Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions A question I don't see asked nearly as much?

I'd just get a fairly beefy surge supressor from APC or Tripp-lite. Should run around $50-100.

yep exactly.. heres a couple i found that looked pretty decent.

Surge protector



And heres a whole bunch more. alot more power stuff

I've often wondered about these devices. Here's a question for you...

What's the point of plugging your cable TV into a surge protector? I bought a $50+/- protector from RS, and it has inputs and outputs for cable TV cables. I plugged it in, and my cable TV picture turned to complete poo. I've gone back to having the cable go through my VCR to the TV again.

This is what I bought. Good enough? Or should I get something better? I'm not of the mind that a surge protector/line conditioner is going to improve the sound quality of my system. I just don't want my system going up in smoke from a power spike or brown out. If it'll truly protect my system, I'd drop $100-200 for the piece of mind.

I've contemplated this item from Rotel

I'm not trying to add fuel to the "it'll improve your sound" fire. I'm just looking for protection suggestions. Perhaps my little Radio Shack job is good enough. ??

http://www.audioconnect.com/html/power_port.html

Then there's stuff like this... for $50 a pop, you'd think they'd hire a photographer instead of making you imagine what they look like in the top pic... but I guess all that inking on the front of the outlet is expensive.

Apparently it's UL-listed (green dot), isolated ground (which depends on the house wiring, so I call "BS" on the orange triangle), AV Grade (which means as much as "antibacterial" on a soap bottle), and the two blue marks, until I realized it was a logo - I thought was the Staff of Caduceus and came with the American Medical Association's seal of approval

Bren R.

the point of plugging the cable line in is to isolate that as well. because if you had lightning hit it could go through the cable,phone,power etc. So by isolating everything theres no way to blow your stuff up (yeah right)

If it did that to your cable tv, imagine what it did to your power!

Here's the official page for the PowerPort. They sure make it look sexy, don't they. You have to wonder about these hyper-marketed products, though.

i dunno what happened to that pic bren. looks like someone highly inexperienced with photo imaging software! Heres the PS audio site, PS audio

When we were building our house and it came time to get the plugs i wanted those 50 dollar ones. but yeah right im gonna spend 100 bucks for a couple plugs. i bought some 20 dollar a peice ones from a local electrical supply store, the main reason to buy the higher quality plugs is because they have a much higher contact pressure which equals a better connection.

I almost bought one of these ultimate outlets over the summer. Still in the back of my mind, i do need something to protect my stuff from power surges or whatever. I might just leave it the way it is until i can afford something decent though.

Thanks to Asalante for starting this thread... bunch of new messages to look through on my day off! *laughs*

In reply to:

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The main reason to buy the higher quality plugs is because they have a much higher contact pressure which equals a better connection.

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Hmm.. makes me wonder why more audiophiles don't just hard-wire their systems in, and avoid the outlet/plug situation altogether. Also makes me wonder about whether this company makes "AV Grade" mains breakers.

Bren R.

Yeah. I mean, how far back are you going to take it? What about "audiophile grade" power plants? You have to use just the right kind of coolant, otherwise the transients will suck. Plus, make sure you use high grade OF copper or silver windings on the generators, or your bass will be muddy.

Too true. One would think in order to make any sort of difference, you'd need to clean up your entire power pipeline. That means (assuming the power to your home from the power company is clean) replacing circuit breakers, in-wall cabling (if your house is old), and your receptacles.

I find it amusing that adding a fat and overbuilt power cable at the end of this long power chain is supposed to make a huge difference. PS Audio asserts that power calbes are the most important cables in an audio system.