and I just now took advantage of a link someone in another thread on here posted concerning a great deal on an APC AV H15 power conditioner/switch to replace my two 15 year old Adcom ace 515's. They should provide much better protection for my components..plus they look kinda snazzy.

I was thinking about the Adcom this morning. If you assume that your source components have two-position power switches (as was the case with older two-channel gear), the Adcom's arrangement makes perfect sense. Even if your equipment came with remotes, the two-position power switches still required you to walk up to the equipment to turn it on. Having a single switch to flip that would power up those devices is very useful.

When you move to modern home theater hardware (which for something like a surround processor or a Blu-ray player really means a purpose-built computer), the two-position switch is gone. Having remote on/off required that change, and the front panel power buttons today are all momentary contact. That is why I have a hard time with the idea of switching power to a surround processor. It's meant to live in standby mode unless you know you're not going to use it for an extended period and want to unplug it so it's 100% safe from power anomalies.
Sounds like a good purchase. Unless you see a lot less "turbulence" on your AC power than we do here (which is possible since you're north of tornado alley and the fun storms that come along with that), the MOV's in 15-year-old surge protectors have probably done all they can do to protect against surges and are no longer offering much security.

I hadn't really considered replacing those adcoms until I saw the deal and read the reviews on the APC. It's a far more sophisticated piece of gear than the adcom. 15 years of technology advancement will do that.

Because of my love for electronics, I did take the extra step of having my power company install a whole house surge suppresser directly onto the back of my power meter to filter all the power entering my house. I did that 20 years ago and pay them 50 bucks a year to maintain it and replace it periodically.

Those adcoms have earned their keep with 15 years of service, but it's time to retire them and put in the modern stuff. All of todays digital components should really have first class power protection.

That APC deal is really quite astounding. It's designed to sell for $449 and even at that price is a great deal vs more expensive gear from Monster for example. APC is clearing out their silver front finish versions only and I just bought two of them for 99 bucks a piece..including free shipping. The electrically identical black versions are still at their normal price...hundreds more. The silver looks just fine to me anyways with the blue leds and LCD readouts.

Scott

I got a similar deal on my Belkin a couple years ago: an MSRP of $600 (which I think is excessive, even though it is a nice piece) and I got it for around $150.

The APC will have a trigger connection, so you should be able to plug your amp(s) into the amp outlets with a delay in place, connect a trigger cable between the processor and the APC (both the 990 and the Integra have this), and when the processor turns on it will send a signal to the power conditioner that will turn the amp on a few seconds later. Should work nicely - this is what I'm doing with my Belkin and my amps.

I've never used those 12 V trigger things on gear before. I can see with the APC in the setup, where leaving the preamp/processor in standby mode and using its trigger to start up the rest of the system would be of benefit.

I'd recommend it highly. You will get the very same benefit that you had with the Adcom when your pre-amp and amp both had two-position power switches (which you really didn't have anymore with their the Integra 9.9 or the Outlaw 990), but without the need to manually hit a switch on the front of the power conditioner.

I had to read up in the 990 and 9.9 owners manual to even know what type of connection cable those 12v triggers use. I have never paid any attention to them before.

Now I have more knowledge crammed into my brain. I wonder if it will ever reach the full mark and I won't be able to learn anything new?

And once again I am shocked at how fast stuff gets delivered nowadays. I ordered those APC boxes on the 19th, they were shipped on the 20th and they arrived in Milwaukee this morning..the 21st. They would have been delivered today had this been a weekday. As it is they will be delivered on Monday. That is with standard shipping that was even free. Hard to beat that.

Oddly enough, I ordered the 2 apc's from Amazon, but Tiger Direct was the actual vendor. They were half the price of the next cheapest vendor on amazon and one fourth the price of the most expensive.

Tiger Direct is selling them for 99 bucks a piece through amazon, but their price through their own website is double that...199 each. I can't figure that one out.

Scott

Hey gonk,

Just wanted to say thanks, because of you I set up my system completely different and much more user friendly.

Now I have my 997 into another outlet on my Monster 3500's so it is alwasy in stand-by. Now when I use my Harmony 720 to say watch TV, it turns on my 990 which in turn sends the 12 volts from the trigger on the 990 to one of the triggers on the Monster 3500 which in turn starts up the other 3500 etc, etc.

Now, nothing to do put push 1 button for each command including my projector and my Marantz VS3002 HDMI switcher which is also controled by the Harmony 720.

Thanks again gonk!!!!

Glad to hear that you've got it working well.