Last week, we asked Krista Haughey, AudioQuest's Senior Director, North American Sales, to share her perspective on the PowerQuest TV3 non-sacrificial power conditioner. Krista cited its compact size and versatility as reasons it can appeal to a wide and diverse audience of consumers.
Today, we chat with the product's designer, Senior Director of Engineering Garth Powell, about the TV3's origins and its marketplace significance.
Q: The first compact video power conditioner was created more than 25 years ago, and you were a lead member of the design team. What market conditions dictated that product, and what market conditions today have inspired a return to the category?
GP: The granddaddy of all rectangular compact power conditioners was the Furman AC-215, developed by me and Bob Cavin, who was then Furman's Vice President of Engineering.
Copied for decades and to great success, that unit was designed for two primary applications: projectors with ceiling-mount wall or clock outlets, and the then-new darlings of the home theater industry, the wall-mounted 42” and 50” plasma flat-screen television, either NEC or Runco — take your pick! Those TVs were heavy, the television mounts protruded from the wall by at least 5”, they had a fraction of the performance of today’s wafer-thin OLED televisions, and they cost nearly ten times as much. If you were fortunate enough to even get one — they were in short supply at first — they needed surge protection as well as AC filtering.
Q: The PowerQuest TV3 is a non-sacrificial surge protector. Why is this important?
GP: Like the Furman AC-215, the new PowerQuest TV3 features non-sacrificial surge protection with automatic over-voltage shutdown. Nothing else nearly that compact — about the size of a VHS tape, while I’m feeling nostalgic — boasts that level of protection.
Further, a typical sacrificial power conditioner can require replacement after a catastrophic power event, which causes hardship for installers and other AV professionals.
When we decided to offer a compact conditioner, I took the opportunity to correct what I had regretted with the old Furman unit: Its mounts were removable but clumsy and less than ideal once the industry went away from large protruding television mounts. We also realized that, even if we needed to grow the unit slightly, a high-current outlet for a soundbar was a must! A soundbar is a power amplifier after all, and nobody had even imagined something like that when the Furman and its legion of clones were created many years ago.
The customer deserves the very best performance and protection we can possibly provide given the product’s size, application, and cost... If it’s not up to our own exacting standards, it’s not good enough for our customers.
Q: You have proven equally adept at designing flagship products like the Niagara 7000 ($12,500 US) and relatively affordable products like the PowerQuest TV3 ($249.95). What are the distinct challenges and rewards inherent to each design process?
GP: It’s simple really: The customer deserves the very best performance and protection we can possibly provide given the product’s size, application, and cost. From superior filtering components to linearized filter design to directionally controlled conductor AC cabling, we test, look, and listen to every part of the circuit and final product. If it’s not up to our own exacting standards, it’s not good enough for our customers.
Learn more about the PowerQuest TV3 non-sacrificial surge protector.
