AC filters

How many of you use surge protectors and ac filters?

I don't use any surge protector but through the years i'd used several ac filterings methods, mostly to filter incoming RF noise and also to filter noises from light switches and other appliances.

I have an Adcom , Belkin, and 2 Grant Fidelitys. they all keep me @ 120 v. 60 hzs. The 2 Grants have no surge protection. The other 2 do. The Belkin goes off at the slightest surge.

That's great.
When i have the t$me i'd like to buy one of those or this one from Tripp Lite.

For now here is how my system is configured with independent electric circuit:

Separate subpanel in my listening room
Analog on one circuit
DAC on another circuit
Computer on another circuit

I'm getting the best sound from this configuration.

I use a surge protector only because I dont have enough outlets available for all my gear.

elroy

i use a Panamax 1000 or something, surge protection and power conditioner. cant tell any difference in sound with or without it, but i like the one button on/off convenience.

That's a good thing. It means that's neutral or flat in sonic terms. I'd notice in some power conditioners that somehow they colored sound, specially in the low freqs.

i use surge protector strips for all my gear. i have to; i've got far too many components not to! there all identical, recent models bought from COSTCO about a year ago. i believe they have some form of mild AC filtering. i also attach ferrite beads to the power leads directly inside the enclosures of as many of my components as they'll fit into. all my components are posessed of a very high sound quality, and i really do not know how much of it might be attributed to these measures...

I have 1 question. Do you have a good pair of headphones? If so what sounds better the headphones or the speakers w/o the headphones?

i have a pair of 1982 REALISTIC NOVA PROs. are those good enough? they sound pretty good to me, but, of course they're the very first and to date only pair of monitor headphones i've ever owned. what i really want are a good set of PIONEERs...




This post has been edited by MacGyver on January 05, 2009 08:42 am

i've heard some headphones that sounded dynamite, even some el cheapo pc headsets can sound pretty good. what they all seem to miss is space and dimension. i prefer the sound of a good pair of speakers

as do i. no pair of headphones can really come close to a solid set of stereo loudspeakers. to my experience, four ways are the best. nevertheless, a good set of cans do have their time and place. come to think of it, OOPS, this AC FILTERS thread is being hijacked into a loudspeakers VS. headphones thread!! so sorry, OP!!

What you really want in a power filter/conditioner/distribution centre is spike protection (and hopefully improved sound), which is basically up to half a second where your spike becomes a surge, your circuit breaker should kick in after a half second. Surge protection is what can reduce the performance of your amp unless done right. All GF model do spike protection with both reviwers of GF complete front ends spending a lot of the review discussing our power products (very pro) and one was a huge 'power' skeptic who did an 'I eat crow type post' on CAM.

Also with tube gear, spike protection is basically a must, since the tube gear's power transformer is a step up which multiplies the spike.

Cheers,
Ian

This post has been edited by Grant Fidelity on January 06, 2009 02:37 am

I wasn't very accurate in my first post because the UPS that i use in my comp system have a built in surge protector.
Also, i must refer that different vendors (APC, PowerVar, Belkin, etc...) have slightly different definitions for the different types of power problems and solutions.

Here's an excellent white paper from APC that discusses power protection from an objective point of view, i found this was the best reference I could find:

http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/VAVR-5WKLPK_R0_EN.pdf

I live in a remote area in India where bad power is the norm. I survive with a array of surge protectors, CVT and stabilizers or else all my equipment would go kaput by now.