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Question about power surge protection

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One of my customers at my job just told me that just about all of his appliances were destroyed a couple weeks ago from a major power surge. Items such as his TVs and refrigerators were all destroyed and there was not even a storm. He lives a few miles away from me in the next town. We never heard of this problem and it is rare for our area. His wife is devastated at this huge loss since they are having problems with their insurance company. He even plugged them into power surge protection strips too.

This made me alarmed because I use the generic power strips that offer little protection and now I want to buy the high end power surge protectors like the Brickwall surge protector or the Panamax 5300 power box. My question is, do I have to leave them on at all times for maximum power protection or can I turn the power box off when not using my stereo system and still be protected?
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spareribs
giglr
23 posts
 
I call them "Power Strips". Not much protection.
eagleman6722
217 posts
 
Don't surge protectors degrade the sound? I keep all my components unplugged until I listen and only if there are no storms predicted that night.
fuelie
7 posts
 
Some of the folks who have better hearing than I do ( High frequency loss in both ears) claim that a SurgeX SA1810 drops the sound stage about 30%, and SA20 about 15%, but I can't hear the difference. I don't use it on the pre-amp or amp, just the cd player, phono pre-amp, TV, and computer. It sounds like it is best to use the highest amperage rated suppressor to minimize negative impact on the sound stage.
juliuskelp
1 posts
 
Question here for Fuelie. Why is it that you don't run your amp and pre through the SurgeX? I run everything through my SX1115 for protection's sake, but am I making a mistake and degrading the sound by running the amp and pre through the suppressor? I suppose I could do the comparison myself, and I will, but I am fairly novice and interested in other people's opinions as well. Thanks.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
I use Furman Elite 20PFi conditioner and leave system on all the time. It has positive effect on the sound and very good protection. It uses multistage non-sacrificial protection with circuit breaker. In addition it has separate filters for different output banks including high current bank where my power amp (class D) is plugged.

Lightning is something else, since there is no wire in the world that can conduct 1 foot wide plasma to ground. My relative's house was strucked twice (direct hit). All electrical equipment was damaged and insurance paid for it but when it came to renew they canceled because he was statistically too much of a risk. Statistics as we all know prove that motorcycle accidents are caused by tattoos but that's life. I protected my gear as much as as could. (I could install whole house surge arrestor in addition. It is probably not very expensive and is installed at the box).
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