Power Centers and Filters

This week I want to look at Power Centers.

Let me be the first to say, I was slightly wrong about what these do and how
they operate....scary huh?! Haha. I made phone calls to Panamax and got
some information I was looking for. I also made a phone call to Monster,
but after 15 minutes on hold...I decided I could do better just
researching on their website.

Let's jot down some questions to answer....and then we'll answer them.

1) What is a Power Center/Filter and what do they do?
2) What is Monster's "Green Power"?
3) What is the difference between Power Center filtration "stages"?
4) Whats the difference between Monster and Panamax?

What is a Power Center/Filter and what do they do?

This is where I was slightly wrong. I had always believed the "clean
power" and "power filtering" were forms automatic voltage regulation.
They are actually separate functions. Panamax refers to this as "Linear
Filtration". What this does is remove EM/RF Interference
(electromagnetic or radio frequency). If you play any war (Call of Duty,
for example) video games, you know when an EMP happens all electronics
go offline. Think of EMI/RFI as exhaust gasses that come out of the
tailpipe from your car....but they are electrical and come out of every
electronic in your home....your microwave, your telephones, your TV,
your bluray player, etc. The power centers we carry remove this
interference. Heres a great example: remember when you were little and
lived at home and someone would turn the microwave on and the TV picture
would get fuzzy? This is EMI/RFI interference.

We only carry one power filter that does Automatic Voltage Regulation
(AVR), the Panamax 5400. Electronics operate at 120v (standard
electricity in your house), but the power companies don't output 120v
all the time. Sometimes, you'll get 110v which under powers your
electronics. The AVR in the 5400 stores electricity internally and
"fills in the electrical gap" if the current drops below 120v.

What is Monster's "Green Power"?

Monster really markets to the Green client's here. What Green Power does
is this: there are certain green power ports on the device. You plug the
TV and/or the receiver into these. When the power center recognizes the
devices in these ports are turned on, it switches on all the other ports
on the power center. When you turn the devices plugged into those
special ports off, the power center switches off the other ports. What
this does is eliminate "phantom" or "standby" power. For example, if you
aren't using your system, your subwoofer goes into standby mode....where
it still draws a small amount of electricity. If you turn your system
on, Green Power turns on your subwoofer, if your turn the system off,
Green Power shuts off all power to your subwoofer....eliminating any
standby power draw.

What is the difference in the filtration stages?

This differs between the brands, but overall it means 2 things: More
Isolated banks and more joule protection for surges.

Isolated banks separate your home theater devices from interfering with
one another. For example, on a Stage 1 filter, your home theater
equipment is protected from interference from other devices in your
house, but not other devices in your system. Stage 2, typically has 2
isolated banks. Now we can protect the video equipment from any
interference the audio equipment produces. The more isolated banks, the
better protection between devices in your theater system. For further
example, the Panamax 5300 or better has 5 isolated banks. Now we can
protect the receiver from the tv, and from the cable box, and from the
bluray player and from the subwoofer.

What is the difference between Monster and Panamax power centers?

The Panamax 5400 is the only one that does AVR which is the best
protection you can get your system.

The main difference is the internals that protect your system.

Panamax uses an "Avalanche diode" and Monster uses a "MOV" circuit. Both
of these circuits fail over time. However, when the Monster circuit
fails, it fails into "Open" mode which means your system still works but
is not being protected. That's why the Monster devices have lights on
the front telling you whether or not the power center is working. You
have to literally monitor your power filter. Panamax's avalanche diode
fails into the "Closed" mode. Your system doesn't power on, but it also
cannot be damaged and you know you need to replace the panamax unit.
Another important thing to note is because of the way the circuits work,
the Monster units usually fail after stopping 2-3 spikes...whereas the
Panamax's stronger circuits have taken 15+ spike hits before and still
functioned properly.

As always, any questions, just let me know. Hope this helps!