Power conditoners

[cb2005]

I want to purchase a line conditoner for my av gear, but don't wish to spend bookoo bucks, I think 1100 is a bit much to spend on a power conditioner, any suggestions on brands would be greatly appreciated.

[dyazdani]

APC has some good products in the $300-400 range.

[aud19]

I vote APC :T

[theMaximus]

I would suggest Belkin PureAV PF30 Power Console. MSRP is $200, but you can find them for about $100 or less at a few online stores. If you don't put too much faith on power conditioners drastically improving picture and sound, this may be a good one for you. IMO, it looks sleeker and more elegant than most power conditioners out there, and if your electronics are silver, it will match them well. It does however only have eight outlets. There are also upper model PureAV conditioners you can buy for far less than their MSRP.

As suggested before, APC makes really good products even though they cost more. Also, if you have Rotel gears, the new Rotel power conditioner RLC-1040 ($499 if I'm not mistaken) may work for you too.

Below is the picture of PureAV PF30 and PF40.

[wkhanna]

I bought a M*nster 3500mkII when they were on sale at buy.com and had $50 mfg rebate on top of it. Ended up about $85 total. But if I had it to do over, I would have went with the APC or Belkin for a few more $. After a few other upgrades, I will sell it and get a ‘Real’ one like the APC or Belkin.

The one I have is ok, and actually helped with bleed through from an FM radio tower that is 1 ½ blocks from my home. But the APC and Belkin are better IMHO. Also, the wiring in my house very old, and anything would probably have made an improvement.

[Vince Helm]

check out some of the new offerings by PS Audio... solid engineering, good people, good sound and protection!

Vince

[ThomasW]

Cory,

What do you want or need this device to do?

EMI/ECM filtration? Common mode rejection? Power stabilization? Surge protection?

Please don't say 'yes' to all if you want something reasonably priced

[LikeCoiledSteel]

I recommend the Belkin PF60. I picked one up a few months ago for $225 shipped. Great unit that was $900 once. Lifetime warranty. I noticed that any power conditioner with battery backup, usually has only a 3 year warranty because the battery goes bad. Belkin has a new conditioner with a backup for $1500. 3-year warranty only though. I would go without the backup, too much headache.
Steel

[Ovation]

I know next to nothing about power conditioners/line conditioners/etc. but I have a question.

My cousin has a direct view CRT HDTV (30 inches--Samsung, last year's model) and it has been suffering from a video distortion that I can only describe as a warp bubble (it resembles an undulating soap bubble, not a Star Trek technobabble sfx). I've seen it and it happens with both his HDTV PVR and his DVD player--we swapped HDMI/DVI and component inputs, reset the TV, plugged in one input at a time--in his home. The problem does NOT manifest itself at the repair shop (my cousin has seen it, or the lack of it, at the repair shop). My cousin lives in a house originally built in the early 1800s and while the wiring interfaces are modern, I'm pretty sure the actual in-wall stuff dates back to the fifties at the latest. He has tried plugging in the TV on a different circuit than his PVR and DVD player (on the off chance that it was a low-amp/faulty circuit) but to no effect. Is it worth buying/borrowing a power conditioner (the APC, for example) to investigate further? Could this problem even be related to "bad" current? His previous (20 year old 19inch RCA) TV exhibited none of these problems. He has no sound system so no large power amp overdrawing the current. Thoughts?

[Bmac]

Tripp lite and Hubbell make two inexpensive units.

[Avantguard]

New Power Conditioner

After finding a new Power Conditioner (PS10 Smart Power Station) I did a search on Thor Technologies www.thortechnologies.com.au and found some favourable threads with the A2 power filter. I came across the PS10 recently and what it seems to do differently to the other units is similar to a UPS True on-line double conversion (without the battery backup. It has an LED readout which identifies the incoming voltage and provides a pure unpolluted sinewave (240V). I believe it retails around $1500. I have not yet purchased one, has anyone heard of it?

[audioqueso]

APC only deals with power. I would favor them over anyone else solely for that reason. Good reputation. Belkin would come in second since a large portion of their products deal with power.

