Power Conditioners

[Cookie Monster]

I am sure this has been discused before but what are is everyone doing about powers spikes and surges My Harman got damaged due to a massive surge and that was even with one of those fancy surge protection plugs. I had to spend a whole week without decent sound

[KenM]

Does anybody know of a foolproof way to protect your gear other than a UPS?

[Skinnyfat]

Power conditioners are not necessarily the same as a surge protector.

IMO the idea of reconditioning the power from the outlet is nothing more than concentrated snake oil. If you're in the league to buy a ~R5k - R10K power conditioner I doubt your components are what us mere mortals have, and any half decent component has a power supply whose purpose is to convert AC to DC, lower the voltage, rectify and filter - So there - the messy garbled junk that Eskom supplies us (when available) is CONDITIONED. If you feel the need to go out and further condition eskoms junk then by all means (you must have deep pockets) but IMO the real world gain is not evident.

Surge protection however is another story. here your aim is to protect your precious components . And here it may be worth your while to investigate a decent power surge protector if your area is prone to them. Try to avoid the over-priced and hugely incapable ones available from your supermarket, but a decent one shouldn't set you back the same way a power conditioner will.

Skinny

[georgev]

Power conditioners such as the ones from PS Audio also do have a very good surge protection inbuilt as well. I use them and with so far, great success. I also use one from Clearline as well. Cheaper than PS Audio, but also seems fine.

[joel]

I use Clearline protectors on audio system and on PC's.

My decision to go this route was simple. I would rather come home to equipment that worked (even if there was a slight loss in fidelity) than come home to smoked equipment.

In my opinion there was a slight sonic improvement with the Clearline fitted, so I gained protection and better sound.

personally i put more trust into local lightning and surge protection products than some imported ones. This as we have more lightning strikes up here in GP in one month than the entire US gets in a year. This should mean that properly designed local products are designed with far more actual strike experience than others.

[Vertigo]

I also use the specialist audio one from Clearline (called the Power Pro 2000) and am very happy with it. Check it out as Clearline specializes in surge protection.   

[Ampdog]

Cookie,

if I may ask, how do you know it was a surge - or perhaps a less ignorant sounding question: Exactly what happened, if you had a look inside your equipment? Was there any defineable occurrence, such as a lightning strike (not the right time of the year in most places, unless you are from abroad)?

I also live in an area where dayly thunderstorms exist in summer (Pretoria) and once had a newly bought fan reduced to little pellets of copper by the such, but thus far my equipment has survived (touch plastic, as they say these days ...) coutesy of a moderate surge protector. Yes, powerfull surges can blow the best surge protectors, depending on the surge characteristics, but that should be the (high) exception.

[Cookie Monster]

Well things all went wrong when we had a unexpected power cut while listening and while walking over to turn off the system the lights came on again and of cause so did the amp one or two light bulbs even blew at the same time however everything apeared fine on the amp however there was no sound. The amp a since been repaired and a component on the power supply was replaced. I have also now fitted a clearline surge protector so I hope not to have this problem again. The clearline product that I have is only rated at 16amps though is this enough?

[DRNB]

I'm not going to sound clever as I know squad about the toppic. I.m.o though I can deffinately see the advantage of a propper power conditioner.

Check out this link, though the DIY portion is based on surge protection.

http://82.95.237.142/mhsoft/Audio%20Tips.asp?what=Power

[RR]

IMO the idea of reconditioning the power from the outlet is nothing more than concentrated snake oil.

Lookin to stir ne....

Just to clear things up. Don't think there is such a thing as 're'conditioning.

It is 1) conditioning, or 2) 're'generated.

O ja, I differ in opinion.....it works, ain't snake oil (I use 're'generated power)

Cheers
RR

[Ampdog]

 

[Cookie Monster]

Right I added 2 Clearline surge protectors one for the am and DVD player and one for the sub and TV 

[RR]

I think one should be able to ask for insurance discount when using such a surge and lightning protection device. Whadda u okes think?

[RR]

Lag jy lekker v my Oom J ?



PS. Waar is daai haelgeweer..........

[Cleansound]

I think one should be able to ask for insurance discount when using such a surge and lightning protection device. Whadda u okes think?

Clearline does give you an insurance with their units and my insurance company kept my premiums the same provided I get Clearline units after last years surge.