Tweakers' Asylum: REVIEW: Furman Power Factor Pro Power Conditioner/Surge Protector by SoftwireEngineer

Model:	Power Factor Pro
Category:	Power Conditioner/Surge Protector
Suggested Retail Price:	$219
Description:	Power factor correction, noise filtering
Manufacturer URL:	Furman
Model Picture:	View

Review by SoftwireEngineer ( A ) on December 18, 2004 at 16:06:32
IP Address: 64.166.84.221

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Recently, I have been on a quest to improve the noise floor of my system, while at the same time, not giving up or actually gaining on dynamics in my system. I have always plugged my Audio Refinement Complet Int.Amp straight into the wall instead of into the Monster Cable HTS2500, because I found it limited the dynamics. I later purchased a PS Audio Ultimate Outlet. This did not seem to limit the dynamics but I was not entirely satisfied with it. So I sold it. Later, I got fascinated with a different amplifier, the el cheapo, Panasonic XR50. I liked the detail and dynamics of this one, that I retired the Audio Refinement Complete. But the fact that this did not have a good power supply inside it, kept bothering me. I decided to get the Blue Circle Music Ring 1200. This surely helped improve the noise. The bass also got a little bit more harder and the soundstage improved.
I recently been reading the posts of 'reincarnate' on avsforum. He had ordered this new device from Furman. Its job is to do power factor correction. Power factor can trivially be thought of as a phase shift between the voltage and current. That is at a particular voltage, you may not be getting the right current (for the impedence of the device connected) at that very moment - phase delay is a miniscule time delay. The Furman device promised to handle this using capacitors. Since I liked the logic behind the technology, I decided to order it.
The device looks bigger and heavier than on the picture, almost the size of two bricks. I now have connected the Furman to my cryoed wall outlet and the Blue Circle MR1200 is connected to it.
So what do I hear ? A slight increase in 'brilliance' in the music. The reverbs and decay are more perceptible. The drums sound a little bit more metallic or seem to have been tuned a little higher in pitch. The improvement with the MR1200 is only very little and incremental. But I like the effect.
I then decided to connect the amp and player to the Power Factor Pro. Looks like I do not miss the MR1200 anymore. The noise floor, is still lower (Furman claims 40db at 10Khz) and bass is harder and the soundstage very good (an area where the Panny needs improvement). This means that Power Factor Pro is a reasonably good power conditioner which does not have the limiting dynamics of other devices in its price range.

Furman is pushing the device to musicians, claiming, their guitar amps/keyaboars will sound more dynamic. Some people have noticed an inductor in series in the circuit and speculate it could be current limiting. I have not experienced any such limitations. Maybe, the capacitors take up the slack. More knowledgeable and motivated people can investigate this further.

But the essence of this review, is that, this one is a great power conditioner for this price. Surely check it out.

URL - http://www.furmansound.com/pro/pwr_cond_seq/cond/PFPRO.htm

Product Weakness: Only four outlets,
Product Strengths: Dynamics, IEC socket

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Panasonic XR50
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	-
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Philips 963SA
Speakers:	Silverline Sonatina
Cables/Interconnects:	Zu Wax, HomeGrown Audio
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	New Age, Classical, Classic Rock
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Blue Circle MR1200, MonsterCable HTS2500
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	Only four outlets,
Product Strengths:	Dynamics, IEC socket