Hmmn ... I'm a little suspicious of using a UPS A/V unit for a Mac Pro. Notice how it says "Sine Wave" and not "Pure Sine Wave" (like the APC Smart-UPS has). Not saying you're wrong; just that without stronger evidence, my inclination would be to not use one of these with computer equipment like a server (Mac Pro or otherwise). Anyone else?
Your method of instant dismissal for this item is incorrect you are taking yourself away from a good deal.
In this case you need to use this quote from CSI Miami
" Trust But Verify" ( 5 points to the first person that names the actor I quoted)
http://www.audioholics.com/news/trade-show-coverage/2005-cedia-expo/apc-s15-sbatt-power-conditioners
http://www.hemagazine.com/node/APCs_S15_power_conditioner
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0806/aachapter82.htm
The below is pulled from the link above
...
Then I heard about a new product from a non-audio related company called American Power Conversion Corporation, maker for 20 years of power protection equipment for everything from home computers to large government installations. If you’ve had a computer in your house, it’s almost a surety you’ve had one of their uninterruptible power supplies protecting it.
Not satisfied with being one of the largest companies of this type, they decided to form a branch to produce protection equipment designed especially for audio-video systems. From the looks of it, they have combined the knowledge obtained from their computer UPS products with some excellent research into how home audio-video systems are set up, and came up with their
APC S10 & S15 Power Conditioner With Battery Backup
They realized that audio systems are very prone to signal degradation from less than pure 60 Hz. sine waves, so instead of producing the typical power supply with a square wave or so-called modified sine wave full of harmonics, they did the right thing and produced a pure 60 Hz. sine wave. Then they took the twelve outlets and separated them into five separate isolated banks, consisting of 6 for digital equipment, two for video, two for low power equipment, and two for high powered amplifiers, these latter two having different protection to minimize affecting current draw with high volume surges. Two of the sections were placed on delayed turn-on so that preamps and other source equipment will be fully powered up before the amplifiers so major thumps causing speaker damage won’t occur.
For those fanatics who can hear fan noise, they set up the fan in their unit only to go on when the unit is on battery back-up or in an over-wattage situation. While this is great 99 percent of the time, one of its three minor faults by my standards is that when the fan does come on it is fairly loud. Thus if you want to go off the electrical line you should place the unit somewhere out of noise range. Happily this only occurs on sound peaks, which will mask the noise somewhat.
Then they built in some battery backup to help further the isolation from the mains, smooth power requirements when sudden surges call for extra power and to give some shut-down time for the system if the AC is suddenly removed by power loss so that the amps are not still on when the preamps shut down. For those fanatics who want to completely isolate themselves from the power grid, they added an inlet for daisy-chained battery backup units to give as much off the grid time as required.
To completely isolate the system from over voltage and lightning strikes, they supplied three sets of F plugs for TV cables, Ethernet and phone ports. Surges from all inputs are limited to a maximum of less than 40 volts with a 6000-Volt strike, far below the standard for other units.
The back of the unit also has a light showing faulty grounding. It came on when I used one of my high end power cords, which made me realize that I had cut off the grounding pin previously because the equipment it was being used on gave a 60 Hz. hum. Obviously the unit wants the ground to be there to shunt noise away from the system.
They supply an excellent 12 gauge AC cord and have an IEC plug for those high-enders wishing to use specialty cords. During my trials, there was no difference in sound between their AC cable and several high-end cables tried. Save your money.
The front of the unit is a separate panel that snaps into place and has all of the controls and an LCD screen. While the vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) is very bright, they can be turned off so that they don’t interfere with late night listening or viewing. Unhappily, minor fault # 2 is that a bright blue ring light around the on-off button stays on, which is somewhat distracting. It should cut off with the other lights. Put some black tape over it.
So What Does The Unit Do?
First, it corrects for voltage changes, and actually shows the in and output voltages on the VFD. The unit will keep 118 to 122 Volts between 90 to 135 Volts and suppress surges when the power turns off and comes back on. While we have the poorest power line noise in my area, far surpassing New York’s according to fellow audiophiles who’ve visited here, the voltage in my area is fairly stable with minimal brown-outs. We did have a couple of quick power drops at which times the house lights dimmed for several seconds, the unit recorded an average input of 105 Volts, with an output of a steady 118 volts. The only difference with the unit was that the fan turned on and the unit made up for the lowered voltage by adding juice from the batteries, rather than the use of a variable transformer like many other units. It did this very quickly as even the home theater computer that was attached to the unit didn’t stutter.
Second, it prevents voltage surges not only through the AC, but also from external antennas, cable TV hookups, telephone and Ethernet connections to external computers. A couple of years ago, we had a surge through my C-band satellite dish due to a lightning strike a mile away from the house, that came in through the antenna cable which wiped out a VCR and the satellite receiver. APC guarantees against this problem.
