Furman power conditioners

[tamasdragon]

I would like to hear some opinion about these boxes. Are they worth having?
I mean do they really does good with ac power?
Tamas Dragon

[Gerax]

I just got one for my mobile rack, a PL8 E serie II.

I finally decided to get one as I once got lots of spikes and noise from the power outlet of a church I was recording in; it drove my AD nuts making them loose clock and sync and putting out burtsts of white noise. You never know what kind of power you're getting when outside of the studio. for the money they cost I think it's a wise thing to have in a rack.

[BlueCrestAudio]

I have a few, and I think they are a good investment.

[bove]

Before purchasing a power conditioner, you'll want to research SurgeX power conditioners. They work without using MOVs, and after learning about the differences, you may decide you prefer this method of conditioning. There are a few threads discussing this which you can find with a search for "surgex."

[Peacock]

Originally Posted by tamasdragon

I would like to hear some opinion about these boxes. Are they worth having?
I mean do they really does good with ac power?
Tamas Dragon

I have two for sale. I prefer the Richard Gray.

[sonare]

Originally Posted by Peacock

I have two for sale. I prefer the Richard Gray.

Which model? What price?

Rich

[rlg]

I have Furman and other power conditioners in each of my racks. Honestly, I haven't checked whether they do anything better to the electricity and the sound, but it's convenient to have a power switch, outlets and lights in a centralized location...

[Jay-]

I had an Early model with led lights for safe zone.
It was constantly over that and under. The only thing I know is my firewire mixer turns off when the power drops and the furman did nothing.

However, mind was "self sacrificing" so if a bolt of lightning hit the transformer it would cook the Furman but not pass the current to my studio.

Im told that playing at bars the refrigerator compressors come on and off and it comes out your tube amps but the furman can stop that.

A guy came over and offered me $120 for mine and I jumped on it.
Nothing changed, everything is the same. (I have bad dirty fluctuating power)

But there so cheap.

One story I was reading was during recording his furman lit up like an ark welder, blue smoke and a loud pop as the unit successfully prevented a "catastrophic" surge into his tube amp.

Mine was $50 on ebay, thats so cheap it cant hurt! Its as much as a blanking space for your rack.

[Energie]

yup

its just nice to have a rack outlet in your rack, convenient. mine has kicked off a few times with some electrical spikes (florida power sucks), and so far all my gear has been fine. Can't really say if it cleans the power, but the convenience is great in a rack.

[themikesonata]

Its more than just convenience!

I have been on location in an old building with faulty wiring, I had all my gear running through my Furman, a big surge came through fried some of the video / lighting gear... I WAS UNSCATHED. If I question the electricity I plug it into my furman

[fifthcircle]

I use AR-117 and AR 1215 power regulators here... The lower end power conditioners are a waste of money. Basically a glorified power strip. The regulators are much better, though, as they regulate the voltage.

I've seen some pretty nasty stuff in the field hit those things and they regulate to 117 volts as needed. I've seen cross-patched electrical hookups, I've seen low voltage (90 volts once), etc.. and they always work.

However, the power strips (PL Plus, etc...) have turned to charcoal inside when hit with 125 volts and fried the gear on the other side of it. Ended up costing me several hundred bucks worth of repairs.

--Ben

[Remoteness]

125 volts should not be a problem. Perhaps you mean 135 volts or more because from what I understand modern (USA) equipment is designed to handle a voltage swing of plus or minus 10%. 110 to 130 volts should not be a problem for most modern equipment.

Please correct me if my technical techiness is wrong on this one.

[fifthcircle]

Oops... This is what happens when I type and I'm tired. Yes, I meant 130-135. All the varisters inside it turned into charcoal. I don't know exactly where the voltage was at that point other than what the meters said. It was in my studio and there was a power surge.

When I called the Los Angeles DWP on it, they didn't care- said "well nobody else complained about it." Gotta love customer service.

I ended up with a cooked power supply in my computer, a couple cooked caps in a power amp, and some other smaller problems as a result. That day I went out and purchased a AR-1215 and it has been great ever since.

--Ben

[alloysound]

I have spec'd these for studios I have designed and also have a pair for my system. It makes sense to give gear a healthy voltage - even though PSU's, especially well-designed modern types, can handle some variation in input voltage, it's the extreme voltage shutdown that will save your gear in one of those events. Our place took some kind of lightning or surge hit during a storm - the two things that were not plugged into the 1215 needed repair!

[NorseHorse]

I don't mind using the basic Furmans mainly as glorified power strips.

I recognized the need to buy one when I recorded in a historic chapel (read: ancient) that had been retrofitted for power quite a ways back. There were some really weird drop-outs. The weren't noticable in casual listening, but they were visible in the waveforms. I checked those spots, and sure enough, there was some funky audio things happening.

Since buying a "power conditioner" I haven't had any problems. I've recorded at the chapel on several occasions since then.

[BDL]

I have a 20-amp voltage and a 20 amp balanced power Furmans for my analogue mixing console. And, I have 3 15-ampers, one for various kinds of studio euqipment. They do work for they were designed to do.

[drblank]

Originally Posted by Peacock

I have two for sale. I prefer the Richard Gray.

Richard Gray does make some pretty cool stuff. I am trying to save to get the RGPC Powervault. I think that would do the job. ;-)