[David Meek]

I'd be careful not to wind up with an MOV-based system as they degrade over time and eventually can become (for practical purposes) useless. Brickwall makes some extremely good non-MOV products that are economical and won't degrade.

[Arneson]

Old Tommy Edison would be rolling over if he knew everyone now has a source of power under every desk.LOL
My latest are the APC Pro 650 and a 700, but I have the 350, 400 and 500 in other rooms. My wife has two Tripplite and a Blackout buster.
All of these are happy till the power browns down, then the whole place starts chirping and clicking. Sounds like a bad day with a pygmy tribe.
(no offense to any pygmies)

[Avantguard]

APC only deals with power. I would favor them over anyone else solely for that reason. Good reputation. Belkin would come in second since a large portion of their products deal with power.

I agree that APC are very good with UPS but this is a 10 amp unit. The equivalent of this in UPS would be in the viscinity of a 3KVA true online double conversion?? I have cost these at $3000 wholesale. The Belkin Power Station has an incoming readout but doesn't correct the power. Thor Smart Power Station $1500 retail, tells you your incoming voltage and corrects it to 240V regardless of where it appears on the sine wave. Will let you know how i get on.

[Armbender]

I currently have a Monster HTS 2500. Is it really woth the upgrade to the Rotel RLC 1040. Better protection? Better picture and or sound quality?

[riceaterslc]

I recommend the Belkin PF60.

ditto, i got mine for $210 off amazon, sweet unit.

[PewterTA]

I currently have a Monster HTS 2500. Is it really woth the upgrade to the Rotel RLC 1040. Better protection? Better picture and or sound quality?

I doubt you will see the difference. You might see/hear a slight difference, but I'm not sure if it's worth the price difference. If my 2500 dies, I will then replace it with something better (perhaps the RLC-1040)... but in my opinion if nothing is wrong with your 2500, it's not worth trying to upgrade to the 1040 unless you already have the 2500 sold. Then go for it! :T

[Armbender]

Thanks. I do have a potential buyer for my 2500 so looks like i will upgrade

Cheers

[bullitt731]

I recently attended a seminar for Furman products by the head design and development engineer at my Rotel AD. In a nut shell this company has been making gear for over 30 years and is a primary resource for sound stage and main frame computers. I personally bought their Elite-15PF retailing for $550 which has 80% of the features of their Elite-20PF at almost 1/2 the price. Depending on what features you are looking for both products are in your price range.

https://www.FurmanSound.com

[Armbender]

Does anybody know a canadian distributer for the Belkin PF60. I can find one for the PF40 for $270CAD but would prefer the 60.

Cheers

[Lex]

Check the thread in the HTGuide advertisers area from Brent Huskins. He's a dealer for PS Audio and they sometimes run some specials even.

Doug

[Armbender]

Thanks..Ill do that

[Nolan B]

Does anybody know a canadian distributer for the Belkin PF60. I can find one for the PF40 for $270CAD but would prefer the 60.

Cheers

I believe all Sony stores carry Belkin products.

[Slice]

As suggested before, APC makes really good products even though they cost more. Also, if you have Rotel gears, the new Rotel power conditioner RLC-1040 ($499 if I'm not mistaken) may work for you too.

APC designs and/or manufactures the Rotel units.

Does anyone know if these (RLC-1040 and RLC-1080) are rebadged existing APC units, or are they new proprietary designs done just for Rotel?

I wonder how they compare to the Panamax AC Regenerator series?

[aud19]

Rebadged. Differences are cosmetic

[sgill]

After reading this thread, i changed my mind from buying monster HTS power center to Belkin PureAv just because of price. Started looking for PF30 and then changed my mind to PF60. I found good price (CAD 270.89) this include all the charges (shipping, duty, tax etc) for shipment to calgary, Alberta. If anyone interested they can try at this link

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/search/search.asp?NavID_Search=false&CurDSN=simple&calledfrom=1&incimage=on&Search=PF60&submit1=find

They have both silver and black units. Click on the unit and Click on "Click for Canadian Pricing". They use Canada Post Borderfree for shipping which handles all the customs stuff. So you know all the charges before hand and there are no surprises. What you pay at the site is your total cost, there will not be any charges later on. I have paid customs (plus service fees) so many time that i stop buying from US (including ebay).

