Audio Video News

Most home theater fans are aware of the fact that electrical noise can degrade the performance of their audio and video equipment.

In March, PS Audio began to ship the Power Director, the latest in its growing family of innovative power delivery systems. A power management device designed to perform all the necessary switching and network command functions that are needed for a custom home audio/video system or rack-mount environment, The Power Director performs AC conditioning, surge and spike protection, non-current limiting, and communication and switching interfaces. The unit is equipped with 12 duplex outlets [six receptacles] and four dedicated 20-amp "Ultimate circuits," for superb filtering for every time of device likely to be used in a home theater system.

The Power Director features PS Audio's exclusive Ultimate Outlet circuitry, which completely eliminates common and differential mode noise, protects equipment from surges and spikes, and reduces the output impedance of AC power from the wall outlet by a factor of three. The Boulder, CO-based technology innovator also claims that the Power Director is the "ultimate device for powering a custom system with interconnectivity, performs the switching and network command functions required by today's sophisticated, highly demanding custom home A/V environments." Custom installers will especially appreciate its capability of presetting the input voltage before any protection circuitry is activated. It also allows adjustment of the delay time before the unit resets itself and powers back up, making it customizable for use in a wide variety of environments. The rack-mountable Power Director's internal input power supply can accept 90-300 volts with no user switching necessary.

Construction details: the Power Director features four 20-amp precision-wound baluns-highly efficient transformer cores with identical, balanced windings wrapped around each half of a donut-shaped toroid. Wound with extremely heavy gauge pure copper wire and terminated in a network of Class X2 and Class Y2 film capacitors, the baluns lower overall output impedance by a factor of three. Each 20-amp Power Director circuit can be dedicated to a particular class of products, such as digital, video, amplifiers, and the like, thereby minimizing induced noise from nearby equipment.

The Power Director is modular and upgradeable, with one input module and three output module slots on the rear panel. The interchangeable modules allow installers to change the type of AC plug and the voltage received by that plug. The plugs can be PS Audio Power Ports, standard-grade US 110/220 outputs, UK outlets, or Shuko sockets. Smart circuitry automatically switches internal voltage to accommodate the specific plug or plugs being used. The board for the Power Director's main input module includes three CATV inputs and CATV outputs for cable and antenna protection, one phone input and two outputs for telephone protection, four slide switches to control the output delay, a 15-amp resettable circuit breaker, a 15-amp IEC input, a 12-volt external trigger input, a PS buss that serves as a communication link for all PS Audio components, and a Panja Crestron interface slot for an off-the-shelf Panja card that allows customers to interface with CE-buss equipped products.

The Power Director is designed to work independently or with PS Audio's Power Producer, the industry's first A/V-ready Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) "AC regeneration" device designed exclusively for the high-end A/V market. The Power Producer, available later in 2002, will deliver up to 1500 watts of pure sine wave power in the event of a power loss, and provides a series of key power services that include high- and low-level voltage regulation and protection against blackouts, brownouts, power surges and all other types of power interruption. The Power Director is available now at a suggested price of $1,495.