was $100. It was the 3500 and 3600 MKII IIRC. There are other solutions and I don't 'like' Monster but my moral compass and my wallet have divergent paths.

Paying the $400-$500 for a new Monster toy was always out of reach for me, no matter who sang its praises.

Over the years there have been countless discussions on this topic. Try running searches using a key word and a members name

Here's what a search on APC with TLS produces:

Search results for query: APC

forums.audioholics.com

Read all about it ...

 

[JerryLove]

There's always talk about power supplies running out of juice with the all channel driven scenario. They're powered by 120 volts, so wouldn't they have to draw more current at a lower voltage to reach the same SPL thereby creating more heat, distortion and other bad stuff or as POTUS would put it 'very, very bad stuff'.

If that is valid: then we are all abusing our equipment by not running 240.

Indeed: equipment must all last longer and run cooler in Europe (which has 240 as standard).

 

[Alex2507]

If that is valid: then we are all abusing our equipment by not running 240.

Indeed: equipment must all last longer and run cooler in Europe (which has 240 as standard).

I know the they don't have to use 14 gauge wire to safely run 15 amps. Half the current with twice the voltage but before I step way out of my depth, I'm sure they design around either voltage to get a set result. You go with any voltage that pushes your hair back 100 ... 240 ... what ev.

 

[Speedskater]

Some surge protectors advertise sine wave correction, is there any benefit?

That's not a surge protector function.
and no, sine wave correction is not necessary. A big power amplifier will undo it anyway.

 

[Paul DS]

Why not just use a UPS computer battery backup/surge suppressor available from Amazon for very reasonable prices.

 

[JerryLove]

I know the they don't have to use 14 gauge wire to safely run 15 amps. Half the current with twice the voltage but before I step way out of my depth, I'm sure they design around either voltage to get a set result. You go with any voltage that pushes your hair back 100 ... 240 ... what ev.

Resistance in the wire (and so heat in the wire) is a function of current, which is a power/voltage.

So yes: higher voltage = less power lost in transmission (and "loss" means "turned to heat").

The trade-off is that higher voltage requires more insulation and is more dangerous to humans at a given power-level.

I don't know that this trade-off would still be in play (to any real degree) once the power gets to the equipment. The power supply immediately converts the voltage to whatever it wants to use; and I don't know that there's a gain converting from 240 rather than 120.

To be fair: I don't *know* that there isn't.