What are you all doing for "power conditioning" nowadays?

FWIW, I have used the same $20 surge protector for 15+ years.
I live in a 70 year old home. No pops, clicks, hum, video artifacts, etc... or damaged equipment. And, the breaker has never tripped.YMMV.

pert plus

Hey, me too!


On topic ... I've heard that Furman makes a great product.

I also use Pert Plus and have luxurious hair (mostly sides and back though).

No power line conditioning here, but how good is pert for beards?

Well yeah, man, but now you've got to call the utility company and get your service hooked up

I also use a $20 surge protector, and have no issues. It even filters the noise out to deliver a smooth AC waveform, just like expensive "power conditioners".

Not always a joke. But...
It may eliminate/resolve "problems" if you have them (do you?) and may help tolerate surges/brownouts if you live in an area with power disruptions or a lot of lightning.

Bottom line is... if you have a "problem", it may be a course of action. Buying a conditioner may not even be necessary. Surge protection devices are only complimentary if the wiring/conections in your home are up to snuff.

I guess one needs to differentiate how much they need conditioning and how well the service is provided to the home and try to determine how to invest.

You may want to consider a "whole home" system and protect all electronic gear/appliances/etc.

No, it does not filter "just like" more expensive conditioners. The results may be equally irrelevant, but there is no way that your $20 unit has the same kind of filtering that more expensive units likely have.

Depending on the model, it may have adequate surge protection including the signal lines (or it may not), and that is all that most folks need, other than to verify that the system is grounded properly.

No- not a joke. I have point of use surge protection in part because the surge protection was a freebee, but no power conditioning.

In a former life, part of my job included managing and analyzing data on printers, laptops, desktops, servers and switches in a 110,000 employee operation located in all parts of the US including American Samoa and Puerto Rico. Over several years it became clear that overvoltage was almost never the cause of hardware failure. Point of use surge protectors (when they were in fact used) were almost always low bid items and tended to stay in service for years. Given either possible failure mode in a surge protector, long service implies few overvoltage instances. In the single case of which I have direct knowledge the surge protector tripped, then smoked, then passed 440 volts and turned a nice Dell into a one time use toaster.


But as I have only one display and one AVR, I use surge protection as it is very cheap insurance
.

no

They aren't a joke per se, but many of the claims made for them are ludicrous.


But only if you have those specific problems. Do you have those specific problems?

i've lived in my house for 19 years.

about 12 years ago i lost an NAD amp during thunderstorm (no lightning strike, just lost power)

about 4 or 5 years ago i lost a carver amp (same situation)

i lose power in my neighborhood 4 or 5 times a year...power lines are snaked thru huge pine trees and many large oaks, maples, sycamores etc. and are very much affected by wind, ice, lightning and the like...

i now have two rotel amps...my system is run thru one rotel/apc rlc-1080 (voltage regulator, power conditioner, UPS) and one rotel/apc rlc-1040 (voltage regulator, power conditioner)

last month was our latest "power" episode...remnants of hurricane ike came thru southwest ohio (we were without power for 10, yes TEN, days)...i had just watched the "bungles" take another ass-whippin' and had the system CRANKED with some tasty tuneage...

power went out for about 1 second...about 3 minutes later power went out for about 2-3 seconds...about this time i say "the hell with this" and get up to shut down my system. right then power surges on, then off, back on, then off, 4 times over about a 10-15 second period...amps do not like this, let alone the rest of the equipment...but NOTHING was harmed...

as an aside, before i added the rotel/apc units, when about a foot or so from speakers i could hear a slight hiss from tweeters...now they are "dead quiet"...i mean NOTHING

that's my story...i'm sold on power conditioning/surge protection/voltage regulation

it's definately not for everyone...but it's for me!

The joke is on the people who actually plug their amps into one.

Yeah, well, let's just say you have issues.

But even in a situation like yours, the last place I would look would be any product marketed to audiophiles. Talk to a licensed electrician about what you need. It'll probably cost less, and would be more likely to address the actual problem.

Would you care to elaborate?

I am genuinely interested in the reasoning behind this, since I have recommended plugging all their components (including power amps) into a good power conditioner to someone before. Could this actually cause problems or decrease performance?

I use some outlet strips, most of which have some surge suppression.

Apparently my gear has filtering built in.

If the power conditioner doesn't have enough juice to power the amp properly, then it may become the weakest link in the chain. You'd get an effect similar to a sagging power supply in a power amp. If a power conditioner is dimensioned properly, then plugging amps and sources into it should be fine and dandy.

Personally, I trust my gear to Tripp Lite and Cyberpower, and I'm happy. Then again, I use powered speakers, so only the sources/pre part go through external conditioning.

I see. I suppose that does make sense. Wouldn't a "good" power conditioner be designed to provide ample power, though - even to amps?

I do find the premise interesting. I might do some experiments in the future if I get a chance.