Ok so my mom bought me a new TV and I am looking to setup the home theater. It was mentioned to me by a friend of mine, who is an installer, to get a clean power device...like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Refere...p_ob_e_title_2

However I have no idea what to look for in said device. I do understand what the purpose of it is, just I don't know the technical data. Also mentioned in one of the review for the link provided is a power stabilizer, is that required also?

If anyone can help out, I would appreciate it.

IMHO they are totally unnecessary.

While I don't disagree with the power issues mentioned, I can say that in over 30 years of owning, buying, selling and using high end audio and video equipment, I have never seen an issue of "poor" or "dirty" power affecting my equipment.

Get a good surge protector and leave it at that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_conditioner

Or even better than a surge protector would be a battery backup. And depending on the amount of power used, there are some backups that are close to the price of surge protectors.

The theory behind them is this: every electrical gizmo in your house (be it a TV, BD player, blender, fridge, whatever) creates interference in the form of electromagnetic noise, which inteferes with the electical signals going through your cables (wiring, power cables, HDMI cables, what-have-you), which can degrade the signal running through those cables before they get a chance to go where they have to go. A clean power device would minimise this interference by 'cleaning' the power coming from the wall before it goes through various components. Think of a filter in a water hose: without a filter, there's sand, soot, small rocks and other impurities which could cause damage to the hose or to your car (or whatever you're spraying) through repeated use. Add a filter and it's just pure water, which is safe(r).

NOW, whether it works like that in practice is up for debate. Personally, I have a Monster centre because I got it for really cheap, and because I want to protect my investment against possible power surges. Working in a big box store, you hear a fair amount of stories of people's TVs and computers being busted by surges, so it does happen. The amount of damage you'll get is based on the age and type of wiring in your neighborhood/house/apartment building. I would recommend a surge protector to everybody, but not a Monster. You can get far better ones (like Brick Wall) for cheaper.

I doubt the clean power has made a big difference in the video/audio quality of my components, but I have read reviews where clean power cables do make a difference. If there is a difference, it's more in the audio part of the setup rather than the video.

Power Conditioners/Voltage Stabilisers are, in my opinion, a better idea, because they regulate the voltage going to your components, which can be sensitive to sudden bumps and dips in voltage.

Another reason for getting one is that it's a power bar, and you can plug everything inton one thing. The one linked in the first post, I believe has 8 or 10 outlets, each of which is optimised for the various components.

You can buy one if you want, but don't expect too big a difference (if any) in the performance of your system. Buy one to have extra outlets and surge protection. Battery backups/UPSs are also a very good idea, especially if your components need to cool down before shutting off (like projectors). They keep your stuff on until you turn them off.

I agree with most of what you said. I have the HTS5100 and believe it does make a difference. Now you could run into problems if you try hooking up a sat receive (DirecTV/Dish) to the coax inputs. You will loose channels over time and this part should be bypassed. Cable boxes work just fine with them. With these you are buying an insurance policy and it has paid off for me. I lost my Denon 4308-CI from a surge and Monster Replaced the receive after they inspected it at my local Ultimate Electronics. So, $500.00 for an HTS-5100 worth it to replace a $2500.00 receiver.

Also, agree on the UPS for a projector. I have had several occasions where power has flickered while everything was on and the projector did not miss a beat. It's bad for the bulb when power is cut and then powered back on without letting it cool and at $450 a bulb (for my projector) it can pay for itself.

These are two different devices. I would not be without a surge protector.

I figured all I needed was a surge protector. Any suggestions on one?

Personally I prefer Panamax although this topic is nearly as heated as the cable topic.

Very cool, I will check them out.

UPSs are generally both nowadays.

The only problem with Monster Power is the price. But Panamax is just about the same price, so there isn't much difference. These two companies will honor the "attached equipment" warranty, so that is a reason to choose one of them. But for technical functionality, check the box of cheaper ones for a proper UL rating. If it has it, you're good. I forget the specific coding for surge protectors, anyone remember it?

