Power line conditioning for HD displays

Not thrilled at the notion of consolidating attic clutter and scrubbing behind the refrigerator this Spring Cleaning season. Perhaps it's time to invest that tax return on some cleaning agents for your new HD TV instead. Any gadget guru can offer their opinion on the most riveting flat panel display but for serious videophiles who desire peak performance and preventative action against unforeseeable events, it is necessary to look beyond the power strip.

Introduction
Many popular brands of plasma displays on the market today consume between 400 to 700 watts of power in an hour. When combined with even a moderate home theater set-up, the demands for power delivery can be far beyond what a home's AC line can deliver. To completely understand the issue, one must first look at where the power is coming from both inside and outside the home. On the street, power lines run 240 volts of balanced power, more than enough for a premium home theater if you could get it directly from the transformer. Unfortunately you can't, and power is transferred from a utility pole and shared amongst neighbors, often with low gauge wire where poor mechanical connections become fatigued and stressed from constant surges. Once in the house, most electrical services are in the 100-volt range (200-volts in newer homes); a far cry from the 600-volts cranked out in a dealer showroom where an HD display is demonstrated to look its best. This lack of on-demand power in the home is what prohibits sensitive audio and video gear from performing at its peak.

Power Line Conditioners (PLC's)
Power Line Conditioners (PLC's) have long been the component of choice used to address insufficient and "polluted" power. While most PLC's adequately do what they claim, (reduce line noise and protect from spikes and surges), it's the side effects and what they DON'T do that can be deleterious to an HD display. PLC's are generally wired in-series with active and passive components adding resistance and restricting current flow to electronics. Electricity also faces many "obstacles" when passing through a typical PLC such as small air core chokes, voltage regulators and sine wave regenerators. With limited current comes reduced dynamics and compromised performance of audio and video equipment in the home, making music and video seem less real and more mechanical.