Furman over Panamax?

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by redm

Not everyone has the same price point Dan, he's obviously trying to get some bang for his buck, if money was no object he wouldn't be asking. The Panamax will offer a nice step up over nothing for a very low price point.

I understand and appreciate that Derek, but when you are looking to protect $20k+ worth of gear I just don't think cutting corners here is a good idea.

I have a 5400 that I took in on trade, I use it just for my cooling fans as a switched on and timed off.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Rilands

You have one of the best processors made, why would one hook it up to an entry level conditioner? Easy choice for me.

Derek.......I didn't say a thing. I posted two photos. Truth be known, though, Mike made a good point. After all it is $18,000 worth of new gear xconcepts is hoping to protect. If that were my brand new gear, I'd put a PurePower 2000 between the gear and the wall outlet. Full A/C regeneration, filtering, surge protection and battery backup.

[vintage_tube]

There is a Furman IT-Reference 15 on the goN right now for auction price of $675 w/a PC too. Reserve has been met. 1 day left. (seller states it's an 'i' -- don't believe it is)

Just sayin;

Happy Holidays Folks,

Bob

[redm]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

I understand and appreciate that Derek, but when you are looking to protect $20k+ worth of gear I just don't think cutting corners here is a good idea.

I have a 5400 that I took in on trade, I use it just for my cooling fans as a switched on and timed off.

I dont think he said whether he was looking for protection or for conditioning or both. If its protection, it should be easier to determine an appropriate product by looking at clamping, joules rating and response time.

The Panamax info for protection is:

Line Voltage........................................... .................................................. ............120V, 60Hz
Total Current Capacity.......................................... ............................................15 A (1800 W)
Voltage Protection Rating (UL1449 3rd Edition, 3,000A)........................................... ... 500V
Protection Modes............................................. ................................................L-N, L-G, N-G
Initial Clamping Level............................................. ...........................200V Peak, 141 V RMS
Energy Dissipation....................................... .................................................. .....2125 Joules
Peak Impulse Current........................................... ............................................ 75,000 Amps
Catastrophic Surge Circuit........................................... .................................................. ...Yes
Thermal Fusing:........................................... .................................................. ..................Yes
Auto-resetting Over-voltage shutoff........................................... .................142 VAC ± 8 VAC
Auto-resetting Under-voltage shutoff........................................... .................86 VAC ± 6 VAC


Furman Reference 20i

Series Multi-Stage Protection (SMP): SMP is maintenance-free surge suppression, offering AC protection without sacrificing itself in the event of a catastrophic surge. The SMP circuit senses voltages so high that operation is impossible and turns the power off before damage can occur; if the voltage exceeds 137 volts power is removed from all the outlets.

Discrete Symmetrical Power: four banks of two outlets each are filtered with Discrete Symmetrical Power and GFCI protected; each bank is isolated from the others and from the high current bank

High Current: four outlets, designed for amplifiers, receivers, and powered subwoofers; offers Power Factor Technology with a low impedance filter and current reserve in excess of 80 amps (peak) to accommodate amplifier demands

Transient Voltage Surge Protection: The IT-Reference 20i features transient voltage surge suppression for standard telephone lines, coaxial cable TV lines, and coaxial satellite lines. There is one pair of phone input/output jacks and three pair of coaxial input/output jacks. The coax jacks are bi-directional and pass both DC carrier signals and high bandwidth HD signals with an insertion loss of less than 0.1 dB. All the in-line surge suppressors feature Furman's exclusive Zero Ground Contamination technology; this helps eliminate audio buzzing and video hum bars that can result from typical in-line suppressors.

[redm]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Derek.......I didn't say a thing. I posted two photos.

Originally Posted by jdandy

Derek.......Truth be known, though, Mike made a good point. After all it is $18,000 worth of new gear xconcepts is hoping to protect. If that were my brand new gear, I'd put a PurePower 2000 between the gear and the wall outlet. Full A/C regeneration, filtering, surge protection and battery backup.

and

Originally Posted by Masterlu

I understand and appreciate that Derek, but when you are looking to protect $20k+ worth of gear I just don't think cutting corners here is a good idea.

I agree, that is a good point from both of you. I guess when your looking at a % of the total system value.. it is kind of a no brainer. He would probably end up replacing the 5400 at some point anyway just like I did.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by redm

I disagree with them, I owned the Panamax 5400-PM and I really liked it. I switched to the PS Audio P5 at around 6x or 7x the cost and I'm not sure Ive found the improvement. If you have money to burn, or just want to get the the highest quality, go with the higher quality unit. If you want to a great unit for a steller price the 5400-PM is a great unit providing 1500VA.

Derek.......To respond to your comment about the PS Audio P5, it provides you with A/C regeneration, filtering out all the grunge on the utility power and feeding fully regulated, clean 120 volt A/C to your connected gear. It is capable of maintaining the pure 120 volts A/C output during voltage sags and voltage peaks. Your gear doesn't have to endure 150 volts before a circuit finally breaks the load free of the utility power over voltage, nor does it have to suffer an under voltage as low as 80 volts before a circuit finally breaks the load free from the utility power. That is one major benefit of using the P5 versus the 5400.

[redm]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Derek.......To respond to your comment about the PS Audio P5, it provides you with A/C regeneration, filtering out all the grunge on the utility power and feeding fully regulated, clean 120 volt A/C to your connected gear. It is capable of maintaining the pure 120 volts A/C output during voltage sags and voltage peaks. You gear doesn't have to endure 150 volts before a circuit finally breaks the load free of the utility power over voltage, nor does it have to suffer an under voltage as low as 80 volts before a circuit finally breaks the load free from the utility power. That is one major benefit of using the P5 versus the 5400.

Good info. I had actually wondered about that because the 5400 shows input and output voltage, but if it was taking 123v in, it was putting out 123v. I thought the point was a consistent 120v but mine never did that. I guess the P5 has some big cap's to level out the sags?

I personally am glad I spent the money on the P5, regardless of anything else, I would not go back to the 5400. I paid for the high build quality and the piece of mind.

[jdandy]

Derek.......Clean sine wave, regulated, stable 120 volt power is everyday protection worth its weight in gold. Surge protection is a good thing and comes in handy if and when needed, but the day in and day out voltage regulation that maintains a constant 120 volt feed to your gear is what you paid for. In my opinion, real surge protection begins with a high quality panel mounted whole house surge protector. That way anything else between the wall outlet and your precious equipment simply becomes an extra line of defense rather than your only defense.

[redm]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Derek....... In my opinion, real surge protection begins with a high quality panel mounted whole house surge protector.

You mean the surge protectors that take a slot in your breaker box or something that's inline with the power service?

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by redm

You mean the surge protectors that take a slot in your breaker box or something that's inline with the power service?

Derek.......Neither. A panel mounted surge protector can be mounted inside the electrical service panel and fed with a two pole circuit breaker mounted nearest to your panel's incoming service wires, or a surge protector can be mounted external to the electrical panel and fed in the same manner as the internal surge protector using a two pole circuit breaker mounted nearest to your panel's incoming service wires.

I use Ditek residential surge protectors, one on the main disconnect below my meter base and a second one on my electrical panel inside my home. I rely on the Ditek DTK-120/240HD2 Home Surge Protector, capable of 100,000A of surge current capacity and diagnostic LEDs to indicate power and surge protection status. It is a parallel connected AC surge protector and is available in a standard external enclosure or a flush mount enclosure. These surge protectors include a ten year warranty.