Would a UPS be as good as the PS power?

I have an APC SmartUPS 2200 on my system. I had a lot of trouble at this house with short power outages, usually just a few seconds, and besides being annoying when the DVD player resets etc, its not good for the equipment when the power comes back on suddenly. Make sure when you get a UPS that it has a pure sine wave output on the inverter. Most UPS models use a square wave or sawtooth wave since they are designed for computers - and the computer power supply can smooth that out good enough, but for an audio system, that will create a buzz and is probably not very good for your system. The APC SmartUPS series has a sine wave output, but the other models like BackUPS use a stepped square wave so you'll want to avoid that.

Panzercat, how long have you had the 2200 on your system? Also, what's the wattage involved? For similar reasons, I've been considering adding one on (my coral/fish tanks, computer equipment, and most other electrical devices already have them). I'm familiar with the square / sine problem, which is why I've held off - I didn't think any of the APC line was sufficient.

As a computer/network person myself, I have UPS's on all of my customers' servers. I have the APC Smart-1400 UPS which outputs a true sine-wave. I have had this on my audio gear for 1.5 years and thought my power "needs" had been met. Then I auditioned a Blue Circle PLC at home and it dramatically improved the sound - I was very surprised. I believe that under normal use, the APC "Smart" lineup is basically a power bar with surge protection, until the power is cut. Then it switches to battery power. It is not a full time power generator like the PS Audio. I may be wrong on this. So if you like a UPS to guard against power outages, be sure to clean them up with a decent PLC. I have a PS Audio P600 on order and it should be here in a week or so. - Andy

I believe you right. The APC gear is a battery back-up, not a power supply. The battery kicks in when the power goes out or "blinks". Since the APC Smart 1400 is OK for audio equipment and is not conditioner, has anyone considered putting an audio power conditioner between the APC and the audio equipment to get the best of both worlds??

Hello Sugarbrie, be careful about placing multiple power conditioners, back-up power units, etc in series as you start compounding the errors and get additional power factor problems, losses and induced noise into your power line. Better to determine the major power problem you wish to eliminate (or minimize) and work to getting this under control with the absolute minimum of additional "boxes" in the power line. Hope this makes sense, basically - keep it simple. Regards, Richard.