Can anyone recommend a cost-efficient power conditioner that only needs to protect the equipment listed under my 2ch stuff?
I'm mainly concerned with the lights dimming with the cycling of air conditioning, and the pop I get out of my sub when a window A/C unit in my listening room gets turned on/off. I was wondering if you thought the conditioner would stop that from happening as well. I would think it woudl be using caps to help prevent surges or dips but I could be dead wrong.

I was thinking Belkin PureAV line, but wanted to make sure I wasn't going overkill since I'm not protecting a "home theater" - just the NAD, the Pioneer, and my sub (for now )

No recommendation or solution, but thought I would add my experience from my panamax filter/powerstrip (m10-ht-pro) on my 2 channel set up:

I thought I would no longer get the thump in the sub when I turn my ceiling fan on/off in the living room, the strip did not stop this.

I currently have a panamax power conditioner thinking it would also stop the thumping noise every time a flourecent light turned on and off, but it did not work. Once I upgraded to a shorter outlaw sub cable from a diomondback audioquest cable that was about 10 feet to long, and I also ugraded from a 1050 to a 970. I am pretty sure it is the new shorter cable that fixed the problem.

By the way how do you like those B&W 685's I have a pair for my mains and love them. I upgraded from the B&W 601 S3's, which are now my mains.

APC H-15 does the job nicely but I get a thump too. The tump comes from the 990 not from powering it on a off. The H-15 will sense a problem and turn everything off for a few minutes until it senses stable voltage. It won't turn the equipment back on just supply power back to it for you to start it up again. I can count at least 4 times it has saved my setup. After one storm I had the only HT left between me and my two closest neighbors. I got 2 from Audioholics a while back for < $100 each. It protects my stuff from the lightning storms we get down here. I can't imagine not having them.

I've used both Panamax and Belkin, but you could even look at a TrippLite surge protector.

Hard for me to say about the pop when the window unit kicks on. There's a pretty substantial inrush current for compressors that could be causing a dip in current to the sub, in which case I suspect you'd need something like a UPS to really eliminate it.

Thanks for your feedback everyone.

I note that I get the pop both when the window A/C unit is turned on and many times when it's turned off. I wonder what a UPS has in its internals that a good power conditioner doesn't? I also value a good power conditioner. My Panamax in my home theater deserves substantial credit. About one year ago I was having a new septic system put in and my excavator clipped my underground power lines causing a massive surge throughout my whole house. It killed several outlets, killed the compressor on my fridge, and killed an APC surge protector (which saved my JL sub) and no-name surge protector that saved my home PC. The Panamax though, lives on, along with all the equipment that was protected by it But the experience definitely made the point with me.

Gunslinger, I couldn't be happier with the 685's. I'm sure I'll get the bug to upgrade to the 7's or 8's at some point. Having heard the 805's a couple times, I know what I'm missing, but the price difference is substantial to say the least. I'd like to pick up a power conditioner, some better speaker stands, improved interconnects, and maybe a nicer rack for my equipment. But the setup sounds great. I have managed to get the 685's at a pretty good position.

They're a little tall right now - about 31" - a limitation of the only stands I own. And those stands are a little on the cheap side - (telescoping, probably in the sub $100 range, a little flimsy). They also don't hide the speaker wire and that gets at my a-retentive side of my brain. But in terms of position, I was able to get the speakers positioned in such a way that I have formed almost a perfect equilateral triangle to my listening position, about 8.5 feet all sides. All in all, quite happy!

A UPS has a battery - provides power even when the power is removed or dips severely. If the problem is a big dip in current caused by the compressor, a power conditioner can't do much about it.

Thanks Gonk - didn't realize the battery comes into play for that scenario. Only thought it came into play when the power was lost completely.

Are you making your HT share a circuit with your A/C unit? Sounds like your rig is simply trying to tell you to feed it better juice