UPS as power condition - Page 4

I understand your skepticism svyr as it mirrored my own concerns not too long ago (12 years ago). Many AC regen units in the price range below 1K are pretty spartan in terms of useful options beyond pure AC regen with regulation variances (the Furman you cite) being marginal rather than precise...that being said it is better to combine a quality LC with the cheap AC regen unit only if your AC mains power is unreliable in terms of over/under voltage, noisy as hell with many other dwellings sharing the same service and you know that you have to share your line (outlet is on the same circuit) with appliances/AC units that will cause problems (from heavy compressor motors, wireless devices, high current draw items like Plasma screens etc...).

 

If at all possible it's best to start off with dedicated lines and then test from there...if you need to go further with your power then add a balanced type first (it won't current limit). My situation, I found, gave the best result using a LC for the digital stuff and small signal analog while all of the high power stuff plugged directly into the dedicated lines although I'm willing to bet a device like the Equitech mentioned earlier in thread would bring further refinement (but how much compared to what I have now is unknown). I would like to add balanced LC at some point but it's not a huge priority right now. In any event each situation is somewhat unique so one solution may not be right for another situation (even with the same gear). It all depends on your electric utility, the dwellings wiring scheme and of course the surrounding electronic gizmos/appliances etc you have in your home.

 

It can never hurt to use a LC for the digital gear..... a little bit of filtration/surge protection is better than no protection at all. That being said when it comes to AC mains issues you certainly do get what you pay for (nothing more , nothing less). Those large traffos are expensive. If I were to consider a budget of 1.8K I would look to PS Audio or Equitech first rather than Furman but that's just my personal preference.

 

Peete.

 

 

Edited by Pricklely Peete - 6/3/11 at 6:40pm

For going with a dedicated line, do you mean from the distribution transformer on the street? (hardly an option for some places)Or your connection point (meter/switchboard outside?). (as in your fridge/mw/kettle are on one line, but you room with audio gear on another?)

Plus a lot older houses seem to have feedback from the lights circuit to the mains one. (my new place was ok, but in the old one, flick the light switch and your TV skips a beat)

Are there any resources explaining the 'balanced' power thing, and how/when the 'current limiting' happens? (I was under the impression the simple surge protection devices just opened a switch if the voltage exceeded 275v, or the current exceeded the rated impulse current (might also blow the internal fuse))... Neither of those really seem to be an issue (affect the sound in any way) if you're using a < 1w dac and a 20-30w amp?
Edited by svyr - 6/3/11 at 8:46pm

sometimes it seems like using a properly made switching psu (properly reg and filtered) may actually be preferable to an average linear one and no line filtering....
(let the floodgates of me being called a heretic n00b for that open )

Maybe........the problem with switch mode supplies are the high freq noise generated by them...even a half way decent linear supply will not have this additional hash to deal with. As for the dedicated line I'm talking about from your fuse panel in the home (adding dedicated circuits for audio use ). If you have a decent electrical service adding the lines is not that expensive. I went to Home Depot bought 2 Siemens 20 amp breakers and two boxes of Romex 10/2 + ground cable and installed the circuits myself about 9 years ago (something no one should try unless they know what they are doing). It cost me around 250 USD (including the cryo'd ACME Audio grade 20 amp duplex outlets). Best $250 I've ever spent.

 

Peete.

Hey guys, sorry for the interjection.

I have an audio gd sparrow and just bought (still in transit) Nuforce Icon amp for my speakers.

Yesterday I heard some crackling and popping (even when not playing anything) from the headphones and today after some more checks I am starting to think it is power related.

For some reason voltage drops in my area in late evening hours to ~ 213-215V.

I have a regular surge supressor which feeds an APC 650VA UPS that feeds 3 computers , computer monitor , the audio gd and some misc network gear (embedded pc running the firewall , gigabit switch and the dsl modem) via a 8 socket power strip.

The question is would I be better off to obtain a second (smaller UPS) say 350VA and hook the audio gear to it instead?

 

 

 

Take the audio gear off the APC UPS altogether and plug the audio system into the surge suppressor or the power strip then straight into the nearest outlet (bypass the APC UPS). There is no need to have the surge suppressor ahead of the APC (which is also a surge suppressor )

 

Peete.

Thanks,

 

I just did it and will see how it works out.

My surge supressor is pretty old and not really that great.

It had seen quite a lot of voltage spikes in its day and I am not even sure it does any voltage supression anymore (it is the MOV kinda and these degrade over time from what I heard).

I am still considering maybe to get a somewhat cheap surge supressor and line conditioner.

It found some model that costs ~60$ and seems to be decent enough (no more then 2% from 220V promised on output voltage).

I will call the store tomorrow and inquire about it.

 

OK the store obviously doesn't have it anymore.

Can someone recommend a cheap (under 100$) power line conditioner for 230V?

Like mentioned above I only need it for my audio gd sparrow and soon to arrive Nuforce ICON amp.

 

If that surge suppressor has absorbed a number of spikes your assumption that it's MOV may be no longer functioning as well as new is likely 100% accurate...the MOV's in these cheap strips are only meant for a few spikes after that they turn into extension cords with little or no protection left.

 

Peete.