Power outlets

[04rex]

Hello, i am fixing up my basement and doing a home thatre setup. With all this talk on Conditioners and surge protectors, and power and all that, i was wondering. How many outlets do i need to hook everything up? Is it better to hook things up to different outlets or is it ok to get a conditioner or whatever and just hook everything up to that?

I would be hooking up the following:
Receiver
3 Amps
2 Subs
cable box
PS3
360

I believe that is it.

Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, just hook everything up to that. For the amps, you only need a suppressor generally, not a conditioner, as conditioners usually have a limited number of high current plugs.

 

[04rex]

Suppressor?? What is that, and who does that?

 

[j_garcia]

Regular old surge suppressor. A plug strip

 

[highfigh]

Or, have a whole house suppressor installed at the panel and just use plain power strips at the system. If switches and motors cause pops and spikes, you can use a suppressor at the system.

I would install at least one 20A circuit for the system and connect EVERYTHING in the system to that circuit.

 

[04rex]

Lol, ok. My bad. lol. Ok, so i shouldnt plug tha Amps to the conditioner, but to a regular power bar? Why is that?

 

[j_garcia]

Power conditioners can limit current and typically the the nicer ones tend to have high current outlets for things like amps and subs. My Panamax only has 2 high current outlets and I have the sub, receiver and amp - at one point I had 3 amps too, but replaced them with the XPA-3. Plug strips just prevent spikes but don't limit the current.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Yes, just hook everything up to that. For the amps, you only need a suppressor generally, not a conditioner, as conditioners usually have a limited number of high current plugs.

I use a conditioner and it works pretty good ....

The Furman Reference 20 (pictured on bottom)





OP....

It all depends on what you're hooking up to the supressor/conditioner/regulator... etc. I really really really am a big supporter of Furman products. My experience with the company is equal to the absolute best in the industry. They are a value across the board and the company engineers the absolute FINEST power proructs in the world. Furman tech support is absolutely 100% NO BS if you were to ever call them with a question. A cool story... Panamax tried to hire Furman's lead engineer several times and he wouldn't jump ship... so Panamax just sucked it up & bought the entire company a few years ago for their tech and started putting it into the Panamax line.... THAT'S how good their product is.

Basically, Panamax is more of the retail version of the Furman gear. It's also excellent and, depending on the model, I would recommend most of it as well.

 

[highfigh]

Lol, ok. My bad. lol. Ok, so i shouldnt plug tha Amps to the conditioner, but to a regular power bar? Why is that?

If you have stable voltage, you shouldn't need conditioning and if you have a whole-house suppressor at the breaker panel, you don't really need more suppression at the system.

 

[highfigh]

Furman tech support is absolutely 100% NO BS if you were to ever call them with a question. A cool story... Panamax tried to hire Furman's lead engineer several times and he wouldn't jump ship...

Is that Garth Powell?

 

[InTheIndustry]

Is that Garth Powell?

It has been a few years since my rep told me the story, but that name sounds familiar to the story. My rep has been with Furman for many many years. He told me that the guy wouldn't leave for several reasons.... Some of which being loyalty & pride in what they had done as a company. Kind of a rare bird these days.

 

[BMXTRIX]

A well designed power conditioner will help protect the expensive gear. Power conditioning generally helps to keep spikes (surge) out of the gear, helps with slight drops in power, and maintains constant voltage. It can bring all your gear to a common ground, so running phone and cable lines through it often makes a lot of sense.

I personally take my power off a 20amp power outlet to a power conditioner, and from that some equipment is plugged directly to the conditioner, while other gear sits on a 20 outlet power strip.

You do NOT want to put a surge supressor after a power conditioner, and the dual redundancy can mess things up. So, if you already have a power conditioner (which also has surge supression) on your system, you don't put another one after it. You just use a power strip.

So if you have a power conditioner, then you would plug a power strip like this into it:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=125-044

Or even better, if your space allows it, something like this:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=262-764

There are any number of power conditioners on the market from Furman, Middle Atlantic, Panamax, and of course, Monster.

Power conditioning is also built into UPS products (battery backup systems) such as those from Tripp Lite...
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=125-024

 

[04rex]

Ok, so for the sake of argument, lets say i get a monster power conditioner, lets say the HDP2550. I would get a power strip, and plug it into the conditioner as well? Now what would i plug intot he conditioner and what would i plug into the power strip?

 

[InTheIndustry]

Ok, so for the sake of argument, lets say i get a monster power conditioner, lets say the HDP2550. I would get a power strip, and plug it into the conditioner as well? Now what would i plug intot he conditioner and what would i plug into the power strip?

NOT the Monster conditioner.

If I were you I would choose between either of these two in the same price range as the Monster HDP2550:

Furman Elite-15DMi, MSRP $499: http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=02&id=ELITE-15DMi

Or the smaller (less outlets/no) Elite-15i, MSRP $379: http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=02&id=ELITE-15i

Those are two of the best conditioner/surge pieces on the market.

 

[04rex]

Ok, so lets say i get that Furman one. the 15DMi, what would i plug into there, and what would i use the regular power bar for? Where would i plug the Amps and Subs?

 

[j_garcia]

Power conditioner on one plug. Regular power strip on the second one. Amps on the power strip, everything else on the conditioner and providing the conditioner has high current outlets, put the sub and receiver on those. That's how I have my system.

 

[04rex]

ok, ok, and if it doesn't have high current? And since i am building my basement, should i put each outlet on different amps or breakers?

 

[j_garcia]

Is it a 15 amp or 20 amp circuit? I am running all my gear off one 15 amp but it is barely enough. At my new place I am going to run a dedicated 20 amp for that room.

Map the circuits (see which outlets go to which breakers), because if all the outlets in the area are on the same circuit, it doesn't matter which outlets you use the draw on that circuit will be the same. If you have separate circuits, I'd put the amps or possibly just the sub on the second one.

 

[highfigh]

Ok, so lets say i get that Furman one. the 15DMi, what would i plug into there, and what would i use the regular power bar for? Where would i plug the Amps and Subs?

Amplifiers seldom have a problem with surges and spikes- it's microprocessors that don't like them but if the amp isn't a current hog, you can power it through the conditioner without problems. The Furman also has 12VDC trigger input and output, which is great if you want to turn on a smaller power amp, an equipment lift or projector, etc.

 

[BMXTRIX]

ok, ok, and if it doesn't have high current? And since i am building my basement, should i put each outlet on different amps or breakers?

If you are building your basement, and you have a primary equipment location, then I would strongly recommend that you pull 2 20amp circuts to your rack location. Start with ONE 20amp circuit and power conditioner. Use the 20amp version of the Furman...

http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=02&id=ELITE-20PFi

Then go into the second one if you need to. I would put both 20 amp circuts on the same grounding leg of your electrical panel so you are less likely to have grounding issues.

The use of power strips is 'if you need them' - not 'you gotta use them'. In the case of my equipment rack I have 2 A/V receivers, 3 power amplifiers, and perhaps 20 other components that are plugged in including network routers, cable boxes, switchers, switches, and my control system.

Anyway, I use a couple of power strips to make sure that there are plenty of outlets available to me as I need them.