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A number of friends and relatives have flat-screen TV's they've bought in
the last couple of years, along with consumer-grade audio systems, AND they
have those Monster (brand) power conditioners. You know Monster-they're
the folks that charge $100 for a 3-ft. length of wire.

Anyway, places such as Ultimate Electronics and Circuit City are pushing
these devices, usually those made by Monster.

Lately, I noticed APC was advertising their power conditioners in a
consumer electronics/computer magazine.

I've got a lot of high-end audio and video equipment I've been using for
many years, in a variety of cities, and I DON'T have a power conditioner;
heck, I don't even have any surge suppressors! I've never had a problem
with most of my gear--at least, not problems that could be attributed to
power fluctuations.

Question is: are these things really worthwhile or necessary?



They're worthwhile if you can't find any other way to rid your wallet of all
that burdensome money. For the most part, power conditioners and surge
protectors are snake oil. It's common for people to blame power glitches for
equipment failure, while in reality it's very rare, a well designed piece of
equipment can easily deal with anything the power line is likely to throw at
it. If a glitch causes it to fail, it was on the edge anyway.

If you saw the profit margins on anything made by Monster, you'd understand
clearly why stores push them.