The biggest danger to your home theater is not kids stuffing VCRs or DVD players with as many foreign objects available or scratching the screen of the TV. Although these are vital concerns for the ever-watchful parent, the culprit capable of destroying all your gear in one fell swoop is the electricity that powers it all.

False Sense of Security
Consumers have long relied on the venerable power strip to give them some sense of security from brownouts, power spikes, and surges, but what many consumers don't know is that those cheap little power strips offer little or no protection at all.

Dirty Power
The Power coming into your dwelling can be very dirty, and your components may not be able to filter out the power enough to produce a clean signal. Dirty power can degrade your system's performance and even worse... it can damage your components. If you're power suffers from multiple brownouts or complete power loss, your components can be at severe risk of damage during the brownout or during a power surge when the power kicks back on.

To protect your gear you'll need an AC Line Conditioner that not only "cleans" the power so it's suitable for home theater usage, but also prevents damage to your system from electrical issues.

What a Conditioner Does
An AC Line Conditioner filters the power down to a safe level for home theater components to use, and sends the filtered power off to your gear. Line Conditioners can also filter phone, cable, antenna, and satellite connections as well. After all, it's of no use to protect you home theater from electrical issues if your sat, phone, or cable is allowed to pass through unprotected.

The Price of Protection
AC Line Conditioners minimally cost $80 for a Monster Power Strip that'll filter your power, but these affordable type power strips will most likely not protect much against severe power spikes or lightning strikes. To get that type of protection you'll need to step up to more "component-like" AC Line Conditioners from Panamax and Monster that range from $200-$2000 dollars. These conditioners offer protection from lightning strikes by sacrificing themselves to save the connected equipment.

If you want to protect your home theater investment, and get the best possible performance from your home theater, an AC Line Conditioner should be on your short list of "must-haves".

Performance Gain Claims
Many manufacturers of AC Line Conditioners claim that you'll see performance increases when using an AC Line Conditioner. If your electricity is very unclean you may notice a slight change in performance, but most consumers will find a very little change in performance if any at all.

The best bet is not to view on AC Line Conditioner as the next tweak to the betterment of your home theater, but as the necessary protection needed to save your home theater from electrical issues or failure.

At What Price?
A $200 Panamax AC Line Conditioner will filter your incoming electricity and can even protect your gear from a lightning strike. What you get from more expensive AC Line Conditioners is more electrical outlets and possible reserve power storage so your system has extra power at hand when it needs (such as during loud explosive movie scenes).

For most home theater enthusiasts, the AC Line Conditioners offered by Panamax in the $200-$300 range is more than adequate for their home theater. If you want more options, more robust design, and possible short term power reserves for your home theater than you may want to look into more expensive offerings from Monster and Panamax in the $500-$1,500 range.

Computer Line Conditioners
While computer AC Line conditioners are available for a mere $60, you'll want to stay away from these for home theater purposes as they over-filter the electricity to keep more sensitive computers safe. Using over-filtered power for home theater purposes can degrade the performance of audio and video tremendously. AC Line Conditioners made for home theaters filter the electricity just enough to make the power suitable for your gear without decreasing the performance of your home theater.

Summary
If you're a home theater enthusiast looking for the next system tweak you may be disappointed with an AC Line Conditioner as most consumers see or hear little difference after connecting one to their home theater. What you get from an AC Line Conditioner is actual protection from multiple power issues that most consumers think they're protected from by using cheap power strips.

Why would you spend thousands of dollars on a home theater to leave it vulnerable to power brownouts, surges, and electrical storms? At the very least, an AC Line Conditioner will cost as much as a budget priced component.

AC Line Conditioner Brands (listed alphabetically):
- Audio Power
- Monster Cable
- Panamax
- Richard Gray's Power Company