• SONAR
  • sorta OT: Advice on power conditioner
2013/01/30 20:58:13
g_randybrown
We do a weekly live gig and there's been a lot of pops etc sending a feed to another system (using X2 hence the sorta part).
I'm thinking about buying something like this...any comments?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=678878&is=REG&Q=&A=details 

Thnaks very much,
Randy
2013/01/30 22:34:42
Bub
Hi Randy,

In the world of power conditioners you get what you pay for. Reason is, the parts to make a really good one are expensive.

I'd check out Amazon ... I did a quick search and found a similar unit to the one you posted a link to for half the cost.

Anything below the $150 range and you're really just getting a rack mounted power strip.

Bub
2013/01/30 22:50:50
ltb
Maybe not the best choice for live use but I use this on my small studio setup, works very well.
http://www.furmansound.co...v=01&id=PL-PLUSDMC
2013/01/30 23:47:09
bitflipper
Waste of money, Randy. When you're looking at so-called "power conditioners", read the fine print, specifically the phrase "varistor protected".

Varistors are resistors whose resistance is inversely proportional to the voltage across them. That means that if the voltage spikes, as would happen if lightning struck nearby, the varistor assumes a low resistance, shunting the excess energy to ground. Unfortunately, that high current usually also destroys the varistor. That means it only works once, and most cheap varistor-equipped devices do not give any indication that the protection is no longer working. Furthermore, varistors are not fast enough to respond to fast transients, so they may have given their lives for nothing because your gear its already destroyed.

What you really want is an isolation transformer with a real surge protector. That will protect your equipment, prevent ground loop hum and filter out RFI/EMI noise. But you won't get one for $70. More like $400.

Next-best is an inductor-based line filter. Still not $70, but cheaper than an isolation transformer.


(BTW, in a previous life I was tech support for a division that sold and installed power-conditioning gear and uninterruptible power supplies for computer rooms.)
2013/01/30 23:58:23
ampfixer
I had a power strip on my pedal board that was made by Monster. It had surge protection and active line conditioning. It worked very well and made my hum problems go away. The other cool thing was the insurance they provided if their device did fail. I think it was about $50k.

It cost me around $180 and I didn't feel ripped off.
2013/01/31 10:27:42
g_randybrown
(BTW, in a previous life I was tech support for a division that sold and installed power-conditioning gear and uninterruptible power supplies for computer rooms.)



How convenient for me...I started not to even post here but I'm certainly glad I did.
Thanks Dave and everyone else.
At $400 it may be a better idea to have an electrician just fix the problem in the building. I'll need to give this some more thought I reckon.
BTW, I sure hope CW is indeed doing something about this forum software...I didn't get any email notification on the posts.


Thanks very much guys,
Randy

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