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Surge protector

Hello all. Just need some advice on a surge protector for my amp and preamp. A few months ago we had a thunder and lightning storm. It blew out my ac condenser in my central ac conditioner. Now am worried about that happening to my ARC Ref 6 preamp and my Krell FPB 600 amp. Right now they are on a dedicated 20 amp line that both my amp and pre are using. I listen to my system practically everyday and leave my amp on stand by all the time. My amp and pre amp. I really do not want a surge protector with a power conditioner as I have read that the Krell FPB 600 sounds best the life expectancy lasts longer if plugged directly into electric receptacle. Would I loose any Sonics from a surge protector? Should I just unplug the amp and preamp when I see a storm brewing? But then what if I am not home to unplug? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks to all. Cheers. 
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gdnrbob
4,460 posts
 
+1 on a whole house surge protector.
You can buy one for about $60 at Home Depot, but need an electrician to install it.
Most are sacrificial, so you'd have to replace it if it got zapped, but at least everything downstream would be protected-especially if you have your equipment on local surge protectors.
Tuberist is right, if you get a direct hit, all bets are off.
I put a whole house surge protector on my main box and haven't noticed any degradation of sound quality, actually, it seems better.
YMMV
B
tattooedtrackman's avatar
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tattooedtrackman OP
884 posts
 
@ Tuberist , gdnrbob. Thanks for that information about a whole house surge protector. I never even thought of that. I will be definitely looking into that. 👍
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kijanki
4,432 posts
 
Whole house protection is necessary, since almost everything these days contains electronics (even light bulbs).  I replaced myself, in my Siemens style panel, double circuit breaker with whole house surge protected circuit breaker  https://www.homedepot.com/p/Siemens-20-Amp-6-5-in-Whole-House-Surge-Protected-Circuit-Breaker-QSA2020SPDP/202562776
Perhaps I should add larger dedicated whole house surge protector, but I would leave it to electrician.

In addition my system is plugged into Furman Elite 20PFi conditioner with strong non-sacrificial surge protection.
tattooedtrackman's avatar
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tattooedtrackman OP
884 posts
 
@kijanki Thanks for your advice. I’m going to look into that surge protector circuit breaker. One thing I don’t understand on your reply was you said you Replaced double circuit breaker with whole house surge protector circuit. Then you said perhaps I should add larger dedicated whole house dedicated circuit breaker. I don’t understand what u meant by that last statement. I thought u first said you installed one. 🤷‍♂️
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,432 posts
 
tatooedtrackmen, I suspect that the amount of energy circuit can absorb depends on physical size of components used (MOVs) and it might be related to overall size.  Breaker is rated 10kA max current while physically larger whole house protector from Square D is rated 80kA.  I might install this protector one day in addition to circuit breaker.

Here is another one rated 100kA 
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Siemens-FirstSurge-Plus-100kA-Whole-House-Surge-Protection-Device-FS100/206560186
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