Thanks I did not know this.

Still I would be more concerned about surges than power loss. I would want to be sure that any UPS that claimed to be a surge protector was in fact a good one, not just a glorified power strip with a battery attached to it.

I bought the Panamax 5400 with a projector, PS3, receiver, and other devices (10 total) hooked up to it. I believe it makes a difference, and I'm not clinging to that based on justifying the expense. The area I'm in was suffering from brownouts for a while, and if my projector lamp went out due to that I'd be paying 75% of what I paid for the Panamax anyway. Plus there's the replacement cost coverage of equipment hooked up to it that might fail - that can be costly as well and is 90% of the reason why I bought it. To TheKobra - I actually DO have my DirecTV satellite wires and phone line running thru the Panamax with no issues.

Sounds like (and based on the Panamax website) that the 5400 might work for me.

I am looking to connect the following:

50' Panasonic Plasma
Receiver (I haven't gotten it yet, but it will be the Onkyo TX-SR805)
HD Cable Box (4200HD from Scientific Atlanta)
Apple Airport Express Router (through a Griffin base station)
Blu-Ray player (also have yet to purchase)
Philips Divx DVD Player (5140 I believe is the model number)
Logitech Harmony 1000 remote charger

My concern is for power surges, since my area tends to have a lot of them (I am right by the highway and there are a lot of businesses nearby with a lot of juice going through them). I don't need anything with a UPS, so I am good there.

I do some product rep work for APC on a part-time basis. Part of our training was in trying to get people to choose backups rather than surge protectors because they actually offer more protection.

I'm not trying to sell anyone here on APC products, but I will copy and paste some of the information that was in our training materials just for your knowledge, which should carry over into other companies' products.

UPS = Uninterruptible Power Supply
Keeps equipment up and running when the power goes out
Protects system and its connected peripherals from surge damage
Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) protects against voltage fluctuations
Automatically saves files and shuts down the OS if the system is unattended

UPS v. Surge?
Surge protectors protect against 8% of all power events Battery back-ups (UPS) protects against all power events
Battery back-ups offer extra features that protect your data as well as your
equipment, including:
• A constant, continuous power supply to even out electrical fluctuations
• Auto shutdown software to automatically save files and close applications
• Data line protection to cover Internet, fax, modem or DSL connections
• Sufficient battery runtime to let you finish what you were doing

How Do I Know Which UPS?
General Formula
1. Add up all the amp values from the devices that you want to protect
2. Multiply the sum of all the amp values by 120, which is the number of volts. That number is the VA rating for your system.
Using that number you can choose the UPS that’s right for our computing needs. Based upon that simple formula, expect the UPS to supply about 5 minutes of power if its close to the computed VA rating.
(APC also has an Online Wizard to help with this)

I use a UPS mainly for this reason "Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) protects against voltage fluctuations". Most electronics get damage because of this.

I picked the 5400 specifically because it creates its own voltage for all of things I have hooked up to it.

I didn't have any issues for about a month or so. After that I started having channels dropping and I could not view them. If it works for you that is great! I just wish it would work for me.

Brian, check it out.

I was at Costco today and looked at the $100 Tripplite that has become popular. It actually says on the box, '4 surge protected/battery backup outlets, 4 surge protected only outlets'. Never used to be so specific, AFAIK. They must have figured out that they haven't been clear before.

Thanks, I'll give it a look. Curious to see how good the surge protection is, or is claimed to be.

Any thoughts on this one:

APC AV H15 1.5kVA

Seems like a good price considering the "list price." It does not have a UPS feature though.

Also, what do people use for surge protection/battery back up for ceiling mounted projectors? I am planing a basement home theater - (hopefully) in the near-future.

Unfortunately that was one of the things that I did not plan for in my theater. I have a small socket surge protector for my projector but I wish I have made a small hatch in the ceiling to access a ups for it.

My electrician is installing a whole house surge protector that sits on my panel in the basement. i will still have a UPS on most of my equipment though.

Around how much does does something like this cost?

125