Third, it supplies 900 watts average of clean power. And i do mean clean!!! If you’ve read my previous articles, you know that my system is already very isolated from AC noise, using the THOR unit from Nordost, two Environmental Potentials 2450 units at the system and their 2050 wave correction unit at my junction box, and high end audio cables and Walker Audio Velocitors on all equipment, so the system should have optimal isolation from the worst the power company can dish out.
Well this unit surpasses all of them when used alone and actually cleans up the power further when used in addition to the above. I wouldn’t have believed it as the system was sounding superb before. Adding the APC decreased noise coming from the speakers further to the point of inaudibility of any extraneous sound. This allows more ambient and very low-level information to come through which adds to the realism of the presentation. In addition, bass became tighter and more lifelike, less boomy and chestier. High frequency hash disappeared. On surround there was a more life-like presentation of three-dimensional space.
Clark Johnsen was over last night and brought a 5.1 channel SACD recording from Ray Kimber using his ISOMIKE system, and on one of the bands Ray has singers in a circle around the mikes saying their names. This is the first time when I actually could hear a true image of a person coming from between the front and side speakers; something some audio experts say cannot be done. On two channel recordings, one can perceive a definite concert hall space out to beyond the listener on great recordings, something I’ve only heard rarely late at night. That’s life-like reproduction of space. Used alone, without any of the other pieces of equipment but with the high-end cords, the unit does as well as all of the other pieces of equipment combined at improving the sound, and this without any of the adverse effects heard previously with other line cleaners.
For the average audio video system one unit will be adequate, but for some high enders with mega-watt amplifiers, or others, such as me, with a 7.1 channel system with seven subwoofers and a 9-inch CRT projector, one unit may not be enough. Happily, the unit reads out the wattage used and when it goes over about 920 watts will beep, turn on its lights and add battery backup, allowing surges up to about 1800 watts before pooping out. Unhappily it keeps making both beeping and fan noise after a few seconds, so it shouldn’t be used in over wattage situations for long periods of time. The company has assured me that any short-term over wattage situations will not harm the unit. I guarantee you that if you have a big subwoofer and watch action movies, over wattage will occur. For my situation, the company sent me a second unit, and using the wattage meters, and the fact most of my amps are Class A tubes requiring a continuous wattage, I was able to almost balance perfectly my system such that one unit was using an average of 768 and the other 802 watts. As one subwoofer amp was attached to each unit, even on Star Wars III, both peaked out in short bursts at about 1600 watts without ill effects, except for the listeners, some of whom had damp pants.
I hope this will be my last column on electricity as this unit alone has improved my system to the point where I could live with it forever, and with the addition of the THOR and my various high end power cords, seems to have solved all of my AC problems. Whether it will do the same for you and whether its worth its $1499 list price to you really depends on how polluted your AC is and how much of an audio fanatic you are. This unit is the best AC cleaner that I’ve encountered and both will be staying in my system. If it had been available three months ago, the THOR wouldn’t have been purchased, and if 10 years ago my bank account would be significantly stronger today.
For those with smaller systems, the S-10 may be sufficient as it is built to the same standards, just with a lower wattage rating.
I give it my highest recommendation.
This piece of equipment for this price is a ridiculously good deal.
Note this is an edit; Why because the above are reviews. I went on site and APC lists their models as sine wave or stepped sine wave
http://www.apc.com/products/apcav/products/index.cfm?action=detail&base_sku=J10BLK
J10 stepped sine wave
http://www.apc.com/products/apcav/products/index.cfm?action=detail&base_sku=S10
s10 sine wave
http://www.apc.com/products/apcav/products/index.cfm?action=detail&base_sku=J15BLK
J15 stepped sine wave
http://www.apc.com/products/apcav/products/index.cfm?action=detail&base_sku=S15
s15 sine wave
(((((( To further my trust but verify method I called APC support. First did a chat then was given a number 1 800 555 2725 to call spoke with a nice polite tech named Jonathan . He assured me All apc s units are pure sine wave all j units are stepped. They will send an email which I will post. He also let me know that the s10 and s15 use the same batteries the s10 has a small inverter then the s15. HE said all of these use pure sine wave not stepped. He is also sending me a followup email.
plus he said the units are basically clones of the
APC SMART-UPS XL 1400VA RM 3U 120V
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SU1400RMXL3U )))))))
Buy it if you need it. from vanns.com these will sell out.. they had 151 yesterday now they have 144
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/753163336/apc-s15?s_c=site_search
☟☟☟☟☟
one last edit.
Jonathan F of APC Sent me a follow-up email stating that the apc s15 and s10 have pure sine wave output. Out of privacy concerns i won't post it. But if they send me an email they would do it for anyone else .
So as far as I am concerned if you need a unit the apc s15 is the one.
). This isn't a bad idea, but it will increase the costs (even a 1500VA could have trouble producing that much power for startup, particularly for a stepped inverter and/or if the batteries have some age on them).
