Q: How much power management does my system need?

That depends on how many and what type of electronics are in your system. Jeff Lubitsky, Richard Gray's Power Company vice president of sales, has some advice on the question at hand, which is one he hears on a daily basis.

1. At the most basic level, assemble a list of all the components-amplifiers or receivers, plasmas, subwoofers, processors and so on-you plan on plugging into the system. Then determine what the maximum draw is for each component on the list. If maximum power consumption (MPC) is not listed on the component itself (usually near the power inlet on the back of the unit), most manufacturers will list this information in the product specifications on their web sites. You can cheat a little at this stage, as many items such as preamps, CD players and DVD players, have very small draws. Assuming roughly 50 watts per unit is usually a safe bet and keeps the math easy.
2. Add up the MPC number, and get an estimate of "worst case scenario" power demands. We say worst case, as there are some variables, and again, you are looking for maximum power consumption. It's important to remember that some components, like big power amps and receivers, usually never operate at their max power unless you really drive them hard, have little to no hearing left, or don't have any neighbors within a quarter-mile radius.
   
   Other components, such as LCD TVs, projectors and plasmas, will almost always have a constant power draw when not in whisper or power save mode. This is important as you approach the next step of specifying power demands, because you will need to make sure that you have the right power capacities at the breaker box. We almost universally recommend a dedicated circuit for A/V projects. This helps eliminate some errant noise issues on shared circuits while keeping the guesswork out of what your actual draw on the circuit is (for instance, those 100-watt light bulbs all over the room do count, and they add up quickly). In general, use 1,800 watts and 2,000 watts as a basic guideline for the max available power for a 15 and 20 amp circuit, respectively.
3. Applying the number you came up with in step one to the max available will determine whether you have enough power at your circuit. When in doubt, apply common sense. If you are at 1,500 watts for everything, you should be fine with a single circuit and, in turn, a single power conditioner rated at 15 amps will most likely provide you the protection you need. Likewise, if you are at 2,000 watts but know you are an easy listener, and you have a big tube amplifier that accounts for two-thirds of the draw, you're probably going to be able to slip under the wire. Just understand that future expansion may create some difficulties. Along the same lines, if you added up 3,200 watts MPC, it's best to plan on adding a second circuit to split the loads as evenly as possible. With the popularity of distributed multiroom audio and video systems, consumers will often find that they need three or four circuits to handle the huge loads that these systems can represent. It may be worth looking at a transformer-based product like the RGPC PowerHouse, through which you can run huge loads off of a single 240v/30amp circuit.
4. Determining which power conditioner is right depends solely on your needs. If you have a simple system and are merely trying to protect it, then surge suppressors can fit the bill. If you have better equipment and wish to drive it harder, a more feature-rich power conditioner can help make the equipment work as it was intended. Some systems rely on filters, and others will use isolation. All you have to do is plug a great amplifier into a cheap or poorly designed power strip to determine the difference good power can make in an installation.