surge protector / line conditioner question (1 Viewer)

[Kevin T]

hey guys...

i'm looking at getting either a monster power 3500 or 3600 or a panamax 5300. the panamax has two "zero line inductance" outlets which tout being as good or better than directly plugging your amps into the wall. to the best of my knowledge, the monsters don't make any such claim about their "amp" outlets. i have an aragon 8008bb and aragon 8008x3b. have any owner's of the monster 3500 / 3600 noticed any "choking" of their amplifiers as opposed to plugging them directly into the wall? thanks for any advice you can give me.

kevin t

 

[Rob Roth]

I had the Monster 3500 for a while. It had a couple "High Current" outlets which claimed minimal filtering and high pass thru. They 'worked' on my B&K 307, but couldn't handle the inrush current on the big B&K 7250 power amp. I also tried the 307 on one of the "digital" outlets and the results were poor; digital glare and compression. I didn't spend alot of time trying to figure out exact causes.

For me, the 3500 was a transition product. The real issue, IMO, is that with the 3500 you have an entire system powered through the captive 14 ga. wire on the 3500. If you believe, as I do, that amps benefit from less restricted access to AC, the 14 ga. is a definite chokepoint- regardless of the possible effects of the filtration circuitry.

I ran 2 dedicated 20 amp/12 ga. lines for my system and will probably put in another for the monitor. The dedicated lines are on the same phase, at the top of the box. At system end I use PS Audio Ultimate Outlets for the big pieces and a P300 AC regenerator for source components. I am absolutely convinced this was money well spent.

 

[Ron Duca]

I have a Panamax 5300 on order. I read Rob's comment about the power cord of these units being 14 gauge wire and it got me to thinking about whether or not it would "choke" my Anthem MCA 50 amp. I called Panamax to verify the wire gauge of the power cord and it is indeed 14 ga. I then e-mailed Sonic Frontiers, makers of Anthem products, and inquired about the size of the power cord on my amp. It is also made of 14 ga. wire. With that being the case, having the amp and one or two other devices running through the power conditioner simultaneously may create only a slight bottle neck of sorts. I figure it has to be better than the little $39 surge protector I'm using now. And will provide me some peace of mind to boot.