Line Conditioner and the m125's

I am looking for some feedback on the idea of using the Furman PF15 line conditioner in my 2channel setup with the m125's.
I currently have two systems using one set of B&W804S speakers. Home Theater and 2channel. I have the Outlaw 7700 amplifier which is plugged into the wall outlet as recommended in the manual.
Would the Furman help in the control of line voltage with the m125's?
I have monitored the voltage output in the morning, midday and evening and they the readings do vary.
Would the Furman therefore be an asset in regards to the extension of life in my tubes since it monitors incoming AC voltage?

Thanks,
Frank

I have the 20-amp Furman and am quite pleased with it. Spendy though, but built like a brick.
We have wildly fluctuating voltages in our power grid and the Furman clamps the output to 121VAC max, so I just bias for that level.
Tube heaters, or filaments, from the 1950s suffer from higher voltages, but 121 is within 10 percent of their tolerance, so all's well. Furman also has excellent customer support, even for dumb questions.
Many on this board will recommend a Variac instead, but my experiences with them have not been good. Seems like QC has gone out the window on those guys.

David, QC on all Variacs or imported vs. Staco?

audiobill wrote:David, QC on all Variacs or imported vs. Staco?

Bill, my only experience is with the imported ones. I've had two that crapped out within a couple of weeks, so gave up on that route. I might c/o Staco, but don't know them. The Furman is doing its yoeman's duty and I've not blown up any tubes due to overvoltage. Blown 'em up for lots of other reasons (pilot error) but I can't blame the voltage for that.

Worth mentioning again - a variac will lock the power at a fixed amount up or down from the wall current. If the wall current fluctuates, so will what comes out the variac. Set the variac to drop the wall current 7vac when it's at 125vac, and you're golden. Same drop setting if the wall current hits 120vac puts you into brown out territory, which can do as much (or more) damage as high levels.

I'd only use one if you already had reasonably steady power to begin with and just needed to tweak the range.

Thanx for the reminder though. My line level here was averaging 125vac, so I built a lil bucker to drop it to around 117vac. Power company came through and did something, and now the line level averages 120vac as it should. No longer need the bucker when it's like that, but I do like to check every now and then to see if anything's changed. Been real steady lately though, so maybe the worst is behind me.

I do like the idea of a good line conditioner, but I'm just too dang cheap to make the investment. The only critical component in my system is the ST120, and I can always build another one for the same money ...

So the consensus would be to take advantage of the Furman.
BTW...I am keeping a log for a few days on the spikes of voltage in my area if there are any variances.
So far levels in the AM had not exceeded 120.9 with no excessive spikes.
Midday 116.5
Evening 116.7

this is the least expensive power line conditioner I've found that will maintain the voltage within +/- 5vac of 120vac
Panamax M5400 $441
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SXWGAG

bluemeanies wrote:So the consensus would be to take advantage of the Furman.
BTW...I am keeping a log for a few days on the spikes of voltage in my area if there are any variances.
So far levels in the AM had not exceeded 120.9 with no excessive spikes.
Midday 116.5
Evening 116.7

That ain't too bad. I went with the Furman because on our local grid we have mine hoists, compressors, mill motors etc. that cause pretty big swings. The 20-amp Furman will set you back a couple kilobucks but it will keep things within a volt plus or minus of 120 VAC. Mine has worked flawlessly and without pulling much juice. Plus you can toggle the display between amps and volts, so if the amperage pull suddenly jumps or drops you know ahead of time something ain't right.
With KT-120s it shows a draw of about 7 amps; with 6550s it shows a pull of 5.1 amps.
Just takes one level of worry out of the tube equation. Bought mine from Crutchfield. I think the UPS guy sprung his back hauling it up the steps. Whatever you do, don't drop it on your foot. It's a heavy SOB.
I feed it from the wall on a dedicated breaker with a manual re-set ground-fault interrupter, because quick on-off-ons are not healthy for Dynaco-style circuitry and we get them here in thunderstorm season. Cheap insurance; they're about $30 on Amazon. There are a kazillion outlets on the back of the Furman, so you can plug all your electronics into it and give them the same protection. Far better than a Variac IMHO, which simply rides the line voltage up and down.

Does it also give balanced power, or merely stable voltage?

Stable voltage