Panamax 5410

[alphamajor]

I've been wanting to get some decent surge protection for my system lately. I don't have much to protect right now, just my receiver, DVD player and speakers, but I will soon be adding a big TV, upgrading my receiver and a few other things. Being that I live in New Mexico, we get a lot of thunderstorms. In fact, we just had one last night. While I've never had anything fried due to a direct/close lightning strike, I'm not wanting to take any chances.

I'm kind of on the fence about the whole power conditioning thing making a difference in sound. As long as the components have good power supplies in them, that is where most everything bad from the power lines is stopped. However, big transients and over/under voltages can be bad.

So, I saw that OneCall has the Panamax 5410, which has just been discontinued, for $350 instead of the normal $750. I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I've read good reviews about Panamax products, especially in terms of surge protection.

I guess I just wanted to see if anyone has experience with this specific unit, Panamax products in general, or just to see what people think about these more expensive surge protectors/power filters. Yea, it's a lot of money, but it will be a lot easier having a full warranty for all my equipment than having to replace a $2,000 TV or $1,500 receiver (when I get them).

Thoughts, opinions?

 

[gtaylor0]

It's my understanding that Panamax actually does replace equipment that is damaged when using their units, and that their units provide very good surge protection - no having to unplug the unit during a thunderstorm, for example; they have a very good reputation. I prefer the more expensive, newer models, with the blue LED's - they just look so damn cool! I find that they neither color the sound nor distort the picture; that is, I see no "improvement" there, although they claim there is. But my power is pretty clean, so who knows. For me, if they offer good protection, seem to honor their warranties, and look fantastic to boot, it's worth the price.

 

[alphamajor]

Well, I've had the 5410 since Thursday. I figure I'll just write a little bit of a review of it based on my impressions so far.

It is definitely very well built. It weighs just about as much as my HK AVR-130 receiver! The fit and finish are astounding. It has a nice little hook/loop thing that keeps the power cord from being pulled out of the back of the unit. The only way to detach the cord is to remove the hooks by undoing two screws. With a total of 10 outlets on back (4 always on, 4 switched and 2 high current) and an extra outlet on the front, it can support as much equipment as you would want to run off a single 15A 120V line.

As best as I can tell, it does absolutely nothing to change the way my system sounds, which is about what I was expecting. Perhaps this is because I live in an area that already has decent power, but who knows. It would be neat to see what it does in an area where it is known that a lot of noise exists on the lines.

The analog voltmeter on the front is pretty neat. There have been a couple of times that while I was watching it I saw the needle jump around by a small amount, maybe 5V or so. I'm not sure what caused it, but probably someone turning something on in one of the other 3 apartments in the building I live in. Aside from this, it has been holding steady at 120V. While this may seem like a frivilous feature, I like it because it provides a physical way to see that the power coming out of your wall does actually fluctuate sometimes.

The delayed power on of the high current plugs and delayed off of the switched outputs is a cool feature, though right now I don't have use for it since I don't use seperate power amps, though one day I may.

All in all I'm pleased. I admit that one of the larger reasons I got it was for the visualization of cool equipment, but the biggest reason was that I've heard really good things about Panamax as far as surge protection goes. Additionally, it certainly can't hurt that it will disconnect the power from all outputs if the incoming line voltage is significantly high or low within milliseconds. The $350 I spent was worth it to me, especially since it was $400 off normal price and I love getting deals. If this unit takes a surge and keeps my equipment from blowing up, then it will really be worth it. Even if that never happens, I am still satisfied with the purchase for the additional features and the peace of mind that there is a significantly lower chance of my components getting fried if a surge does hit the lines.

 

[Geno]

You seem to have the right attitude on this kind of stuff, especially since you don't really expect "magic" differences in audio or video. I've always thought it was a good idea to have surge protection, but some of the way-expensive stuff is really overkill, even if they do look cool. The Panamax stuff seems like a good trade-off between cost and benefit.