There probably isn’t a more confusing or misunderstood product category in the world of residential electronics than power protection/power conditioning. Historically, there have been a lot of brands that have made a range of wild claims, and it can be difficult to sort through the marketing and the legitimate products the category offers, which is why we’re looking at the PowerQuest PQ-707 from AudioQuest today.

Entering the power conditioner/surge protection category at this point roughly 15 years ago, the popular cabling and audio accessory manufacturer AudioQuest snagged one of the top engineers in the field when it added industry veteran Garth Powell.  Powell has designed many power products that many integrators have likely used over the years. Today, Powell serves as AudioQuest’s senior director of engineering, and not long ago the brand introduced its PowerQuest series of products that includes the PQ-707.

Trying the PQ-707 in my home, I thought I would use it differently than maybe an audiophile type of user would employ the product. Rather than using the power product with my audio system, I used as part of my home theater to support a Digital Projection projector and an OSD Audio subwoofer.

AudioQuest PowerQuest PQ-707 Features and Setup

Priced at a competitive level, the power conditioner/surge protector arrived at my house along with a few of AudioQuest power cables: NRG-Z3 and Monsoon power cables.

Looking at the PQ-707, the power conditioner/surge protector is a 10.8-pound, 2U rack-mountable component that can be installed to help protect connected components from surges and spikes. The unit also utilizes the company’s ultra-linear noise dissipation technology that AudioQuest says filters out a wide range of interference from a wide bandwidth of frequencies.

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Elaborating on the unit’s surge protection capabilities, the company notes the product is capable of withstanding surges as powerful as 6,000 volts and 3,000 amps. AudioQuest emphasizes to further protect connected components, once the PQ-707 sees a voltage of 140 volts, internally the unit opens a main relay that cuts off an internal electrical path to keep those connected components from exposure to high levels of voltage.

The unit will then internally reset the relay circuit to return to normal operation. It’s also important to point out that unlike many of the surge products that are available to consumers, the new AudioQuest product features non-sacrificial surge protection, which means that homeowners won’t have to worry they are no longer receiving the benefits surge protection because of their surge protectors sacrificing themselves during a surge or spike.

Supporting high-performance AV installations, the 15-amp unit is also capable of delivering peak current levels as high as 45 amps to enable components such as audio amplifiers to maximize their performance during transient peak levels.

Wrapping up the PQ-707’s features, the unit provides a total of 12 outlets with the first four outlets designed as high-current outlets to support amplifiers and subwoofers, and eight linear-filtered outlets that are designed for components such as set-top boxes (STBs) streaming boxes, CD players, Blu-ray disc players, gaming consoles and other source components.

CE Pro Features:

• The PQ-707 provides a total of 12 outlets
• Outlets labeled 1-4 are designed for high-current components
• The power conditioner utilizes non-sacrificial surge protection technologies
• The PQ-707 features Transient Power Correction that provides as much as 45 amps to support amplifiers reproducing dynamic peaks
• AudioQuest says the unit employs its PowerQuest Extreme Voltage Shutdown that turns power off if power higher than 140 volts is detected
• The 2U-high unit is rack mountable
• Retail price of the PowerQuest PQ-707 is $1,299.95

Taking a quick look at the power cables. Both the Monsoon and NRG-Z3 are available in a choice of lengths, and according to AudioQuest, the NRG-Z3 employs its direction-controlled Perfect-Surface Copper strands in a 7-strand semi-solid concentric conductor arrangement. Additionally, the power cable also employs RF/ND-tech and direction-controlled silver-plated shied conductors to remove RF noise from the line and neutral shields to ground via the third ground pin.

The Monsoon cable employs the company’s Perfect Surface Copper+ (PSC+) on the outside of the design, and AQ notes the cable’s connectors are all basically PSC+ despite the cable’s core use of Long-Grain Copper (LGC). AudioQuest emphasizes the Monsoon combines low DC resistance and zero characteristic impedance, and like the NRG-Z3, the cable utilizes AudioQuest’s RF/ND-tech to reduce distortion.

