Podcast Gear and Podcast Audio is HERE! …New Media Gear

The Monster PRO-900 power conditioner and handy Flex Lamp used in Studio1A.

Most of us already know that our expensive computer and audio/video gear needs surge protection. Many of us take it up a notch to put a battery backup (or UPS) between our gear.

Power and surge protection is a very misunderstood term. Add in the term “lightning” protection and we up the ante even further. The same goes for power conditioning.

This is really one of those areas where we can barely scratch the surface, but sometimes that’s enough to help.

No product(s) within the grasp of consumers and pro-sumers will completely protect you from a direct lightning hit. Living in the lightning capitol of the world has proved that. There are extreme measures, with the assistance of an electrical engineer that can afford you enormous amounts of safety and an equally enormous price tag.

We’ll concentrate on the basics here. What reasonable and cost effective ways can you protect, and clean the vital food that all of our equipment craves?

Power, or surge protection usually does just that. There are simple MOV (varistor) devices that will try to tame the subtle power spikes that we all get. These simple MOV devices are the least expensive and usually the least effective means of power protection. However, even a simple MOV device is better than nothing.

There are also devices that take a more sophisticated route, triggering internal breakers and utilizing patented means of keeping spikes and voltage variations from our precious devices. There still may be a simple MOV in place, but usually the more sophisticated devices use a multi-tiered approach.

Then, there is power conditioning. Power conditioning focuses more on the quality of power and noise suppression. Not only is voltage consistancy a factor, but the quality and frequency of clean AC. After protection, the most important issue can be noise. Not audible noise but a noisy power source filled with minute remnants of electrical interferance caused by a myriad of household devices from you and/or your neighbors. A power conditioner seeks to feed your equipment a cleansed AC power source. The idea is that a clean power source leads to a cleaner audio/visual experience.

The problem is that there are few standards when it comes to surge protection and power conditioning at the consumer level.

My approach was really quite simple. I chose a name I trusted. Monster Cable products have always worked well for me, so I decided to try a rather inexpensive power conditioner (surge/spike protection was already in place.) At $99 retail, the Monster PRO-900 is a rack mounted conditioner with built in circuit breaker, oversized feed cable and visual/audible warnings if the breaker pops. With 8 outlets in back and 2 convenience outlets on front, this unit pays for itself in cable management. Besides the LED indicators on the front, there is also an XLR connector! The XLR is simply a means to power a small gooseneck light.

Fortunately, Monster has the the “Flex-Lamp”, which allows you to plug in an 8-LED flexible lamp, just right for making those adjustments to your rack gear. I noticed a 12VDC rating on the lamp, so only plug this into a properly rated XLR and NOT a 48VDC phantom connection.

Monster quality, reasonable price and a handy source of light for adjusting the vocal strips make the 900 and Flex-Lamp hard to beat.

Best,
MarkJensen

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