Many questions arise when planning a home theater. A popular one is exactly what is Extreme Voltage Shutdown or EVS? How does it work? Do I even need a power manager for my home theater. We’ll tackle each of these questions.
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What Is Extreme Voltage Shutdown?
Extreme Voltage Shutdown or EVS is a popular feature for the best home theater power managers. With Extreme Voltage Shutdown, incoming voltage is constantly monitored. If high voltage is detected, the power manager and any connected equipment will shut down immediately. Extreme Voltage Shutdown is available on many Furman power conditioners. While Furman has EVS, several companies have similar features.
EVS is a feature that can protect users from a costly loss of equipment due to voltage spikes or power surges. When the EVS circuit senses that extreme voltage, users can feel confident the speakers and other home theater equipment are protected.
Do Surge Protectors Monitor Incoming Voltage?
Some will assume this is exactly what surge protectors do. That’s not exactly true. Yes. Surge protectors monitor voltage and activate when excess voltage is detected. Surge protectors don’t shut down immediately though. There is a slight delay and connected equipment may be lost if this isn’t done quickly enough. Surge protectors are also rated for a certain amount of power. They can fail if the incoming voltage is too much to absorb. A lot of this is dictated by the quality of the surge protector, which is often difficult to gauge.
How To Reset Extreme Voltage Shutdown
You will see a lit indicator light on your Furman Power Conditioner if Extreme Voltage Shutdown has activated. The EVS light is to notify the users that there has been a problem. Users should ensure the problem has been corrected and that the supplied power is working properly. If the excess voltage issue no longer exists, some Furman models may auto reset. Other Furman models may need to manually reset the device.
Do I Need Extreme Voltage Shutdown?
No. Extreme Voltage Shutdown (EVS) is not a requirement to protect your home theater equipment. There are other options and products to offer some protection. Make no mistake though. It’s no coincidence that the best power managers include this feature or something similar. It doesn’t seem like that bad of an idea considering all the money spent on speakers, amps, and TVs. It’s up to individual home theater enthusiasts to consider what level of protection is necessary. Power managers and conditioners are definitely not cheap though. It’s easy to understand the hesitancy some have for spending money on protection they may not need.
Should I Buy A Power Manager?
It’s important to remember that power conditioners and managers do more than protect from excess voltage. They also filter and regulate power to ensure connected equipment has stable power. The inconsistent flow of power or “dirty power” can degrade the performance of connected equipment. Many power managers also have noise filtering capabilities that can solve interference issues from audio cables like improper grounding. This can result in humming or buzzing introduced into your sound system. Power managers have the ability to filter these noises out and fix your humming subwoofer issues.
In Conclusion: EVS and Power Management
As you can see, Extreme Voltage Shutdown (EVS) is a feature that has legitimate benefits. It will improve the protection of connected equipment for your home theater. Whether it’s necessary for your particular use case may not be as clear.
It is important to remember EVS isn’t the only feature you will get from managers. Furman and Panamax are popular manufacturers of power management devices. They offer additional benefits like noise filtering, power triggers, organization, and actual equipment protection policies.
Keith Collins has been writing for over 15 years for various publications. He’s a lover of music, home theater, and excellent sound quality. His fondness for technology in addition to his non-stop curiosity fuels his writing ventures.