Review on ⚡️ Furman ELITE15 DMi Linear AC Power Conditioner with Advanced Filtering by Tiarik Gonzalez

AV system finally assembled for my home (Sony 55' 240Hz Flat Panel, DefTech STS Towers and 7.1 Surround Sound, Denon 4311 Processor and matching Denon Bluray Disc Player, High Speed HDMI Cable, standard power cord and connection cord). This system was originally built with a Monster HTS 1650 Power Conditioner that Best Buy added when I bought my Sony. I am currently using an Elite 15 DMi air conditioner in a 2 channel stereo music system and am very happy with the sound and the DMi linear filter technology. There are many very expensive air conditioners on the market and choosing an air conditioner can be intimidating if the person doesn't have much electronics experience (like me). You want the air conditioner to do two things: (1) protect against AC voltage spikes and sags, and (2) boost the video/audio signal AND keep the signal clean while protecting your equipment. Although Monster protected my system, I felt that somehow the A/V signal could be compromised by Monster. My first thought was the Furman Elite 15 PFi Power Conditioner. Compared to the Furman Elite 15 DMi air conditioner (reviewed here) it is identical except that it incorporates a specific type of condenser to provide power reserves for sudden very high current draws. It also requires a separate power cord and has two retractable lights that can be used when there isn't enough light in the room. It doesn't have digital front turn signals like the DMi. This is significantly more expensive than the DMi and requires additional funds for a separate power cable. Since my system never draws much power and because it is significantly more expensive than the DMi, I chose the DMi. In addition, the DMi has two decent digital gauges that look nice in my setup, the voltage gauge and the current voltage consumption gauge. They can be darkened at will. The DMi's included power cord is 14 AWG, which is fine for my system. I'll add that I connected dedicated 12AWG 20W fuse wiring directly to the breaker box (mandatory for all sensitive electronics, including computers). Another plus for the DMi is that it's built like a tank, with an incredible matte black industrial finish. Perfomance. I don't think "dramatic" is an overstatement for video enhancement with DMi. The picture quality improvement was amazing: blacks were blacker, colors were sharper and the overall picture was cleaner. This should be linear filtering technology in action. Great upgrade at a reasonable price. Perhaps the improvement in video quality on the DMi is more of a rebuke to the monster AC than a plus for the DMi. The Monster HTS 1650 isn't an expensive air conditioner, and it's probably fair to say it's the equivalent of a budget power strip from Home Depot. In my opinion, HTS protects but does little. I didn't notice any difference in sound quality when using the DMi versus the Monster. Cons of DMi: The cons are related to my lack of technical knowledge about voltage regulators. The device has switched and unswitched outputs on the rear panel (eight switched and four unswitched outputs plus an additional unswitched output on the front panel). Those terms were left blank during setup, and with a little help from Google and a lot of help from Furman techs, I was able to figure it out and plug the plugs into the correct outlets. Switched outlets are turned on and off with the main toggle switch on the front panel; unswitched outlets are always on, even when the main power switch is off. To be honest I'm not sure why this socket configuration is needed, but it has something to do with the launcher, which according to Tech Furman didn't matter on my system. I wanted to leave the TV, processor, Blu-ray, and speaker subwoofers in standby mode for a quick power-up, so I wanted all rear DMi jacks unplugged and the front DMi toggle switch in the "on" position " leave at any time. Time. Since there weren't enough unplugged ports on the back of the DMi to meet my needs, I was able to bypass this limitation (i.e. unplug them all) by pressing the handy bypass button on the back of the unit. This will still protect the device from AC power surges or sags in standby mode when the DMi's front toggle switch is in the "on" position. As usual, the operating instructions are unclear (for the inexperienced). Furman's technical department helped me a lot. The final downside is that Furman should offer an option to disable all front digital displays if needed. But that doesn't matter as the very faint blue lights on the front don't bother. Highly recommended!