Panamax Max 5300 Surge Protector (1 Viewer)

[Gerard Martin]

Is anyone currently using one of these

and if so what do you think of it. TIA

 

[Todd_Michael_R]

Hi Gerard,

I'm using one and I am very pleased with it. Aside from surge protection and peace of mind, I use it for other reasons that, to me, make it a valuable piece of HT gear -- easier power cord management, 2 non-clamping outlets for my sub amp and 5-ch amp, 12v trigger w/delays to eliminate the speaker thump in my system. The analog voltmeter shows me how much juice I'm drawing. I got it for $350, IIRC, at consumer-direct.com.

Regards,

Todd

 

[Gerard Martin]

Todd

Thanks for the input, do you happen

to know if Consumers-Direct is an

authorized Panamax on-line dealer?.

 

[Todd_Michael_R]

Oh, wow...now I see they have it for $299! That's a steal.

Anyway, I don't know for sure if consumer-direct.com is an authorized Panamax reseller, but my gut reaction is that they are not, especially at the prices they're selling Panamaxes for.

If you're worried about Panamax not honoring their product or connected equipment warranties b/c you bought from a non-authorized dealer, it's a valid concern. But I scoured Panamax's site looking for warnings, a la Denon's or Rotel's site, and couldn't find a one. That doesn't mean they don't have a policy, however.

In the end, I bit the bullet and bought one from them anyway. Wasn't a large chunk o' change for me at the time and it was a great deal. $300, however, is an even better deal. And they were prompt w/shipping too. Not a bad web store, IMO.

Good luck,

Todd

 

[Gerard Martin]

Todd

Living in the lightning capital

of the world the warranty was a concern

having put together a HT system thats

getting close to the price of the house

I did not want to take a chance and

went with onecall for $350 which still

is a good price and a manufacturer authorized dealer. For what its worth onecall said Consumer-Direct was not a Panamax authorized dealer. Thanks again.

 

[Jeff D]

I just called Panamax to find out about authorized internet retailers and here's what they said...

If it's sold new and in a factory sealed box, the warranty will be honored.

To which I asked... how would YOU know if the box was sealed, I'd know, but how would you? I didn't get a good answer there. =) She responed that from the reciept they could figure it out.

 

[KeithH]

Jeff said:

To which I asked... how would YOU know if the box was sealed, I'd know, but how would you? I didn't get a good answer there. =) She responed that from the reciept they could figure it out.

What a ridiculous comment by the lady at Panamax. I wonder if this means that if the receipt shows an unusually low price, they will assume the item was not purchased in a sealed box.
Gerard,
I too have been considering the Panamax MAX 5300, and OneCall is legit. It's good to know that OneCall has the unit at a significant discount. Seeing as I had my A/V receiver fried in an electrical storm recently, I think I should get one of these. Anyway, you did well with OneCall. As I recall, Link Removed is not an authorized dealer and sells the MAX 5300 for $350.

 

[Bill Kane]

Then what credibility do we place in discountpanamax's upfront claim:

Our products are brand new, A items, have a manufacturer warranty, and are unopened unless otherwise clearly noted. Our surge protection products are stocked on site, not in someone elses warehouse.

Seems legit to me. What else is in the equation for a guaranteed product? This is no Denon!

 

[Jeff D]

Keith, Funny you mentioned OneCall, I asked about them too. I'll give her this, she stated up front, the don't really have a list of etailers. When I said onecall, she hesitated, and said, "I don't know them, so I think not". Then she told me again the list doesn't exist and if it's a sealed box it would be covered. I said that OneCall claims to be authorized, and that I've delt with them before and believe that they are authorized.

She did give me a couple of etailers, but I don't have the names at home. I can post them tomorrow.

 

[KeithH]

Jeff,

It seems like Panamax is not as rigorous as some manufacturers out there with respect to warranty coverage. In any event, I would rather order from OneCall than discountpanamax.com since I've ordered from OneCall in the past and since they are authorized.

Bill,

I've read that claim on discountpanamax.com. Just because an e-tailer sells merchandise in sealed boxes with manufacturers' warranties does not mean they are an authorized dealer. They may not be getting the merchandise directly from the manufacturer. If the manufacturer is not selling direct to the dealer, the manufacturer will not be able to verify the origin or original condition of the item in need of repair. As a result, the manufacturer may not warrant the item.

A lot of people on eBay have accrued a hefty positive rating selling brand new audio and video components that come in sealed boxes with manufacturers' warranty cards. These items may be first-rate (new, not refurbs, etc.). However, that doesn't mean that the manufacturer will warrant them. I could sell you a brand new Denon AVR-3802 receiver in a sealed box with a Denon warranty card via eBay. If you had a problem with it six months later and needed a repair, I doubt Denon would be impressed upon learning that you bought it from me. You could be up a creek without a paddle. Just my $0.02 and something to think about.