After I pulled the products from their packaging, setup was simple. As I noted earlier, I wanted to use the PQ-707 to protect my Digital Projection E-Vision 4000 projector, as well as an OSD Audio powered subwoofer, and a Crestron TSR-310 remote control. For my purposes, I used the NRG-Z3 to power the PQ-707, so all I needed to do was to plug that cable into the IEC connector on the rear panel of the AQ surge protector/power conditioner. I then removed the power cable from the projector and inserted one of the Monsoon cables into the E-Vision 4000’s IEC connector.

I took that cable and plugged it into the rear panel of the PQ-707 using the outlet labeled input one, which is one of the high-current receptacles the power unit offers. Following a similar procedure, I then plugged the second Monsoon cable the company sent along into the subwoofer’s IEC input, and I plugged the other end of the cable into another of the high-current receptacles (receptacle number four). 

I concluded the connections by plugging the Crestron remote control’s base power supply into one of the PowerQuest’s linear-filtered power outlets.

Setup of the PQ-707 and the AudioQuest power cables took just a few minutes.

Performance and Final Thoughts

In my opinion reviewing power products is very difficult because it is easy to talk yourself into believing something is performing better when actually there’s no difference. Trying to be as impartial as possible, I do think the PQ-707 has had a positive impact both in terms of improved performance and protection.

I’ll point out that as a surge protection device, the AudioQuest unit and the products plugged into the PowerQuest withstood a massive surge that fried my solar system breaker box. The surge wreaked havoc with the unprotected electronics in my house, but I was glad the PQ-707 was on the E-Vision projector because of my concerns related to the sensitivity of the projector’s electronics, including its laser-based light engine.

Explaining my reasoning for plugging the Digital Projection projector into the PowerQuest’s high-current receptacles, I thought the high-current power reserves could potentially help the dynamic capabilities of the projector, and I thought its power conditioning could help image performance too.

To validate my reasoning, I did feel the images did pop a little bit more and they were a little bit cleaner when compared to the APC battery backup unit the projector was previously plugged into.  Swapping the projector’s power from the high-current outlets to one of the PQ-707’s linear-filtered outlets I did not think to my eye with both real-world content and some test patterns produced the same quality of images. I will note the differences were slight, but I eventually swapped the outlets again to plug the projector back into one of the high-current outlets because I think the PQ-707 contributed to the improved performance of the projector.

Admittedly I cannot say for certain the differences the cables made to the performance of the system. What I will say about the cables is they look robust; the touch and build quality of the cables also bring a feeling of confidence that they are a step up in quality over OEM-supplied cables.

Moreover, the cables from an aesthetic value look great and a rack full of AudioQuest cables should look fantastic and contribute to a look of professionalism with a professionally designed and installed rack of electronics.  I’ll also add that if the cables’ shielding was not effective, I would have seen and heard the impact of poorly shielded cables with my AV content, and I’ll say I did not detect a hint of compromised shielding with the AudioQuest cables.

Getting back to the PQ-707, in addition to its surge protection and power conditioning capabilities, I also think the unit provides value to users. Power conditioners/surge protectors can be expensive, and some of the audiophile market products are insanely expensive. The PQ-707 is however priced quite reasonably compared to its competition.

With all of that said, AudioQuest has been a popular manufacturer of cabling products, audio accessories and now power products for a long time, and when looking at the performance benefits and surge protection capabilities of the PQ-707, as well as the build quality of the power cables, these products should deliver everything consumers want and expect from the AudioQuest brand.

CE Pro & Cons

Pros:

• The PQ-707 works, it’s that simple
• AudioQuest’s no frills design allows the PQ-707 to unobtrusively blend into rack installations
• Providing a total of 12 outlets that include four high-current outlets, allows integrators to plug in amplifiers, preamplifiers, AV receivers and subwoofers without worrying about choking their components during peak transient moments

Cons:

• The only thing I’d like to see is some type of recognized third-party testing certification such as UL or ETL to provide end users a little more piece of mind for their investment

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