07.30.2007 — Not that long ago, power conditioning was a niche, enthusiast system upgrade. Today, that mindset has completely changed. Led by the educational efforts of companies like Furman/Panamax, and through the necessity of having to support flat-panel television’s dwindling margins, custom installers now understand the importance of power conditioning.

Today that education has taught installers and some consumers that a home’s AC power contributes little and even degrades from the performance of sensitive electronic devices.

One of the leaders of the industry’s education has been Dave Keller, vice president of sales and marketing for Furman/Panamax. Keller, a former CEDIA board member and a 30-year industry veteran of both the pro and residential markets, holds an engineering degree from Indiana State University. He has plenty of knowledge to share about various CE topics.

In case there’s any confusion among dealers, can you explain the current arrangement between Furman and Panamax?

Furman/Panamax is one company with two brands. The Furman and Panamax brands are separate, but in some cases the brands are sold to the same dealers and, in others, a dealer that sells the Panamax brand may not be selling the Furman brand or vice versa.

If we have dealers that carry both, we can reward them through benefits and incentives from Panamax. From the dealer’s perspective, there’s an advantage to carrying both, in terms of features and in profit margins.

How can a dealer spot a good power conditioner from a not-so-good product, and can you demystify the myths surrounding the use of MOV circuits?

AC power management is a mystery to many. Certainly a well-informed dealer understands that the power grid provided by the utility is hopelessly outdated and over-taxed.

Protection and purification are necessary for reliable trouble-free use and to ensure peak performance. Yet, it is hard to separate fact from fiction with the ever-expanding range of marketing claims made concerning AC power products.

It’s important to look for core technologies that provide home theaters with power management that is proven, reliable and can be explained in realistic terms.

For example, Furman starts with surge suppression that features Series Multi-Stage Protection (SMP). This is non-sacrificial surge suppression that will protect components and survive to protect again. Advanced filtering reduces AC noise that smears and cancels audio resolution and video definition. Non-linear filtering, however, will result in performance that is inconsistent.

Another feature to look for is Transient Power Factor Technology. This technology lowers AC impedance and provides an instant current reservoir for today’s power-starved receivers, multichannel amplifiers and powered subwoofers. Also, look for products that can break a hum-inducing ground loop.

Another mystery or misunderstood subject in AC power management is the Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV). Yes, when these devices are placed in parallel (shunted), across the AC line without a supplementary series or series parallel tuned circuit, they will degrade over time and eventually perish when subjected to a high voltage or current spike.

The same is true of any clamping device, not just MOVs. A diode, gas discharge tube and solid-state relay (SCR) will also be damaged without a tuned series network to dissipate the energy from the spike. It’s not the device so much as the circuit that determines the quality and longevity of the surge suppression product.

Could you provide some sales tips to help installers sell power conditioning and how they can demo the differences in a showroom environment?

We use a couple of different analogies. For example, years ago, bottled water was just coming out and it was a fad. Then everyone started to sell it. The question is: Why would you buy bottled water when you receive water from the utilities?

Why are people buying bottled water today? Because it’s better than the water from the water companies. It’s the same thing with AC power. The power is contaminated and the power companies haven’t updated their systems.

Clean power will prolong the life of electronics, improve the performance of both the sound and video, and will also protect the electronics.

As far as demonstrating it in a showroom, we use an AC noise analyzer that demonstrates how AC noise can be eliminated from audio. We have an A/B comparison-switching device as well. In the showroom, dealers can flip a switch and see or hear the noise and then they can flip the switch back to see the noticeable improvement to the overall picture or sound quality.

The other thing, whether it’s Panamax, Furman or another manufacturer, dealers are looking for ways to improve their margins. Power is considered an attachment.

So, more dealers will look at power and, with the falling margins in plasma for example, they’ve got to find ways to increase their profitability.

Power is one of the things they are looking at and customers can see it. All of our customers are focusing on it.

Furman has introduced its new Elite and Reference i series of products, which features new industrial designs. Beyond the new look, what’s different about the products?

The new Elite series features an elegant, yet rugged construction throughout the series. It also features low-loss, bi-passable 12-volt triggering for systems requiring receiver-based control.

The new IT-Reference 15i and 20i each feature our new Dual Screen Technology. This increases the previously unprecedented levels of AC noise reduction set by prior IT-Reference products to new heights.

Both of these Furman Reference products will unearth greater definition and resolution from your home theater by eliminating an additional 30 percent of common mode AC noise.

Furman products are popular with musicians like Alex Lifeson of Rush, the Counting Crows and Ben Harper, as well as sound engineers and studio pros. What has the company learned from the pro audio community that it has applied to its home theater products?

Because Furman’s been selling to the pro audio community for over 30 years, the products have been designed to withstand the harshest mission-critical environments. Whether it’s a club, outdoor arena or auditorium, all of these environments have the potential to damage and severely limit the performance of critical electronic components.

We carry over the same design philosophy and build quality into our consumer line of products, and we do not re-badge our Pro or MI series of products for the consumer market. The Elite and Reference products have been re-engineered specifically for the requirements of today’s home theater.

In a perfect scenario, an installer works with a new homebuilder to spec a dedicated 20A circuit into the media or theater room, and a Furman unit is used for filtration and surges.

Many homes however don’t exist in this type of example, so how does Furman’s product line specifically address power regulation, brownouts, surges, spikes and ground loops?

There really isn’t a perfect scenario, even with a dedicated 20A circuit. A dedicated outlet will still transmit AC noise and spikes throughout the day. Furthermore, many premium systems will require more than one 20A circuit.

Each system requires analysis to qualify and specify the correct AC power management tool. Even when homes are limited to existing 15A outlets, the same concerns are present—surge suppression, filtering, current compression, ground loops and possibly voltage regulation where brownouts are problematic.

From the Elite-15i through our flagship IT-Reference 20i, we can eliminate these problems. The device required will be determined by the requirements of the system in question. For example, to deal with brownouts, install a Furman SPR-20i.

If an installation features a power amplifier that requires large amounts of current for peak transients, use the Elite-15PFi, the Elite-20PFi, the IT-Reference 15i or 20i. Hum-inducing ground loops? The Furman IT-Ref 7i, 15i and 20i can eliminate them.