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    April 15, 2007
    APC S15 Review
    Dear Gary:
    I thoroughly enjoy your magazine. The in-depth knowledge a person acquires versus any other A/V magazine is astounding.
    I also was glad to see an article on the APC S15, as APC receives very little A/V press when it comes to their power conditioners. The reason is obvious: the level of performance versus price would put a serious dent in many other manufacturer’s bottom line. The main reason for my letter is the lack of Mr. Blackburn’s mentioning the H15/H10 as an alternative to the S15, as not everyone wants or even needs battery backup (although in many cases the merits are obvious).
    I researched conditioners for several months, then picked up on something in one of your reviewer’s articles: Active versus passive. Once I understood the validity of this argument, it was a no-brainer. I was also shocked to see conditioners costing upwards of $4,000 being just passive conditioners.
    Unfortunately, I found active conditioners were also very expensive. Then I stumbled across the H15. I almost discarded it as just another passive unit because to realize it actually is an active power conditioner one has to almost read between the lines in their literature. I was also stunned to find its MSRP was only $399! And the H10 is only $299! I have found that the markup in “high-end” A/V to be so astronomical that it borders on highway robbery. APC not only charges a fair price, if you compare the technical specifications, they meet or beat any product out there.
    I am confused as to why these units weren’t listed as an option to the excellent S15. Perhaps it was out of respect to some of your advertisers, who can charge several thousand dollars for passive power conditioners and are still less capable than these units? I understand if it was a business decision.

    Lee Anderson, Spokane, Washington

    mailto:scootertip@yahoo.com

    Contributing Editor Doug Blackburn Comments:

    The APC H-series are not exactly “active” power conditioners. They do regulate the AC power line (keep the power at the outlets close to 120VAC all the time) and that is a rather remarkable feature for power conditioners at their retail prices. But truly active power conditioners either completely reconstruct the AC sine wave or use active analog or digital technology to produce an essentially “perfect” AC sine wave. As for why the H-series was not mentioned in the review...well, it was a review of the S-15, not an omnibus article about the entire APC product line.

    You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ mailto:editorgary@widescreenreview.com

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