UPS or Surge Protecter Recommendations??
02-14-01, 11:00 AM
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Would like to get your recommendations on UPS or surge protecter.
A client of mine recently tried to add an internal backup storage device in his computer. While he was touching the power leads from the power source, the lights dimmed and he felt a shock. Bottom result was that he toasted the computer, and destroyed the hard drive. In addition to replacing the computer, he had to pay over $1400 to retrieve the data on the hard drive (that's why he wanted a back up system).
It occurs to me that:
1) Don't touch the power leads,
2) That was a lot of money for a cheap shock,
3) I've got a lot of equipment in one spot on my home theatre, and I would be distraught if I lost all of it because of a power spike.
I have seven components in one area, with two wall plugs. What kind of surge protecter do you use? Is the cost of a UPS worth it? The only thing that should be running continuously is the TiVo.
A client of mine recently tried to add an internal backup storage device in his computer. While he was touching the power leads from the power source, the lights dimmed and he felt a shock. Bottom result was that he toasted the computer, and destroyed the hard drive. In addition to replacing the computer, he had to pay over $1400 to retrieve the data on the hard drive (that's why he wanted a back up system).
It occurs to me that:
1) Don't touch the power leads,
2) That was a lot of money for a cheap shock,
3) I've got a lot of equipment in one spot on my home theatre, and I would be distraught if I lost all of it because of a power spike.
I have seven components in one area, with two wall plugs. What kind of surge protecter do you use? Is the cost of a UPS worth it? The only thing that should be running continuously is the TiVo.
02-15-01, 05:37 PM
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Wow, I was hoping someone would respond this also so I could get some input. But I'll throw in my $0.02 anyhow.
My suggestion would be to get a power conditioner that would handle the small power dips that regularly happen all the time. A UPS would probably be overkill since you wouldn't necessarily lose anything if your TV lost power, except you would potentially miss "Survivor".
I should probably follow my own suggestion and do the above. I would hate to lose many thousands of $$$ because I was too cheap to spend $100 on a line conditioner. I haven't shopped for one yet, but I'm sure Tripp-Lite would offer something like this, and there are probably other brands as well.
My suggestion would be to get a power conditioner that would handle the small power dips that regularly happen all the time. A UPS would probably be overkill since you wouldn't necessarily lose anything if your TV lost power, except you would potentially miss "Survivor".
I should probably follow my own suggestion and do the above. I would hate to lose many thousands of $$$ because I was too cheap to spend $100 on a line conditioner. I haven't shopped for one yet, but I'm sure Tripp-Lite would offer something like this, and there are probably other brands as well.
02-15-01, 05:39 PM
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I have monitored power in real time and can tell you it is something to be afraid of.
For the home theater I have 2 panamax 1000+ units (I have a lot of gear and would overload max watts on just one unit).
I got mine from
http://ww2.onecall.com/PID_1072.htm
but it looks like they raised the price. I paid about $170 ea.
For my PC I have a personal UPS made by APC like this one
http://www.egghead.com/category/inv/...7/03518133.htm
they go on sale for about $50
I had a friend lose many appliances in his house due to a lightening strike. He lost everything that was not plugged into his panamax unit, after that, I was sold for life.
For the home theater I have 2 panamax 1000+ units (I have a lot of gear and would overload max watts on just one unit).
I got mine from
http://ww2.onecall.com/PID_1072.htm
but it looks like they raised the price. I paid about $170 ea.
For my PC I have a personal UPS made by APC like this one
http://www.egghead.com/category/inv/...7/03518133.htm
they go on sale for about $50
I had a friend lose many appliances in his house due to a lightening strike. He lost everything that was not plugged into his panamax unit, after that, I was sold for life.
02-15-01, 06:10 PM
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Monster power offers a "$100,000 connected equipment protection" with their Home Theatre Reference PowerCenter Models.
There is debate about whether these things actually improve your sound or not. For myself, I bought a HTS2000 fully expecting to use the money back guarantee it came with, but ending up keeping it. I was impresed with the expanded soundstage it created... But that's another discussion. If only for the surge protection, I figure the warranty is pretty impressive given the $100-200 investment.
