Panamax M5400-PM Power Conditioner

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We have all four seasons and all types of severe weather where we live. Strong thunderstorms and power outages occur at least three times a year. Power surges can travel from outside utility lines, into our wall outlets, then into our home cinema equipment. Home cinema surge protection is a necessity. It’s insurance in case shit happens. We all know shit happens!

We would never plug any of our home cinema equipment directly into a wall outlet. We want to ensure we are doing everything we can to prevent power surge damage to our home cinema equipment. Years ago, we purchased a Panamax M5400-PM 11-Outlet Power Conditioner and Surge Protector to guard our home cinema components.

There are a lot of online claims the Panamax M5400-PM is capable of conditioning the line, providing a clearer picture, and cleaning “dirty” power.” We see this as a gray area. A lot of the claims are unsubstantiated. Based on our usage and personal home cinema experience, we do not believe our Panamax model provides our theater with a clearer picture or scrubs our power lines. We know our excellent picture comes from our choice in home theater projection equipment. More importantly, we cannot testify we receive a clearer picture with the Panamax M5400 than without. We won’t make up shit nor will we say what everyone else is saying online and in YouTube videos without actually seeing a clear, noticeable difference. With that understanding, we will only review the Panamax M5400-PM regarding its power surge capability.

The Panamax M5400-PM is a good power surge protector and it has performed well in that aspect. A Reel Cinema @ Home has connected the following equipment to our Panamax 11 Outlet Power Conditioner:

1. Cable Box
2. Receiver
3. Blu-Ray Player
4. Projector 1
5. Projector 2
6. Wii Console
7. PlayStation 1
8. PlayStation 2
9. Powered Subwoofer 1
10. Powered Subwoofer 2

The device is easy to setup and plugging the power outlets into the back is simple. It is just like any other surge protector. The Panamax came with rack mounting pieces. We have not mounted ours.

It has a digital voltage meter and a digital current meter front display. The digital voltage meters monitors incoming voltage current to recognize and prevent power surges.  The current meter ensures consistent power levels. The Panamax marketing states it prevents line interference between components. It delivers 120 volts of power. It will shut down if there is too little or too much power.

The dimensions are 12.75” L x 17” W x 4.11” H. It weighs a hefty 36 pounds so we made sure to place it on something that could support its weight. The Panamax M5400-PM has a total of 11 outlets. Two are high-current outlets for power amplifiers. Five are isolated outlets to prevent interference between components which are always on. Two outlets are switch activated. This means the equipment turns on when you turn power on to the device.

We are the definition of beer pockets and champagne dreams. We don’t consider ourselves upper middle class by any means. We consider ourselves part of the working class. Our home cinema equipment is far from top-of-the-line. Our pockets are not deep enough to have top‑shelf anything. Our home theater electronics are available at any big box electronics store. We are grateful for what we have and would be devastated to lose any component due to an electric surge. We knew we need something to protect our home cinema equipment and chose the Panamax.

The Panamax M5400-PM so far has performed well as a surge protector. It does exactly what we need it to do. During big storms we unplug everything from every wall outlet in our home except the carbon monoxide detectors, refrigerators, deep freezers, wash/dryer, and stove. Everything else we are snatching plugs from the electrical outlets. We have the routine down pat for strong lighting storms and can unplug everything within two minutes. After the storm has passed, we plug everything back into the walls. It is not an inconvenience to unplug everything as we have way more time to unplug equipment than we have money to replace equipment.

With that said, we highly recommend the Panamax M5400. It does what it is supposed to do and that is good enough for us.