Home > Consumer Reviews > Belkin AP21100-12 PureAV PF31 Home Theater Power Console

With a fair amount of high-quality (and therefore expensive) equipment to protect in my home theater, I wanted something better than a simple surge-protector to safeguard my system. We get some wild electrical storms in Upstate South Carolina, and I have had some electronics ruined by weird power spikes associated with nearby lightning. The PF31 provides a good measure of safety, and filters classes of components individually. While I have heard some folks say that filtering makes a big difference in picture quality, I haven't noticed much change. Then again, my video quality was pretty perfect to begin with. Mostly, I appreciate the separation of high-current component protection, and the fact that following a power outage you must manually re-power the power amps (or whatever you have connected to that outlet section). That helps when the power company slams a few spikes down the line when they re-connect the downed wires. The voltage and amperage metering is a nice touch as well. It's good to see how much deviation there is in line voltage, and that you aren't too close to the maximum amperage of the circuit that powers your equipment. Unless you are running a massive A/V system, I think this unit will perform as well as the more expensive models, but it is hard to know without actually having them running side-by-side when lightning hits your house directly. Basically this unit is what I was looking for, and I'm very happy with it.

I have several high-dollar A/V components, and I want to do everything I can to protect my investment.

But how do you evaluate power protection? All I can say for certain is that everything plugged into this unit turns on and stays on. Without looking behind the rack, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a surge protector from a hardware store and an expensive unit like this.

That having been said, I am happy with this purchase. The unit integrates well with my other components and has plenty of protection for power, coax, cat-5, etc. The front outlet is a nice convenience, and the front readouts let you know that your wiring is working properly.

I honestly don't know if power protection makes any difference in my viewing experience, but it makes a man feel good to know it's there!

The first time I saw one these was at Best Buy, only it was a Monster Brand. After a sales person told me what it was and what it did, I was approached by someone (another patron) who told me not to waste my money on something that just had some flashing LED's on it and would look good with my other A/V equipment. Boy, was he wrong and didn't know what he was talking about. The first time I turned it on, picture on my Sony XRB LCD looked 100% better. There was such a difference, that I disconnected it, to do a double take. While it's not a Monster brand, it does a "monster" job protecting my equipment and it doesn't have a "monster" price tag either. It has plenty of outlets that are desinated for the plugs of my video & audio equipment as well for a power hungry amp. It has 3 cable inputs & outputs as well phone jacks. Oh, one last thing, the LED's do flash momentarily & it does look good sitting next to my Onkyo SR-604, so the rubber-necker in Best Buy was partially right.