[sgill]

Oh by the way, hello to all. My last post was my first on this forum. Just assembling my first HD home theater system. And hoping to get valuable information from more seasoned members in future.

[wkhanna]

Welcome!
Nice choice on the Belkin, too BTW.

[Kingdaddy]

I bought the Belkin PF60 because I have a little hum in my system and I have already tried the cheater plugs and filters and grounding schemes, made no difference what so ever, not on the audio or video. I have no idea how so many can say these thing make a huge improvement, total waste of money for me.

[ThomasW]

I bought the Belkin PF60 because I have a little hum in my system and I have already tried the cheater plugs and filters and grounding schemes, made no difference what so ever, not on the audio or video. I have no idea how so many can say these thing make a huge improvement, total waste of money for me.

It's totally dependent on the installation. For some these solve hum issues, but obviously they don't work for everyone.

I've never run across a situation where cheaters and or balanced power with added ECM filters didn't make things very quiet.

[Kingdaddy]

It's totally dependent on the installation. For some these solve hum issues, but obviously they don't work for everyone.

I've never run across a situation where cheaters and or balanced power with added ECM filters didn't make things very quiet.

Me neither, and I do this kind of signal wiring for a living. The hum is coming from all channels and all speakers (10 channels) and is stronger or more audible in the lower registers as expected for broad band noise. There are 3-multi channel amps and 5 channels worth of Marchand crossovers coupling everything. Turning off the crossovers only cuts the hum down by half, so there only amplifying the source of the hum and the sub amp that is not coupled to the electronic crossovers yet also exhibit some hum. This in my estimation was a ground loop between all the different powered equipment, so I thought that a common power source with dedicated earth ground for all the components in the chain would alleviate the problem, but it didn’t. I’ve run separate heavy grounds from the cold water pipe (buried in the ground) and attached it to the Power Conditioner at the ground lug on the back. I’ve touched each component separately with this ground wire to see if any change or affect could be heard, nothing.

Then I tried a car audio (RCA) filter trap at the input signals isolated one at a time and a Pro HUM Eliminator on the outputs of the processor and the outputs of the crossover to no avail, cheater plugs and lots of cussing, nothing has worked so far. I have yet to look at my house voltage with a scope to see how dirty it is or if its on frequency but I assumed that the Power Conditioner would take care of that, guess I’ll check it with a scope anyway to rule that out.

[Glen B]

I’ve run separate heavy grounds from the cold water pipe (buried in the ground) and attached it to the Power Conditioner at the ground lug on the back.

The NEC now prohibits the old practice of running a ground wire from a cold water pipe to a grounding adapter in the case where an outlet has no ground present. What you've done by grounding to the lug of the conditioner is the equivalent of that. Also, you now have two paths to ground -- one to the cold water pipe and the other through the power line conditioner's power cord back to the electrical panel.

[Kingdaddy]

The NEC now prohibits the old practice of running a ground wire from a cold water pipe to a grounding adapter in the case where an outlet has no ground present. What you've done by grounding to the lug of the conditioner is the equivalent of that. Also, you now have two paths to ground -- one to the cold water pipe and the other through the power line conditioner's power cord back to the electrical panel.

It was just an experiment to see if it helped; it didn’t so I removed it. Still I don’t see two paths of ground, you’ll have to explain that one to me since the ground wire to the power conditioner is not grounded. I also tried grounding the green wire on the power cord of the power conditioner to the same place (cold water pipe).

[Glen B]

It was just an experiment to see if it helped; it didn’t so I removed it. Still I don’t see two paths of ground, you’ll have to explain that one to me since the ground wire to the power conditioner is not grounded. I also tried grounding the green wire on the power cord of the power conditioner to the same place (cold water pipe).

I was under the assumption that you still had the connection to the cold water pipe. In your post you didn't say that was no longer the case. Some folks do try supplementing the ground by running a wire to a separate ground rod or cold water pipe in the hope of eliminating noise.

