I hired an AV company to do a media room/media closet during a remodel where all nearby walls were completely open. They specified a panamax MIW-POWERKIT-PRO for power to the TV. However, today the installer said that it couldn't be used because there is only a regular outlet for the tv. He said there should have been romex run between the media closet and the tv location for this solution to work. Note that this same installer was the one responsible for the earlier parts of the install. He then went on to say that having remote power like this is not good anyway because it will cause interference since the power lines would probably be run near the other lines.

I spoke to the AV designer I've been working with and he said that although the Panamax solution would have been the best, since one could use the power conditioner in the closet, it's very common to have issues like this where once the walls are closed up, another solution has to be thought up. Then he recommended a Furman in-wall surge protector/conditioner which he said is just as good, and it's cheaper.

So my question is, is this situation normal? Is it a big deal to use the in-wall conditioner/surge protector for the tv? I can't believe they screwed this up considering how the walls were wide open to install anything easily, and now it's too late. That being said, if it's not a big deal then I'll just forget about it be fine with the other solution. Thanks.

Well, only you know the particulars of your install as to where the closet is in relation to the TV, so it's a little hard to make a specific recommendation.

But generally, it is a wise thing to have surge suppression on any expensive electrical device, like your TV.

The Panamax Powerkit that was specified is basically just a way to get an extension cord from your TV to your power conditioning equipment while meeting code. The equipment itself does nothing to protect your TV. Now your challenge is to find away to add a surge suppressor to your install - but again, it's tough for us to comment whenever we don't know your situation.

The Furman would work but it's huge... 17" x 14" 42 lbs. I personally am not a fan of inwall items that are designed to give up there lives in the event of a large power surge for instance. But that is just my opinion, obviously there is a market for these.

I used a $20 APC surge suppresser/outlet strip that saved my TV. APC even did a magazine article about it.

Well, I got to check it out today, and it's a Panamax, with surge protection. The media closet is located right behind the media room. Anyway, the guy I picked it up from who works for the same company said it's definitely better to do it remotely, so one can use the big power conditioner in the rack. That being said, I think it will be easy to add it in at a later date since there is access via a crawlspace. It just bothers me that they screwed it up.

Not to mention when they were putting in the center speaker which is bi-wirable, they only used 2 of the 4 conductors available. If I hadn't seen it I probably never would have known.