Power Cleaner? (1 Viewer)

[NickGL]

well i decided i'd better make this inquiry after 3 local pole transformers blew outside my apartment building in under 2 hours today causing explosions powerful enough to set off no less than 5 car alarms and scare the crap out of the firemen trying to put the flaming power pole out after the first blew(not to mention what it did to my power)

i'm thinking that i should invest in something to stablize and clean my power (not to mention protect from surges) that's slightly better than the 20 surge protector i got from target- which is entirely too cheap to realistically protect my audio gear

i also believe that that power in this place helped my old pioneer elite receiver to it's untimely demise and i'm quite interested in protecting it's still very new Marantz replacement which i've become completely enamored with

does anyone here have good suggestions to cleaners/filters or other protection devices? and are the monster/panamax/etc. line cleaners really worth it sonically or should i go with a more industrial surge suppressor?


i must ashamedly admit i do like some of the monster units, but more aesthetically than anything else but i'm guessing that anything that looks that good is a pretty pointless waste of money



ok, enough of the rambling, thanks in advance

 

[Chu Gai]

Apartment dwellers have a tough go of this.

First, it's my strong recommendation that you have renters insurance that covers full replacement for your HT system in the event of electrical damage as well as fire, theft, water, etc.

In order to provide a reasonable attempt at protecting your HT system, all points of ingress must pass through the surge protector. All power cords and the cable. Otherwise you've got a situation where a surge can come through the backdoor.

Further, you'll find that virtually every device that calls itself a surge protector has EMI/RFI circuitry. This will provide the capability of cleaning up any RFI that may be riding the lines as well as dealing with little spikes that ride the lines.

Let's look at some of your thoughts.

Well that's honest! If the unit is going to sit behind your system on the floor, the field is pretty wide open. If you're looking for units that do even more, such as provide switched/unswitched outlets, 12 volt triggers, staggered turn on/off delays, then you probably ought to be focussing your attention on Monster or Panamax. I prefer the latter but that's simply because I think they do a better job at providing information that can be relevant.

 

[NickGL]

i've never quantified it but i'm pretty certain that the power here isn't exactly clean

i do get lights dimming occasionally, a few motors (like my fridge) are on the same circuit and there's nothing i can do about that since dragging extension cords around my place isn't exactly my idea of good decoration


and in the last month: 2 days of transformer explosions, and 2 outages........

 

[Chu Gai]

If I'm not mistaken, refrigerators are supposed to be on their own circuit according to NEC code. If I'm right, your landlord or building management is in violation and you can obligate them to have this situation rectified at their expense.
Search under my name and use the words surge or power as terms. Recent posts ought to get you up to speed.