not sure if this is the right place... couldn't find any portion of the forum that specifically says it's for power

anyway, here's my question:

I'm getting a pretty constant 123-124 V out of my wall power (separate circuit for all home theater gear). I have 2 Monster Cable power conditioners... and AVS 2000 that regulates the power to a constant 120, and a 5-stage filter, HTPS 7000. Since my power seems to be constant, do I really need the AVS 2000? Will 124V hurt my gear?

Denon receiver
Sharp LCD
Blu-Ray
Tivo
HD receiver

thanks a ton...

Bruce

I think the utilities consider 120V a nominal residential average, and allow +/- 10% or so (108-132) during a typical 24 hour period without moving taps, replacing transformers at the street, etc. The protective devices you mentioned are mainly intended to reduce the effects of spikes, surges, dips, and brown-outs, which are short to medium time or "transient" changes during the day which the utility doesn't or can't do much about.

Where we live induced transients from lightning (very short but very big spikes) are a big worry so there is no such thing as too many surge protectors! We don't use UPS type devices, though because like you our steady state line voltage is pretty stable, and we don't have any nearby heavy-power industry or commercial power users, a common source of fluctuation.

124V won't hurt anything, but if I were you, I'd measure across the "240" in your panel and see if it's double what the theater phase is seeing. If it is, you're fine.

If it's substantially less than double, you may have a loose/bad neutral, which is something that the power company should correct (and probably for free).