Power Surge Damage

Unplugging when lightning threatens is the safest thing you can do to protect your system.

I rewired my house with Square D's top of the line commercial system at the meter with a 200-amp switch for the house and a 100-amp switch for the AV system. A dedicated armored cooked and cryo'd 00 awg cable runs 85 feet from the 100-amp switch to a dedicated Square D QO panel with 5 dedicated armored cooked and cryo'd 10 awg cable runs to cooked and cryo'd Hubble hospital grade outlets. The meter has its own surge protector, the QO panel has Square D's top of the line surge protector for lightning prone areas and each outlet connects to a Transparent PowerIsolator that supposedly clamp surges in pico-seconds instead of nano-seconds.

Still, I unplug.

Yes, summer grunge and humidity could be changing your sound. Also if you are getting a dip in voltage, a PS Audio Power Plant Premier will keep your system grunge free during the summer and also provide superior surge protection. Lots of good deals here on A-gon.

I have a Linn Kudos Tuner and a Magnum Dynalab indoor outdoor antenna that I only use indoors. You also have to disconnect it even if you unplug the system. The antenna in the Tuner is enough to draw lightening even if it is a near miss. So, if you live in Florida or any places that get lots of lightening, unplug the system and unhook the antenna, even if it is indoors.