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Thread: Protecting Hifi from Mains problems

  1. #21
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Navan

    Posts: 378
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    Aren't regenerators intended to provide a consistent stable power supply to your components regardless of drops and highs in the mains being fed into it, while conditioners aim to filter out nasties such as RFI and so on?

  2. #22
    Join Date: Mar 2016

    Location: Brighton, UK.

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    I'm Mike.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Primalsea View Post
    Surge protectors could potentially work to protect against over voltage problems but with the amount that you suggest the problem happens you would have to replace the surge protector regularly as the devices inside can tend to degrade a little each time they operate. Be wary of the claims that the manufacturers make about the financial level of compensation available if the protector was to fail. There are so many caveats in the T&Cs that you will have more chance of a unicorn flying through your living room, shitting chocolate rainbows on a Thursday between the hours of 9 and 10 pm than getting a payout.

    A mains regeneration device would probably protect your gear, but they are not cheap. Sounds like the real cure would be to sort the electrics out but this could be either a problem with the building electrics or a national grid problem.
    A unicorn shitting chocolate rainbows, you must have noticed I live in Brighton!

    So a mains regenerator, is this the same as a mains conditioner?

  3. #23
    Join Date: Mar 2016

    Location: Brighton, UK.

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    I'm Mike.

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    Just to add my cdps, tuners, power supplies, and TTs have always been fine. It just seems to be the amps I have trouble with (again the Naim are immune to it). So I only need 2 sockets for pre and power amps to be treated. Really don't want any more amps getting thrown in the bin.

  4. #24
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

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    A mains conditioner is of debatable benefit. A mains regenerator is a completely different beast and as you noted, costs proper money.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  5. #25
    Join Date: Apr 2015

    Location: Central Virginia

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    Many power strips and surge suppressors have a device in them that is one use only. If a big spike occurs it will blow this internal component and save your gear. But then it keeps on working without protection after that. The light in the toggle switch will no longer light or some barely noticeable signal that it has tripped, if any.

    I use a UPS, uninterruptible power supply, made for computers. But it cost a fair piece, they do make smaller ones but depending on the size of your amps, you don’t want to restrict them amperage wise. Once many years ago, after a huge hurricane my power was out for 9 days! And I was able to play the stereo every night for 4 or 5 hours at low volumes to avoid going mad. Mine is an APC 1000, an older model that puts out a clean sine wave. Many newer computer backups put out square waves, so be sure of what you have. The specs on my unit tell me how much over voltage it can adjust before it cuts off and goes to battery power. But I’ve had this unit for 20 years and replaced the batteries in it only once. It’s given me excellent service and I do believe the stereo sounds better with it.

    Big regenerators made especially for stereo can get pricy, and hopefully work as advertised. We also use Furman brand PA gear power conditioners that are only a few hundred bucks to protect our band equipment, and wouldn’t leave home without them! They work, period. The abuse our PA has endured over the past 15 years could fill a book! But no loses due to power problems. 10 years ago someone plugged our rack into a high voltage socket and blew up the Furman, and Furman repaired it for the cost of shipping!


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  6. #26
    Join Date: Mar 2016

    Location: Brighton, UK.

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    I'm Mike.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    A mains conditioner is of debatable benefit. A mains regenerator is a completely different beast and as you noted, costs proper money.
    Would this work?
    https://airlinktransformers.com/prod...pply-bps3000uk

  7. #27
    Join Date: Nov 2017

    Location: Glossop

    Posts: 54
    I'm dave.

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    Try a BT mains conditioner 5A when I worked for a living we used these all the time on PABX out in the sticks where the power was a bit dodgy (one on e-bay for £105)


    Dave

    PS keep away from the amps by a few feet as they do have a magnetic field
    Any tool can be used as a hammer but a screwdriver makes the best chisel

  8. #28
    Join Date: Mar 2016

    Location: Brighton, UK.

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    Quote Originally Posted by nutteronthebus View Post
    Try a BT mains conditioner 5A when I worked for a living we used these all the time on PABX out in the sticks where the power was a bit dodgy (one on e-bay for £105)


    Dave

    PS keep away from the amps by a few feet as they do have a magnetic field
    I saw one of these earlier! Says its property of BT though...................

  9. #29
    Join Date: Nov 2017

    Location: Glossop

    Posts: 54
    I'm dave.

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    Hi when I worked there BT lost a large amount of customers ( due to the openreach cock up of putting PABX out of Global services in to openreach ) and these unit were scraped even though they worked ok . A mate who lives on a farm has 5 of these due to bad mains


    Dave
    Any tool can be used as a hammer but a screwdriver makes the best chisel

  10. #30
    Join Date: Oct 2017

    Location: Fenland

    Posts: 125
    I'm Bob.

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    I used to live on one of the smaller Orkney isles and ran a PC business, I needed to keep my servers running as my customers were from all over Orkney and the Scottish mainland (OK if the power was off for more than a few hours I was in trouble but at least it gave me time to send out warning emails and do orderly shutdowns) and like Russell I used APC UPS's.

    The larger ones came with software that allowed you to monitor the voltages. It was frightening to see the fluctuations with voltages going up and down all over the place (Although you knew as all the lights would change intensity and things would turn off and spring back to life in front of your eyes) and it's no surprise that things going "Pop" was a regular occurrence in places like Orkney (Things have improved recently but not to anything like big city standards).

    If it's as bad as you say, then look at UPS's for you more valuable kit.

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