Budget Power Conditioner
falconcry72
Posts: 3,580
I'm looking to spend 100-200 bucks on a power conditioner/surge protector for my audio gear. Needs to have ~10 inputs. Monster? APC? Panamax? What's the best bang for the buck? Used is cool. Thanks. 
2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
Post edited by falconcry72 on
Comments
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SurgeX or Brickwall are the best at surge protection since they don't use mov's.
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APC works great.
H9"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Puritan Audio PSM136 Pwr Condtioner & Classic PC's | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node3 - Tubes add soul! -
well, I pulled the trigger on the APC S15. Vann's sells them new for 300, and had two open box deals with full warranties for 250; I got one, so there's still one left:
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/753163336/apc-s15?v_c=netelixir&ne_ppc_id=705&ne_key_id=10310660
Seems like a great deal for a unit that retailed for almost 1500 bucks.
Was this a great deal, or did I waste my money?2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
Vann's has great deals on used stuff...I got an open box APC H15 for extremely cheap and it looked new.
Nice snag... -
Conradicles wrote: »Vann's has great deals on used stuff...I got an open box APC H15 for extremely cheap and it looked new.
Nice snag...
word.2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
So I got the unit in last week, and man it's a beast! It measures about 20x17x5, and weighs 65lbs.
Right off the bat there was a noticeable improvement in sound quality. Left and right channels separated better, but with a more coherent center image. Sounds cleaner.
I tested it by turning everything on (entire 2 channel system and entire HT system), turning it up, and ripping the power cord from the wall... nothing skipped a beat! I could power my HT rig at decent volume for an hour on battery, or my 2 channel rig for about 30 min, or a modem, router, computer etc for a couple of hours. Definitely helpful in an emergency. It was also nice that the battery was fully charged from the factory.So in a lightening strike/power outage, not only will my gear not fry... the music will keep playing!
It's also fun to monitor how much juice I'm using. As soon as I turn my amp on it starts pulling about 550 watts, and then it settles down to about 350 once warm. Whether the speakers are off, at low volume, or at high volume makes very little difference to what the amp pulls from the wall. The amp pulls about 100 watts more when powering the Maggies compared to the Polks.
This thing was packaged incredibly. Double-boxed, though unecessarilly because the interior box was so well padded. It also came with numerous extra cords and cables including USB, multiple coax, ethernet, etc to help with hooking things up, and rack mounting gear if that's you're thing.
I'm happy with the investment. I think it's worth the money just for the protection, but the added sonic benefit was a welcome plus!:biggrin:2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
falconcry72 wrote: »well, I pulled the trigger on the APC S15. Vann's sells them new for 300, and had two open box deals with full warranties for 250; I got one, so there's still one left:
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/753163336/apc-s15?v_c=netelixir&ne_ppc_id=705&ne_key_id=10310660
Seems like a great deal for a unit that retailed for almost 1500 bucks.
Was this a great deal, or did I waste my money?
I have two of these. Very good IMO!Sunfire TGP, Sunfire Cinema Grand, Sunfire 300~2 (2), Sunfire True Sub (2),Carver ALS Platinum, Carver AL III, TFM-55, C-19, C-9, TX-8, SDA-490t, SDA-390t -
i have a monster power that does a decent job. the MOV saved my arse one time. while it was rendered useless after the surge, i shipped it back to monster power and they replaced it for free.
