PS Audio for surge protection???

[ralflar]

Guys, the power conditioning industry's FUD strategy has gotten through to me - I am no longer convinced that my current protection is sufficient. The weather here has been rather en-lightning during these past weeks, but what I am even more concerned about than spike protection is protection against internal surges.

There are other factors, too, which made me to look into alternatives. I'd like to reduce cable clutter. Two small devices with few outlets can be hidden better than one large central device with many outlets (and the many cables routed to it).

Basically, I am looking for a device that
1) has two to six isolated outlets,
2) provides both spike and over/under voltage protection,
3) does not restrict current in any practical sense, and
4) does not have a hard-wired AC cord; I want to pick my own cable length.
5) does not degrade over time, or indicates when its functionality is compromised.
A sleek aluminium case won't hurt either.

The Serial Mode crowd (ZeroSurge and OEMs) is loud and clear about the dangers of non-serial mode technology. IMO, if you have to shout that loud you're hiding something. Otherwise the ZeroSurge/Brickwall would look OK, and especially the Furman PST-8D would be fine, if I'd ignore the hardwired AC cord.

Proponents of parallel mode protection are usually more fuzzy regarding their specs. Take my own Belkin PF60: over 7000 Joules refer to what? Hot to Ground, Neutral to Ground, Hot to Neutral, Aggregate, or what?

Vendors such as Richard Gray don't mention any numbers when it comes to protection. Good grief, to which spec' did they test their spike/surge protection in the first place, if at all? And how many times?

PS Audio are very good at evading statements of hard, testable facts, as well. Their "Duet" promises to address all of my criteria. Under/Over voltage protection kicks in below 110 and over 130, spike protection above 180. "Balun" isolates outlets, and I can chose whichever cord I like to connect it to the wall. And IMO it looks great, too.

But somehow I suspect that their Balun may be nothing more than the serial choke in the ZeroSurge design, and the Transzorber the equivalent of the allegedly non-sacrifical Zener diodes of serial mode designs.

Sorry for the verbose post. The short of it is, which technology and possibly brand/model do you suggest, which ones do you despise, and why?

 

[tonyc]

I would not say I despise any of the following but I will tell you how they compare to the Shunyata I am now using. The Chang pushed the soundstage too far behing the plane of the speakers-a very distant perspective-I gave it to my son in law. The Monster 7000 was veiled and contributed its own sound-it now resides in my HT system. The APC constricted dynamics and I gave it to my son in law. The Richard Gray was probably the most transparent of the lot but could get bright with the wrong powercord and did not have enough outlets (I had the smaller one). It also now resides in my HT system because I need alot of outlets with a ML based HT! I do use a PS Audio powerstrip with good results but it lacks surge protection. I tried one of PS's regenerators on my front end but there was some sort of interaction with my beloved Ref 3 (I think not enough current delivery) which negated its strengths (dynamics, soundstaging) so the audition was extremely brief! I hope this helps.

 

[Cherian]

I would look at this power conditioner from ETA. It can be had with all the features you are looking for all but the detachable power cord.

ETA uses a passive filter. This filter rolls off at 1kHz and hits –60 db of attenuation at 100kHz. It also uses a low impedance isolation transformer so the output neutral is bounded to ground.


http://www.etasys.com/Main/Products/DigitalRackmountConditioning.asp

 

[ralflar]

Tony, thanks for sharing your experience regarding the sonic qualities of all those power conditioners. That is an impressive list. Your poor son in law - to burden him with sub-par sounding gear, twice!

Do you remember what their surge protection capabilities were? And how about the Shunyata - does the user manual provide details?

 

[ralflar]

Cherian, that is interesting, I'll have a closer look. Thanks.

I seem to recall a statement you made in an older post. It was something about isolation transformers being the most important ingredient in a power conditioner. The ETAs you refered me to here also include isolation transformers. What makes them superior to ZeroSurge, Furman, PS Audio et al.?

 

[stereoman]

Hi:
I've been using the PS Audio P500 Power Plant for nearly a year now. My amp, preamp, and Summits are plugged into the regenerated power outlets. I noticed improvements in many areas, and did not experience a reduction in dynamics that I had with my previous conditioner, the Chang Lightspeed. Check out the link in my signature block for pictures.

 

[tonyc]

Tony, thanks for sharing your experience regarding the sonic qualities of all those power conditioners. That is an impressive list. Your poor son in law - to burden him with sub-par sounding gear, twice!

Do you remember what their surge protection capabilities were? And how about the Shunyata - does the user manual provide details?

I know they all offer surge suppression but I do not know how much. I do know that we have frequent thunderstorms in Texas with the lights getting knocked out at least 3x/month in the spring and summer and none of my equipment has so far gotten zapped! My son in law has long been the beneficiary of my Joeyitis. I do not believe he thinks anything I have given him is subpar but he does frequently root me on to upgrade!

 

[Cherian]

When an isolation transformer is used one has a fixed leakage inductance to work with. Because the leakage inductance will not change you can design a very good L-C filter. This is more difficult to do with just capacitors because the inductance of the line is different at each location.

The con of using an isolation transformer based power conditioner is the addition of impedance. This is unavoidable when using an isolation transformer. This is why the isolation transformer must be of a good design. What we call ultra low impedance. 2 to 3% impedance maximum. If these design principles are adhered the power quality coming out of the Power conditioner will be very good. Much better than a filter or a surge protector. Also the output of the isolation transformer can be bonded between neutral and ground giving you a near 0V between these two points. You can not do this with anything other than an isolation transformer based equipment.