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conditioner/surge question


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Guest Teresa Wright

I have the Panamax 5300 and it enhanced my system. I have added components, diff speakers,etc. with no issues whatsoever. Use the front outlet for my laptop.

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I use a power surge/conditioner and feel the device has not caused problems with the SQ of the system. I have some vintage amps that do not have a 12 volt trigger and this device enables the system to be all on or off easily. I also like being able to see how many watts. volts, or amps are being used in my HT setup

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my power conditioner actually helped reduce signal noise so yes SQ was inproved

& my display PQ slightly improved as well

I also no longer notice when the refer kicks on , vacuum ,blender , power tools used that sorta thing

my line current would flux as well , mine keeps it at 120

I have a APC 15 which basicily just a HUGE Toridial transformer

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Power conditioners can make a nice difference in your system helping to keep your system free of unwanted noise and distortion while they can also offer protection, power monitoring and often other benefits like trigger and delay controls.

All conditioners are not the same and some will help to enhance sound quality by keeping it at its best, however some conditioners can also limit power and have negative affects on the sound quality as well. Always make sure that a power conditioner will not limit your more powerful components like amps or subwoofers which draw a lot of power. Many power conditioners have special "high output" outputs which are designed for higher power components and will work excellent for these however some conditioners can sometimes limit power and poorly affect sound quality.

Power conditioners also make a nice place to plug in the many components of your system. Usually better conditioners offer more isolation between its outlets which isolates components from one another. The more isolated outlets the better as this keeps your different components separated so one component won't have a negative affect on another, this provides better protection and better noise suppression. So look at how many of the outlets of a power conditioner are isolated from other outlets. Some conditioners lump many outlets together while better conditioners will isolate its outlets from one another actually providing separate isolated internal systems.

Check Juul ratings higher ratings are better and mean better spike and surge protection.

Power conditioners have noise filters which are there to filter out the unwanted electrical noise to help keep a darker or quieter noise floor which helps to improve the sound/video quality of the system.

Power conditioners can effect the overall sound of your system so it's nice if you can do a little comparison testing to be sure you like the changes and that there is no limiting of peaks, bass, etc. A good conditioner can be a nice improvement or just have no effect while a poor conditioner can have negative effects.

I did a lot of research and auditioning of power conditioners before I ended up with my current power conditioner a Belkin PF-60 which is my favorite conditioner even over others costing over 10x as much. It does everything I want in a power conditioner offering some of the best isolation and protection while I feel it offers the best sound quality for my system. I think the Belkin PF-60 is one of the secret jewels in power conditioners and a great bargain.

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I went through teh power conditioner thing. Used a PS Audio premiere that regenerated the power. It was expensive and not necessary in las vegas. I dug out my old Monster 3500 and use that now.

Voltage does swing about 5 volts during the year (lower in the summer), but all of the infrastructure is new or relatively new in this city and power issues are not really present. May be helpful in an older city. My 2 cents.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I own a panamax 5300pm and I will say that panamax is a great company. From a personal first hand account. I had lightning strike the house a few months ago and take out 2 receivers. While I don't completely agree with their payout program they did in the end pay to get both receivers fixed and even covered shipping that the small print says isn't covered. They also made sure my house was properly protected by issuing additional equipment to make sure all devices were properly ran through their system for total protection AT NO COST. After I sent in the original 5300 they determined I needed a second 5300 in my main rack and (2) 4300s for the other rooms. They also issued (3) in wall kits for my subwoofers and projector that are ran remotely from the 5300 and (3) of their spkr modules to protect all outdoor equipment and make sure it grounds through the panamax in case of another event. If your buying a conditioner/ surge protector to clean up your power they work, if you are buying it for their lightning guarantee READ the small print and make sure your using the system they way they want you too. Panamax went above and beyond to work with me to make sure I'm protected for the future.

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Even the best power conditioners (with the possible exception of the Shunyata) limit current to power amplifiers. I have owned three PS Audio Power Plants (even the massive 70 lb. P-1000) and they all limit current to varying degrees. That Panamax will too. I am currently using a Power Plant Premiere, but only for my front end components. Just try it with and without, and if you system is resolving enough, you should hear the difference pretty easily.

Shakey

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hmm... I will have to see. currently the monoblocks are on the high current section of the panamax.

panamaxm5400rear1.jpg

I have not noticed any resolution issues... as a matter of fact, I have expereined major resolution increases... but probably more due to other components that were swapped out at the same time as the panamax was introduced.

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Are those Bel Canto monos Class D? If so, they might be efficient enough that you can get away with it. I know I have had zero success in plugging amplifiers into power conditioners. It's not like everything falls apart, it's just that dynamic swings are compressed.

Shakey

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Personally I prefer my amps plugged into my PF-60's two high current outlets and have had not had any limiting issues at all.

But I did find that many other power conditioners I auditioned in my system did limit power to amps and did have a negative effect on sound quality because of their limiting, this was most noticeable in the bass.

I have both my XPA-2 and my XPA-5 plugged into my PF-60 two high current outlets and they have performed at their best this way.

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But I did find that many other power conditioners I auditioned in my system did limit power to amps and did have a negative effect on sound quality because of their limiting, this was most noticeable in the bass.

I find that very interesting... what is a person to do...

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