Matching special power protection features to your gear

While we can't cover the power protection needs for every kind of audio/video component in an overview article such as this, we can touch on some of the most important aspects to consider for some broad catagories of equipment. Here are a few features to look for if you have any of the following:

Some line conditioners install on your wall or even flush in your wall, making them a great cosmetic match for wall-mounted TVs. (Monster® In-wall PowerCenter™ shown)

LCD and Plasma TVs — Line conditioning
Electronic noise from an unfiltered power source can visibly affect the picture a flat-panel TV displays — especially high-definition images. While the effect isn't as dramatic as the "snow" that appears on a tube TV, it nevertheless impacts performance.

In a flat-panel TV, electronic noise can cause individual pixels to shine slightly brighter than those around them. Even though a single pixel isn't visible to most people sitting at a comfortable viewing distance from the screen, thousands of these affected pixels scattered across the screen can cumulatively have an impact. The effect is generally a softening of image contrast, with washed-out blacks and poor shadow detail.

Line conditioning minimizes this electronic noise, allowing the image to remain sharp. For extremely sensitive high-end electronics, a power regenerator may be required to completely eliminate visible noise.

Rear-projection TVs — Uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
Many rear-projection TVs use an extremely bright and powerful bulb. This bulb becomes very hot during normal use, and is cooled by a fan inside the TV. When the TV is turned off, the fan continues to blow for a few minutes to ensure that the bulb cools down properly.

If power to a rear-projection TV is suddenly cut, the fan stops before the bulb's sufficiently cooled. This fatigues the bulb's glass (like putting a warm glass in a sink of cold water), and significantly shortens its operational life span. A UPS component keeps feeding current from its backup battery to the TV if the power suddenly goes out, giving you an opportunity to turn the set off so it can shut down properly.

Systems with separate amps and preamps — Sequential turn-on
Some higher end systems use a separate preamp and amp. A preamp usually requires a few seconds after it's turned on to stabilize, while an amplifier is "ready to go" almost immediately. These two components shouldn't be turned on simultaneously. If they are, you may hear a loud, possibly harmful "thump" to sound in the speakers when the amplifier kicks in before the preamp can fully control it.

While one could turn on each component in the proper order individually, a power protector with a sequential turn-on (and turn-off) usually fills the bill. When this kind of power protector is turned on, its various outlets send current in a set order, allowing time for those components that need to "warm up" before the rest of the system gets turned on.