[bigburner]

Kingdaddy, is every single one of your interconnects physically separated from your power cables?

[ht_addict]

PS audio makes some nice conditioner. Checkout the

Duet:



or Quintet:



Duet and Quintet features
The Duet Power Center features 4 AC receptacles and 2 IsoZones, while the Quintet features 10 receptacles and 5 IsoZones. Both the Duet and Quintet have a fast acting circuit breaker, Nano Crystalline filter, Power Cartridge, microprocessor controlled under and over voltage surge protection and the Quintet also has a power sequencer, CATV connectors, 12 volt DC triggers and telephone in and out protection.

Also if your system is ever hit with a surge high enough to damage the cartridge, it can be removed and replaced. Personally I use a Duet, to which I connect my PS Audio P1000 powerplant and Paradigm Servo-15. The rest of my equipment is connected to the powerplant.

[Kingdaddy]

Kingdaddy, is every single one of your interconnects physically separated from your power cables?

I think some are laying across the interconnects at a 90° angle as thats the best I could do, my setup has more wires then the space shuttle so I cant help but for some power wires to be very close to the interconnects.

[JudyLou]

Anyone tried the Furutech yet - brilliant!

[bigburner]

I think some are laying across the interconnects at a 90° angle as thats the best I could do, my setup has more wires then the space shuttle so I cant help but for some power wires to be very close to the interconnects.

Well I had a nasty little buzz/hum until I separated my interconnects from my power cables. At switch-on time the noise was barely noticeable but as my equipment warmed up it got louder and louder. The re-wiring was a pain but I'm really glad I went to the trouble.

[asuwal]

Does PureAV PF60 works fine for Rotel digital amps ? I am asking this question because I read in the NuForce website that "Power Conditioners that provide voltage or current regulation are not suitable for NuForce products that utilize switching power supply technology." I am not sure if Rotel digital amps use this technology.

Thanks.

[MichiganMike]

I recently purchased a Belkin PureAV PF60. It was effective in reducing a minor hum in my system and my initial impression is my Panasonic Plasma displays less visible noise in dark scenes with purer blacks. However, when I plugged my Parasound power amps (A21 and A51) into the PF60 through the bank for power amps the sound was constrained. In particular, bass notes lacked some of the typical punch. When the power amps were plugged directly into a wall outlet while other components remained plugged into the PF60, the sound was much more dynamic.

The PF 60 indicated the power amp bank required about 5 amps at my normal listening levels with both the A21 and A51 plugged in. I was initially concerned that the Parasounds might trip the circuit breaker on the PF60, but did not find this to be a problem in a brief trial.

[Tommy]

Anyone tried the Furutech yet - brilliant!

Which model are you refering to? I'm interested in trying out their power distributors but there are so few reviews.

Would love to hear your take on this.

[ht_addict]

PS audio makes some nice conditioner. Checkout the

Duet:



or Quintet:



Duet and Quintet features
The Duet Power Center features 4 AC receptacles and 2 IsoZones, while the Quintet features 10 receptacles and 5 IsoZones. Both the Duet and Quintet have a fast acting circuit breaker, Nano Crystalline filter, Power Cartridge, microprocessor controlled under and over voltage surge protection and the Quintet also has a power sequencer, CATV connectors, 12 volt DC triggers and telephone in and out protection.

Also if your system is ever hit with a surge high enough to damage the cartridge, it can be removed and replaced. Personally I use a Duet, to which I connect my PS Audio P1000 powerplant and Paradigm Servo-15. The rest of my equipment is connected to the powerplant.

For anyone interested PS Audio has both units on sale for $100 off during the month off April.

[JudyLou]

Which model are you refering to? I'm interested in trying out their power distributors but there are so few reviews.

Would love to hear your take on this.

Hi Tommy

Well we took the Furutech e-TP80 AC Power Distributor/Filter (± $280). Then we took some Furutech FI-25(Gold)(±$35) and FI-11(Gold)(±$27) Power/IEC Connectors and put them on our power cables. The Combination is stunning.
Last week we bought some PS Audio Noise Harvesters to add to the wall sockets at ± $99.00 each – also very good.
Lourens