McIntosh MPC500 Power Controller | Clean Power

Image Credit – McIntosh

My 2 Cents

It happens to many. A lighting strike or electrical surge damages your most prized piece(s) of HT equipment. The cost of good surge and over and under voltage protection can pay for itself in just one disastrous second. Or at least give you the piece of mind that you are protected from that unforeseen electrical disruption.

Is the price premium for this power controller worth it when compared to “off the shelf” UPS solutions that can perform similar protection together with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) from companies like  APC, Schneider, CyberPower and Tripp Lite? You be the judge.

Overview

McIntosh has launched the MPC500 Power Controller, featuring cascaded surge protection. The MPC500 delivers full mode AC power line surge protection (for example, from a lightning strike), as well as protecting low voltage devices against secondary surges and spikes that can occur after an electrical event.

AC power line protection is accomplished with the use of three thermally protected metal-oxide varistors (TPMOVs) that provide Line to Neutral, Line to Ground and Neutral to Ground protection. For secondary surge events, the MPC500 provides protection for ethernet, coaxial and other low voltage devices via Gas Discharge Tubes (GDT), Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) thermistors and Transient Voltage Suppression (TVS) components.

Also included in the MPC500, is electromagnetic interference (EMI) filtering of the AC line and over/undery voltage protection, which will switch off the rear receptacles to keep connected devices safe from undesired voltage levels.

The MPC500 includes either 8 Type B (NEMA 5-15R) or 4 Type F (CEE 7/3 or ‘Schuko’) receptacles and comes in the timeless McIntosh style and design.

Image Credit – McIntosh

Control of each receptacle can be configured via the rear panel Power Control ports or through the set-up menus on the front panel.

The front panel display can show input voltage, the amount of current being drawn through the receptacles, or total power.

Available in April 2019. It costs $2,500, so it’s reasonable to say you need a serious system to justify the cost.

See here for more information on the McIntosh web site.

See here for my take on cables, power and grounding.

For an interesting extreme on power to a home click here.