Review (May 2005) – Panamax MAX® 5510-PRO ACRegenerator® A/V Line Conditioner | |||
Panamax offers a comprehensive line of power protection products including the MAX® line, which is specifically designed for audio and home theater systems. The MAX® product line has been around for more than a decade and continues to provide customers with quality power products at reasonable prices. The latest MAX® 5510-PRO builds on the original MAX® 5500 design, yet offers capabilities geared for custom installers. Featuring an RS232 interface that can work with home automation and control systems, the MAX® 5510-PRO continues to offer users Tri-Power Filtration System that includes transformer isolated or balanced power for digital sources, separate Balanced Double L filtration circuits for reduced EMI/RFI on analog components and two inductorless, high-current outlets for power amplifiers or powered subwoofers. The MAX® 5510-PRO comes with a 10-foot heavy-duty detachable power cord, convenience light and a pair of rack mount ears. A pair of RG-6 patch cables, a telephone cable and an ethernet cable is also included. Panamax’s Isolated Power uses the secondary windings of the internal 750VA Front Panel The front panel of the MAX® 5510-PRO has a stylish look similar to the original MAX® 5510, but does not include the bulky XLR-style lamp connector. Instead, the area has been streamlined and replaced with a power/status LED. We like the cleaner look, but users will no longer have access to the detachable light on the front of the unit. The MAX® 5510-PRO has solid build quality that results in a unit that weighs about 31 pounds. The Power Switch button on the front panel is one of two ways to activate a turn-on or shutdown sequence for the Isolated and High Current outlets. Status indicators are provided for Switched Outlets, DC Voltage Trigger, Unsafe Voltage, Isolated Power and Balanced Power status. Panamax has kept the convenient front panel outlet for temporary devices needing AC power and we made good use of it. Blue Glow  Panamax has also improved the backlight on the two front panel metersused for current and voltage monitoring. They now have selectable colors (blue or amber) and light intensity (low and high). We preferred the blue backlight set at the lower intensity level for our home theater viewing. The backlighting looks great and is evenly distributed over the panel without any hot spots. The blue backlight certainly gives the MAX® 5510-PRO a more modern look found on most of today’s components. Both meters can be manually zeroed using the slotted trim on the lower front of each meter. The accuracy was good when we compared it to our bench meters. We used a Powerstat Variable Autotransformer to check the under-voltager and over-voltage shutoff. The unit detected an unsafe voltage when the utility power dropped below 94 VAC or went above 139 VAC. Inside The guts of the MAX® 5510-PRO have been completely reorganized from the earlier MAX® 5510 we reviewed. However, many of the same protection and design features are still part of the new PRO version. The center of the unit is occupied by a large 720VA toriodal isolation transformer along with several modular circuit boards. The layout is well organized and divided into functional blocks with the details silkscreened on the top of each circuit board. The main power supply board also contains the microprocessor used to provide the intelligence and communication via the RS232 interface. Several smaller boards hold the display and control electronics, coaxial protection circuits, and protected LAN/telephone circuits. Three separate heavy-duty relays are used to engage power to the rear outlets as long as the utility voltage levels are within acceptable limits. The analog meters are mounted to a separate circuit card and also include the blue and amber LEDs. The dual “balanced, double L” filtration circuits are clearly seen on the output boards that utilize the large chokes and output relays. Heavy gauge wire is used throughout the output stages for the power outlets. Rear  Therear panel of the MAX® 5510-PRO is densely populated with connectors. The detachable power cord can be held in place with a locking clip that screws into the back of the unit. This prevents the power cord from being accidentally pulled out from the unit. A ground lug is also available for connecting a solid ground wire to the unit. A total of ten power outlets grouped into three functional blocks are available. Two High-current Outlets are specifically designed for power amplifiers and powered subwoofers to provide noise filtration without limiting current. These outlets can be configured to either turn-on instantly or provide a 10-second delay to prevent “speaker thump”. Four Isolated Outlets provide isolated/balanced power from the secondary windings of the internal 720VA toroidal transformer. This completely isolates the incoming power from the secondary output. These outlet are current limited to a total of six amps. The Isolated Outlets Delay Switch configures these outlets to be “No Delay”, “Always On” or “10-second delay”. The four Always On Outlets are designed to provide power to analog components such as preamplifiers, receivers, VCRs and tape decks. These outputs are always powered on as long as the unit is connected to wall power and fall within the allowable voltage range. Each of the two banks has indepenent Balanced Double L filtration circuits. The Something Two The Panamax – Kevin Nakano |
| Review System |
Projector: Optoma H77 High-Definition HD2+ DLP™ Projector |
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Panamax AC Specifications
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Coax Specifications
Telco Specifications
RCA Specifications
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Company Phone: 800-472-5555 Model: M5510-Pro | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
— Kevin Nakano Reprinted with permission from the L.A. Audio File | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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