2007-12-08 14:38:03 · 3 answers · asked by viper 1 1 in Consumer Electronics ➔ Home Theater
Personally, I have not heard any difference between using a conditioner and not, but logically, they can make a difference. Personally, I use an APC condition and an MIT conditioner for the different sections of my setup. The main reason I got them was to protect my equipment from voltage irregularities.
Many people experience varying degrees of success with conditioners. Both my conditioners sound transparent as far as I can tell, but I also know people who have tried Furmans and can't stand them. My personal belief is a power conditioner is mostly a band-aid for a poor electrical system. A dedicated AC line is more beneficial because it gets rid of all the different inductive loads that put noise on the line. After you have that, a conditioner might be a good add-on.
Also, the higher quality equipment usually have much better designed power supplies that filter out anomalies in the AC. This means paralleling capacitors across the diodes in the bridge rectifier, adding voltage regulation chips, etc. Most consumer gear has poorly designed power supply sections that pass on voltage irregularities to the other sections in varying degrees. This hurts the quality of the audio/video.
If you are in the market for a conditioner, I would go for a good name brand that doesn't limit current too much. Your power amps will be needing lots of it, and some conditioners are too current limiting which degrades their performance.
2007-12-09 05:22:02 · answer #1 · answered by Paul S. 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most definitely, I have a Monster Power Conditioner for my Home Theater and I tell you it is the best thing that I could have done to that system by getting one of those units. The louder the sound the cleaner it sounds,and you feel worry free about your electronics getting......fried during a power surge so I would really recommend this device to anyone that has a Home Theater or thinking about getting one. And besides I have all my video stuff connected to it as well.Real good product. Their are different name brands and also different types to choose from, it's just a matter of knowing which is best for you.
2007-12-09 00:51:09 · answer #2 · answered by jmowgli1 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It all depends your AC service at the times you watch/listen.
People in the suburbs see little difference with a power conditioner. People in a city or near industry see a big difference.
My advice: Find a local store that sells them with a good return policy (zero restocking fee). Buy one and try it in your home at the times of day you would normally watch your system. Return it if you do not notice a difference.
Important point: The AC power system changes each hour of each day. 3 pm vs 8 pm is a very different power grid.
2007-12-09 14:32:25 · answer #3 · answered by Grumpy Mac 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