How can I track down grounding problems with my AVR?

[FuzzyReets]

Line conditioning is pretty much bogus and snake oil, unless it is a costly and inefficient regenerative unit that will really run up your power bill.

What you want is a unit that goes instantly to battery to give you clean lower when the grid is out of specified norms, which it quite often is for brief periods.

Sorry man, I'm going to ask you another question about this. Can I put this unit in the same stand as my blu ray player, receiver, etc? Does this have some kind of noise that will leak into my audio or anything? I don't really have anywhere to put it near my stuff. I guess I could put it on the run in the stand. Any problem with having this on the floor for fire or anything? Sorry for all the ?s.

 

[FuzzyReets]

Last question...I think.. If I was going to kind of organize my wiring behind my component stand a little better, would it be bad to group things next to each other like hdmi cables in one run connected with zip ties, then the power in one run, etc? I was wondering if noise would cross into the other wires around it, making it a bad idea. Thanks.

 

[TLS Guy]

Okay so you think this Belkin device is sufficient. I will use that then. Thank you.

What I meant was a UPS is fine not that particular unit. For one thing I suspect it is too small to drive a receiver. Published specs are pretty nonexistent for that Belkin unit and its too cheap to be any good for powering an AV system.

What you need is a UPS that will provide to VA rating of the device and the continuous power on watts. AC devices have true power and apparent power. The VA rating will tell what power is available to meet the apparent power needs and the true power is the actual power consumed over time.

This all comes about because current and voltage have a phase angle, which varies with the device. In other words current and voltage are out of phase. As a rule if thumb the continuous power rating is usually about 30% less than the VA rating. So your unit probably provides 700 to 900 watts continuous.

The other thing is how quickly the UPS responds. An acceptable response for transfer to battery is 1 to 5 msec for a significant line fluctuation.

APC are the real leaders in all this and you want to look at what they have to offer.

There should be no noise problem, my UPS units are in the three racks as you can see. There should be no difficulty with your cable management plan.

 

[FuzzyReets]

What I meant was a UPS is fine not that particular unit. For one thing I suspect it is too small to drive a receiver. Published specs are pretty nonexistent for that Belkin unit and its too cheap to be any good for powering an AV system.

What you need is a UPS that will provide to VA rating of the device and the continuous power on watts. AC devices have true power and apparent power. The VA rating will tell what power is available to meet the apparent power needs and the true power is the actual power consumed over time.

This all comes about because current and voltage have a phase angle, which varies with the device. In other words current and voltage are out of phase. As a rule if thumb the continuous power rating is usually about 30% less than the VA rating. So your unit probably provides 700 to 900 watts continuous.

The other thing is how quickly the UPS responds. An acceptable response for transfer to battery is 1 to 5 msec for a significant line fluctuation.

APC are the real leaders in all this and you want to look at what they have to offer.

There should be no noise problem, my UPS units are in the three racks as you can see. There should be no difficulty with your cable management plan.

Thanks very much for your extended response. Much appreciated! I called APC and spoke to them about my setup and they recommended the BR1000G. Any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks again for all your info.

EDIT: Any chance this eliminates some noise in my setup as well?

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks very much for your extended response. Much appreciated! I called APC and spoke to them about my setup and they recommended the BR1000G. Any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks again for all your info.

EDIT: Any chance this eliminates some noise in my setup as well?

That unit is under powered. Your receiver takes 936 watts.

You need a margin of 30% minimum, better 50%. Now you need to have it handle your BD player, TV and anything else with chips.

You will regret going small.

 

[FuzzyReets]

That unit is under powered. Your receiver takes 936 watts.

You need a margin of 30% minimum, better 50%. Now you need to have it handle your BD player, TV and anything else with chips.

You will regret going small.

That sucks. They told me the receiver only takes 135 watts. WTH?! I thought it was going to be under powered. How come they are telling me 135 watts and your calculations are at 936? I'm not saying you're wrong I am just baffled that the numbers could be that different.

 

[TLS Guy]

That sucks. They told me the receiver only takes 135 watts. WTH?! I thought it was going to be under powered. How come they are telling me 135 watts and your calculations are at 936? I'm not saying you're wrong I am just baffled that the numbers could be that different.

Well, I looked it up on the Onkyo site. The current draw that has to be allowed for is 7.8 amps which is 936 watts. How the hell do you think the unit could provide all that amp power with 136 watts? A receiver does not have a hidden energy source. 136 watts would be about right for the current consumption when it is on but doing nothing, in other words the quiescent power draw.

Go to your manuals and add up the power consumption of everything with chips and add 30%. That is what you need.

 

[FuzzyReets]

Well, I looked it up on the Onkyo site. The current draw that has to be allowed for is 7.8 amps which is 936 watts. How the hell do you think the unit could provide all that amp power with 136 watts? A receiver does not have a hidden energy source. 136 watts would be about right for the current consumption when it is on but doing nothing, in other words the quiescent power draw.

Go to your manuals and add up the power consumption of everything with chips and add 30%. That is what you need.

Alright. Bummer. I don't think anything too far over this price range is in my budget at the moment. Guess I'm stuck with the Monster. Thanks for your help.