Featured Power Conditioner Reviews

Panamax showed off their new MR4300 and MR5100 power management and monitoring solutions (you may remember that we reviewed the PM4300 last year, the MR4300 is its replacement). Both offer power monitoring of incoming line voltage. The MR4300 has 8 outlets in the back and one on the front as well as protection for both LAN and telephone and also cable (RF) line protection. It's a simple unit with an LED display and even Furman-inspired lights on the front which light up your entire rack.

We try to stay on top of products that would appeal to the custom installer, and Furman's new line of "SmartSequencers" are a great addition to its Contractor Series products. There are two new products, the CN-1800S (15 amp capacity) and the CN-2400S (20 amp capacity). These SmartSequencers are designed for commercial A/V installers and they combine AC power distribution, protection, filtration, and sequential system power on/off. They also offer an optional compatibility with Panamax/Furman's BlueBOLT hosted remote power and energy management platform. The CN-1800S and CN-2400S feature Furman's SmartSequencing technology, which allows large and complex A/V systems to be powered on and off safely with the simple press of a button or turn of a key, even by nontechnical personnel.

Having the Panamax M4300-PM power manager connecting your gear does several things. For one, it cleans up your equipment, giving you a single source to connect all of the AC power for your gear. More importantly, however, it gives you something between your expensive AV equipment and the wall, so that if you ever encounter lightning or any other power surge event, something other than that new LCD or plasma display can take the hit. Panamax has been around for a long time and they are offering some beautiful-looking products to deliver power protection as well as rudimentary filtering of AC line noise (like the kind caused by vacuum cleaners, florescent lighting and similar products). Its power cleaning and linear filtration eliminates common symptoms of contaminated power like pops, hisses, and hums and allows your A/V equipment to perform up to its full capability.

If it smells like a snake and comes in a jar with one of those non-spill tops, is it Snake Oil or is it an esoteric product? You be the judge. While there is no denying that the PRS-6 is constructed out of top of the line materials, we'll let you decide if that justifies a $3,200, six-outlet extension cord (which, ironically, doesn't come with a power cord but they do recommend their $1600+ for 1.5 meter cable).

The Panamax MX5102 delivers exactly what it claims - battery backup and voltage monitoring. While there are other choices out there, the Panamax has its own feature set that may make it perfect for your application. On looks alone the Panamax MX5102 is a winner. The black brushed aluminum case just begs to be shown off. The Panamax MX5102 would make a great addition to any home theater.

It's easy to think of UPS battery backup systems as products intended for use with home theater systems, PC systems and servers. But what happens when you have a remote area that houses your routers and cable modem? For this, Tripp Lite presents their AV50SC, a 300W (550VA) device with 4 outlets that provides basic battery backup protection for your cable modem, router, switch and/or other devices that are just as important to your home theater or office setup, but don't necessarily require a fancy box and tons of power output.

When you invest in electronics, be it for the home theater or for the home office, battery backup is something that should not be left out of your budget. In these days, when time equals money, it's unthinkable that a lightning strike, random brownout or other electrical snafu could cost you hours of work or even thousands of dollars in equipment. CyberPower's PR1500LCD UPS will guarantee your work doesn't get wiped out when someone down at the local power station decides to trip over an extension cord, or a squirrel forgets that running the Nutty 500 race across a wet power line might not be the best decision he's made all week.

I love certain gadgets that are targeted to making our lives easier. ezGear showed off a product that extends their top selling ezSpace UFO space saving surge protectors with the introduction of the ezSpace Wall Mount UFO. Weird name, cool product. Created in the shape of the iconic round... um, UFO, the ezSpace UFO is a 6 outlet plug expander with built-in 1050 Joule surge protection that provides space for a large plug or transformer on each outlet.

The APC AV C10 marks another well executed and no BS A/V power product from a company that is, in my experience, unparalleled in their collective knowledge of power protection and backup. With all of the major safety agency approvals (ie. UL, CSA, Part68, etc), 12 filtered and surge protected outlets, connections for cable TV, phone, ethernet and line voltage monitoring, the APC AV C10 is everything one could ask for in a power strip and more. I highly recommend this unit for anyone looking for a cost effective power filter solution with ample outlets and unparalleled reliability.