More info: http://www.monstercable.com/product_...r_hts2000.html
And this is the best price I've seen, though I've never ordered from them: http://www.hififorless.com/acatalog/..._Center_4.html
Good luck!
There is debate about whether these things actually improve your sound or not. For myself, I bought a HTS2000 fully expecting to use the money back guarantee it came with, but ending up keeping it. I was impresed with the expanded soundstage it created... But that's another discussion. If only for the surge protection, I figure the warranty is pretty impressive given the $100-200 investment.
More info: http://www.monstercable.com/product_...r_hts2000.html
And this is the best price I've seen, though I've never ordered from them: http://www.hififorless.com/acatalog/..._Center_4.html
Good luck!
02-15-01, 07:51 PM
#6
DVD Talk Legend
Since it came up, I will add the panamax has a 1,000,000 (yes 1 million) dollar warranty.
The monster equipment is a notch below. Read the fine print. The panamax has a higher joule rating and can close the loop in < 1 ns (that is nanosecond and that is less than) good luck finding what the close rate of a monster unit it, they don't advertise it anywhere cause they know it will not beat the panamax.
It is more money, but you get what you pay for.
Flame away...
The monster equipment is a notch below. Read the fine print. The panamax has a higher joule rating and can close the loop in < 1 ns (that is nanosecond and that is less than) good luck finding what the close rate of a monster unit it, they don't advertise it anywhere cause they know it will not beat the panamax.
It is more money, but you get what you pay for.
Flame away...
02-16-01, 01:26 AM
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Originally posted by 4KRG
The monster equipment is a notch below. Read the fine print. The panamax has a higher joule rating and can close the loop in < 1 ns (that is nanosecond and that is less than) good luck finding what the close rate of a monster unit it, they don't advertise it anywhere cause they know it will not beat the panamax.
It is more money, but you get what you pay for.
Flame away...
The monster equipment is a notch below. Read the fine print. The panamax has a higher joule rating and can close the loop in < 1 ns (that is nanosecond and that is less than) good luck finding what the close rate of a monster unit it, they don't advertise it anywhere cause they know it will not beat the panamax.
It is more money, but you get what you pay for.
Flame away...
I was looking at the 1000+, but it didn't have the phone line protection I needed (too many fried modems to do without). I went with the Monster HTS-2500, and have been happy with it.
By the way, it looks like Panamax has upped the ante, and is offering five meeeelion dollars' worth of equipment coverage now. I guess the one million just wasn't enough?
02-16-01, 04:18 AM
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This may be a dumb question, but I'll ask anyway.
If you've got a home theater system and are not using a PC to watch DVD's, why would you use a surge protector with a battery back up component?
If you've got a home theater system and are not using a PC to watch DVD's, why would you use a surge protector with a battery back up component?
02-16-01, 11:22 AM
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Wow, thanks for the good responses. I'm in the process of looking at your suggested conditioners. Is there any point in looking at something below these top-of-line models?
Easy answer: No reason! I was just wondering if USP's did any line conditioning. The only reason to have battery backup would be to "save" the TiVo data, but that's not really a big deal (reconfiguring the setup doesn't really take that long, and the saved programs aren't really that valuable). It was the conditioning I was looking for.
I saw a brief thread at another HT forum that talked about doing the conditioning on a dedicated HT circuit at the box level, rather than at the outlet level. That would be fine if one was an electrician, but a little beyond my scope.
Again, thanks for the assistance.
Originally posted by Centurion
This may be a dumb question, but I'll ask anyway.
If you've got a home theater system and are not using a PC to watch DVD's, why would you use a surge protector with a battery back up component?
This may be a dumb question, but I'll ask anyway.
If you've got a home theater system and are not using a PC to watch DVD's, why would you use a surge protector with a battery back up component?
I saw a brief thread at another HT forum that talked about doing the conditioning on a dedicated HT circuit at the box level, rather than at the outlet level. That would be fine if one was an electrician, but a little beyond my scope.
Again, thanks for the assistance.
