Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater MONSTER HT3500 OR 3600??

This is what I use ... Rackmount LCR 2400

http://www.tripplite.com/products/conditioners/index.cfm

It is way cheaper than Monster products and offer a little more. I will not comment on how good this product for fear of flame. All I know is that nothing dims anymore when I turn on my equipment. If someone really juices up the circuit (like fiancee plugging in the vacuum) I do not get the very quick off/on/off/on thing happening to all the equipment plug into the living room. It either works fine and dandy or just trips the Switch box and turns off all the circuit.

If you have a dedicated curcuit for your HT I doubt you will even need it.

Saturn

Yeah, that's what I'm looking for/at. Whenever I turn on my receiver, all the house lights flicker. I don't even want to think about what happens to the receiver when the vacuum gets plugged in.

I have the tower version of this line conditioner and use it with the computer system I use for my business. I can't say for sure if it has prevented any damage, but it is definitely working hard. Its status lights indicate incoming voltage, and you can hear it click when it makes a correction. Both lights and sound indicate frequent activity. In fact, based on this observation, my electrician feels that I probably need a new service into my home (all internal wiring was replaced several years ago, and so was the drop from the street, so that leaves just the service as a possible culprit).

Surge protectors can't correct voltage variations like this (only massive surges), but my understanding is that over time they can be quite damaging. I don't think I'd go to this length for entertainment equipment which can be easily replaced, but it seems very appropriate for the computer. I consider it another form of data protection (though of course no substitute for careful system maintenance and frequent backups).

Oh, for the computer I'd definitely use a good quality UPS (APC Smart-UPS, for example), not a line conditioner. You get all the benefits of the line conditioner plus blackout protection. However, for home entertainment, I'd still rather spend $200 now than $1000-2000 to replace it all. BTW, what tower version is this? Does it have 12 outlets or 6?

Unfortunately, it only has six outlets. I could use more. I didn't go with a UPS because I'm not very worried about power interruption. It happens very rarely here, and I would never lose more than a few minutes of data. UPS prices have come down alot , though (and Mac OS X suppot has arrived), so I should probably reconsider.

Do you think a good UPS offers the same quality of voltage protection as a standalone line conditioner? I was led to believe UPS units did not excel in this area, another reason for the line conditioner. If the UPS would be as capable, I'd consider getting one for the most vital computer equipment and moving the line conditioner to the AV area as you suggest.