I am in the process of purchasing the M60’s with a VP100. I have a question on power for my receiver and electronics. I purchased a Panamax power conditioner, model MX5400-EX. I was wondering if this is a good choice, or should I just get a basic UPS and put it in the back? I am a bit confused as I have been reading mixed solutions on the forums on which way to go. Any help is much appreciated!!

Panamax makes a good product, just curious as to why you purchased it, any problems with power surges, brown outs etc? The electronics in the components all have built in regulators and such anyway, power conditioners really are not needed. The UPS might better serve your needs.

The reason why I puchases, I was under the impression that it will supply better power to the sub and amp when they need it most, making them sound better and to protect the equipment. But I dont really suffer from bad power at all. However, my brother had an HK receiver blow on him at the same appartment, so maybe there could be some issues that I just cant see.

Many sub manufactures recommend not using any type of surge supressor/conditioners with the sub and H/K has had some issues with their receivers in the last few years or so it seems from reading various posts on the web.

You may well have been under that impression because that's the impression the marketing garbage on such manufacturers' websites gives you.

Eh, that was unnecessarily harsh. Sorry about that, tired today...

In any case, most likely, no you're not going to get better sound from a power conditioner. They really would only come into play if you have bad power. And a conditioner isn't going to make up current or voltage that's not there to start with. For that, you'd need a UPS.

Great, thanks for the advice. You guys are great. Going to return it today.

Ditto the earlier recommendations. I considered dropping a couple hundred bucks on a conditioner as well and most feedback here suggested that unless you have abnormally bad power conditions to begin with, the only benefit you'll see from the conditioners is getting to enjoy how it looks in your rack.

I actually really _do_ like how they look in a rack so I almost got one anyway, but at this point I'm running everything from a decent surge protector and can't imagine the quality being any better with "cleaner" power.

I got the $100 Tripplite UPS at Costco to protect the bulb in my TV and the hard drives in the PC and DVR. Makes me feel better, but I don't think it has any impact on performance.

If you are going to plug the AVR and or subs into a UPS, just make sure the UPS is big enough to handle the wattage of the devices. Subs and amps have the potential to draw lots of power when they are up loud.

Yes, I would avoid plugging a sub or a large amp into a UPS. I've been lucky with my receiver in the UPS, but I don't really crank it much.

Do you just hook them up directly to the wall outlet then, or do you get a seperate UPS that can take enough wattage and plug just the sub or amp into it, then into the wall?

Sub goes straight to the wall, and I would imagine that the amp would too.

Ok, thanks for the advice because I had mine hooked through the surge protector.

Is there a danger of plugging an EP500 directly into a wall socket without a surge protector or UPS?

Nope, most manufacturers recommend not using surge/ups for amps/subs/etc...

What if it has a 2 prong or 3 prong w/ ground. Can you use a cheater on it?

I do. Not that I have much choice--my apartment has 2 prong outlets. Hasn't blown up yet! (famous last words)

I had asked Axiom about using a surge protector with the EP-500, and they had advised using a surge protector with at least 700 joule rating. Panamax makes a surge protector for use with subs, and it's called Max 2 Sub. I think it may be a reasonable investment at around $35-50. Buy.com occasionally has this on sale. Kal Rubinson of Stereophile had mentioned using one in one of his articles, though this does not, of course, mean an endorsement.

I had the Belkin PF60 before and now have the Belkin AVU1500. I like both units. They both operate very quietly, and the display on the AVU-1500 can be dimmed to no light (whereas the display on the PF60 can be dimmed to low light). I briefly hooked up a Panamax Max 7500-Pro, and did not like the audible hum from the transformer.

As for the A1400-8, the Axiom brochure actually discourages using a surge suppressor/power conditioner with this amp. The potential problem in plugging the amp directly to the wall is that it can then provide a conduit for surge to the pre-pro and other units connected to the latter; this stresses the importance of having a surge protection at the point of entry into the house.

John

Lol! Okay, thanks kcarlile! I didn't know if I was in the minority of using a cheater plug on a sub or not.

The use of surge protectors most of the times is useless, the more critical problems (thunders, and other catastrophic events) happen on the ground line most fo the times, and this is not protected by the surge protector, unless you have avery spiky AC stay away from them, or get a power regenerators or a balanced power conditioner...UPS, if not a very expensive one, will give you square waves at the output while working, that are not beneficial neither to the sound...
Most of the problems you have in audio can be treated at the power supply section of the amp, if properly designed you should be able to hear no beenfits at all from the use of power conditioners, if you do, please improve the PSU instead...

I have a Monster Power HTS 3600 Mark II in my 2-channel system. I got it off Craigslist for US$100 bucks. They make all sorts of fance claims, I cannot hear any difference (good or bad), but figure at that price it was about the same cost as a good surge suppressor, and yes, it looks much better in my rack! ;^)

Clay

PS - I DO hear that it helps any device with a low-cost DC wall-wart, and I have two of those, my NAD PP-2 phone-preamp and my Pro-Ject Turntable. I never did any A-B listening on that deal, however, so I have no comment on advantages.

My advice to anyone buying surge protectors, line conditioners and the like is call up the company and ask for the international standards that their products comply with. And when they give you that info, ask for the test reports.

Speaking from the standpoint of protecting your equipment in my humble opinion.

If you can swing it put in a whole house suppressor off your panel. My panel is full unfortunately and is on my list of things to do

For my subs I am using the in-wall surge suppressor. Leviton 5280-IG has an isolated ground as well. Making sure you have grounded outlets is always important but, keep in mind given the interconnectivity of AV systems now you may need to also filter your phone/sat/cable as entry points.

I would agree that unless you got a commerical type UPS most residential UPS would not be suitable for an amplifier. Most residential UPS only perform basic power filtering and do not do any type of regeneration of the signal. For those that regenerate the AC signal and run off the battery you would need a larger UPS to handle the load off what an Amp may push.

I have a Panamax 5300 but, I also have some expensive equipment sitting behind it. Also put in perspective how much your gear your protecting is worth vs. how your protect your equipment because, really all your doing is buying insurance that your gear will not take a power hit.

-R