All of the currently manufactured power centers and line conditioners on the market today have boisterous marketing claims. Marketing slogans vary from the manufacturers; some are more ambitious than others. Furman indicates that using the Elite-15 in your system will improve audio and video. The claim is that your audio will be more focused and sound clearer. The video will be crisper, colors will be more vibrant, and gray scale tracking will be better with the implementation of the Elite-15..

Starting with video we decided to conduct the A/B evaluation using the HQV Benchmark DVD's color bar detail test, picture detail test, and noise reduction test. We also decided to use Avia's Guide to Home Theater chapter 7 resolution test.

Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary of Test Results

720p unconverted DVD with Elite-15 installed in system

Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary of Test Results

720p unconverted DVD with all audio/video components plugged directly into wall outlet

Subjective DVD Evaluation

We decided to try a subjective audio/video evaluation using the pristine near flawless HD DVD, The Chronicles of Riddick. This HD-DVD has near flawless reference video quality. The Dolby Digital + and DTS sound track are awesome to say the least. Once again, we selected a chapter from the DVD and evaluated our systems' performance, first with all components plugged into the Elite-15 and then re-conducting the evaluation with all components plugged directly into the wall outlet.

We selected chapter eight, The Lord Marshal's Offer because this chapter has a lot of dialog and dialog mixed with music. We believed that this type of material would make the subjective evaluation comparisons easier to conduct. As the Lord Marshal is convincing the recruits to convert, we paid very close attention to the dialog emanating from the center channel. We also listened very carefully to the mixed dialog/music that is reproduced in the front left and right channel. Viewing the near static images in this particular scene we noticed the absolute pristine detail in the Lord Marshals intimidating armor.

We replayed this chapter many times with all of our equipment plugged into the Elite-15 making both mental and written notes of audio and video quality as we conducted the evaluation. Disconnecting all of our components from the Elite-15 and plugging them directly into the wall outlet we re-conducted the subjective test and compared our notes. Our notes confirmed that we were unable to view or hear any significant difference in the audio or video presentation. We found that audio and video performance did not improve with the implementation of the Elite-15 . Based on our evaluation tests we must conclude that in our system the marketing literature stating "Far clearer, stunningly focused sound and video from your system" "Better gray scale tracking, improved depth, and clarity" did not pan out in our system.

We decided to conduct one more evaluation to test the filtering capabilities of the Elite-15 . One of our circuits in the family room has noise issues caused from various appliances connected to the circuit. If we use the outlet to power an amplifier, it will produce a significant audible hum in the speaker system. We decided to connect the amplifiers power cord to the Elite-15 and then plug the Elite-15 into the noisy outlet and conduct an A/B test. We found that when the amplifier was plugged into the Elite-15, the hum was attenuated slightly. This appears to indicate that filtering is occurring between the wall outlet and the Elite-15's outlet. The filtering performance of the Elite-15 cannot fully resolve ground loop or high level RF interference and should not be considered a fix for these complex problems. For information regarding ground loops and elimination of system hum or buzz please read this Audioholics' article on Ground Loops - Eliminating System Hum and Buzz

The Elite-15 has three satellite/cable coax "F" style input and output connectors. These connections are sacrificing. This means that if an extreme voltage spike occurs on the cable connected to these, the input may be sacrificed to protect equipment down the line. Furman indicates that if this happens the Elite-15 can be returned to the factory for repair. The inputs and outputs have a very high bandwidth specification of 0.1db loss @ 1 GHz. We connected our Direct TV H-10 HDTV satellite receiver to the inputs and viewed HDTV programming at 720p resolution. We noticed no signal degradation in the image while we were using the connection. One telephone connection is also provided on the Elite-15. This connection is also a sacrificing connection that may sacrifice to protect equipment down the line in extreme conditions.

The Furman Elite-15 has quality where it counts and is an outstanding power center/surge suppressor. High quality electronic parts are used throughout its construction. Fit, finish, chassis layout, and overall engineering are outstanding. The Elite-15 did not quite live up to its marketing literature for improving system performance, but none of the other line conditioners at this price do either. Also note that our power going to the dedicated theater room is likely better than most consumers setups since they are fully dedicated lines. The Elite-15 is a compact power center that won't take up much rack space and will make power cord termination easy and neat. This little power center will protect your equipment and not sacrifice itself doing so and that is the most important part of any power protection product.

The pull out dimmable rack lights are very convenient and the large easy to read voltage meter isn't distractive. Furman has a long, highly regarded reputation for supplying high quality power protection and line conditioning products to the electronics industry. After reviewing the Elite-15, we believe that reputation is highly deserved. If you are looking for a compact well designed power center that doesn't break the bank we encourage you to check out the Furman Elite-15.