Furman Elite-15 DMi and Elite-20 PFi Power Conditioners Review

The world is a rough place for electronic equipment: between large scale events like lightning strikes and smaller surges from the grid, and even other appliances in your home, TV’s and your A/V gear will take a beating over the years. One way to mitigate this situation comes in the way of surge protection / power filtration from devices like the Furman Elite-15 DMi and Elite-20 PFi. Priced at $559.00 and $1,199.00 respectively, you’re probably wondering what makes these worth the cost over the $20 strips at your local big box store…

 Furman Elite-15 DMi and Elite-20 PFi review

Design & Features

Just glancing at the Furman Elite-15 DMi and the Elite-20 PFi should give you the impression that these aren’t run of the mill surge protector strips. Both models boast a solidly built 2U rack mountable chassis, with the Elite-20 offering a detachable power cord and hospital grade receptacles for a solid connection. Glancing at the front panel, you’ll find a voltage and current meter on the Elite-15, while the Elite-20 eschews these in favor of a pair of LED lamps to illuminate equipment situated below it. Moving to the rear, you’ll also see 12V trigger inputs and switched outlets which can be helpful to stagger powering on your devices and avoid popping a breaker.

Rear view of the Elite-15 DMi (above) and Elite-20 PFi (below)

Last but not least on the feature list, the Elite-20 sports one feature that Furman is calling Power Factor Technology. In short, the Elite-20 PFi can store a surplus of up to 55 amps of peak charge for your amplifier, which could theoretically give it greater peak output capability. To test this claim, we performed a quick dynamic burst test with our Audio Precision APx585 Audio Analyzer on an amplifier we had on hand. However, our results were unable to prove the efficacy of the technology.

Now for the big question: what kind of protection are you getting for your money? Instead of utilizing MOVs (metal oxide varistors) which attempt to shunt a surge to the ground wire, Furman is using what’s known as series mode surge protection. What this means is that a large inductor is placed in series with the load, which acts to smooth a spike over time, allowing it to then be absorbed by a capacitor bank and slowly released onto the neutral line. The big benefits to series mode protection are a lack of ground contamination (which is important for data transmission in the IT world), and the fact that they aren’t “one and done” sacrificial devices like most cheap strips. We note also that to ensure safety, both the Elite-15 DMi and the Elite-20 PFi are certified by Intertek, which is an OSHA-certified NRTL (nationally recognized testing lab).  Many competitor power conditioners often have no safety or regulatory certification at all so look closely at this when making a purchasing decision.

Summary

If you’ve got several thousand dollars’ worth of equipment, odds are good that you’ll want to spend a little more than bottom dollar to protect said equipment from harm. While Furman’s Elite-15 DMi and Elite-20 PFi are definitely pricey solutions, their use of series mode surge protection gives them a significant advantage in long term durability over “ordinary” surge protectors. Solid build quality and a helpful feature set add to the value proposition. The only fly in the ointment appears to be the Elite-20 PFi’s Power Factor Technology, which doesn’t appear improve amplifier output as claimed. We would be just as happy to see Furman ditch this feature in favor of the voltage and current monitors seen on the Elite-15 DMi. Maybe next year.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.