 

[Mike Bledsoe]

Gerard
I own a small home based retail store. I sell panamax among other things and as long as my customers have my reciet they do not get hassled I send products to either the manufacturer or repair shops in my area that do warranty work
Mike
http://hdsaudio.homestead.com/index.html

 

[Jim Golden]

The price at the website previously mentioned (discountpanamax) is now $319.

Jim

 

[Gerard Martin]

Mike

How would you handle someone who

bought a brand new factory sealed Panamax 5300 from the back of a

truck who had a receipt and also a

$50,000 claim for total destruction of

their equipment. I like to deal with

someone such as onecall that has there

policy carved in stone "Manufacturer

Authorized" which I can testify to,

just sent Sony Service Center a receiver

came back no problem, no charge.

 

[Jim Golden]

I just got mine yesterday. I got it from avstreet (a yahoo etailer). I looked at the warranty that came with the unit, and there isn't any language that would lead one to believe that the warranty will only be honored if purchased from designated retailers.

Jim

 

[Larry Chanin]

Hi Jerry:
I have a Panamax 1500+ and I'm happy with it. Prior to setting up my system I contacted their Technical Support people and received a lot of helpful advise.
However, because Panamax has a $5,000,000 connected equipment warranty as well as a lifetime warranty on the protector, they are rather strict in their requirements of how you must connect your equipment inorder for them to honor the warranties.
If you haven't carefully studied the literature, you might want to dig it out and reread it. If you don't have it you can download it from their web site.
They like to talk about "Bubbles of Protection". What this means is all your equipment must be connected to the same electric outlet (you can use both outlets of the same duplex outlet) and is connected to the same Panamax protector by other Panamax equipment. You can't even use a non-Panamax extention cord to connect your equipment to your protector. If not in this "Bubble of Protection" your warranty may not be honored.
If your equipment has interconnections with other unprotected equipment (such as subwoofers) which could provide a back door to a surge via the audio interconnect, then this will burst the "Bubble of Protection" and will not be covered under their warranties. To over come this you must either connect the subwoofer to that same protector, or the line level audio inputs to the subwoofer must be protected at BOTH ends by two additional specially designed Panamax audio protectors.
Having so much money tied up in your equipment, it would probably be wise after studying the literature, to call a technical representative to make sure you've covered all the bases.
Larry

 

[KeithH]

Larry, I absolutely understand your point, and it is nice to know that Panamax has good and seemingly knowledgable customer service. However, if I go out and buy a Panamax unit and do not follow their directions explicity, how will they know the difference? For example, how would they know if I used a non-Panamax power cord?

 

[Larry Chanin]

Hi Keith:

Good question.

Let me preface my response by saying that my cautionary posting was aimed at folks, such as Jerry, who might find themselves in the unfortunate position of attempting to submit a very large claim. I seriously doubt that if all you wanted was a replacement of their protector that you would have a problem at all. All you would probably do is send them the unit, and they would send you the replacement.

However, in a large claim, they would do what insurance companies do. They would send out a claims adjuster to visit you and inspect the situation. If the claim was large enough, they would also likely test all the equipment to ascertain the failure mode.

Is it possible that I could substitute a non-Panamax extension cord and not be caught? Sure. Did I go out an buy one for my situation? Absolutely. Why? Say I have $20,000 of gear connected to my Pananmax, why would I want to put myself through the hassle or risk the $5,000,000 connected equipment warranty by not buying a $6 extension cord?

Larry

 

[Jim Golden]

I've had mine for three days now...so far so good. I have a separates system (preamp + amps). The nicest thing about the '5300 is that I can now turn my whole system on via my remote. I merely connected the 12volt trigger output from my B&K reference 20+ to the input of the Panamax (this even helped sell my wife on this purchase!).

The unit also allows you to "stagger" the startup of various components. In addition, the unit has a "lighted" voltage meter (the brighness is adjustable) that I leave off, but some will probably enjoy. So far I'm pretty happy.

Jim

 

[KeithH]

Larry, I understand what you are saying. For the unscrupulous out there, it would be very easy to "rig" the set-up into compliance with Panamax's policy before the claims adjuster arrived.

This is slightly off topic, but I wonder how big a claim one has to submit before a claims adjuster will come to your house. I guess it depends on the insurance company. Last year, I got back from a business trip to England only to find that my three-year-old Dell desktop computer was fried during a lightning storm. It was completely dead. My insurance company issued me a check to get a suitable replacement without even seeing my old computer to verify the damage. I was shocked. I didn't even have to fax in the receipt for the purchase of the old computer. My claim was legit, and the replacement Dell computer was far better than the original, so things worked out very well for me. I am just amazed about how lax my insurance company was.

 

[Chu Gai]

KeithH: you mentioned your receiver was fried too. How was that handled?