Surge protectors--how many $ make sense?

You may want to consider entire house surge protection instead. There are commercial/industrial solutions like from Siemens with $75K insurance for 10 years. These are REAL things that WILL protect (Monster never protected mine, it is all lies). And they do not cost $$$ more like few hundred dollars. Talk to a professional electrician.

https://www.siemens.com/us/en/products/energy/low-voltage/surge-protection-devices/residential-surge.html

I am sorry, but I will never again buy any "audiophile" or "home equipment" surge protection. I rather get equipment that is used to protect really expensive professional stuff out there backed with money guarantees. I guarantee you, big recording studio is not using any Monster or anything "audiophile".

A system at the level of yours deserves a bit more than a plain old surge protector. But definitely invest in a whole house unit, they are relatively cheap. For your system, do some research and invest in an audiophile level power system, either passive or active. I have tried the passive route with okay results, but now have dived down the regeneration rabbit hole with PS Audio with very good results. 

Surge protection is a good thing for all the appliances in your house. If your utility allows it, a Type 1 protector installed in your meter panel is an excellent first line of defense. My electric utility doesn't allow use of Type 1 protectors, so I settled on the next best thing, which is a Type 2 installed in the electric service panel.

I have power conditioning installed ahead of my audio components, but I don't think of those units as surge protectors.

@cleeds Power conditioners generally provide a level of protection against surges.  Now the power condition could end up being sacrificial, which will bother some because of the price, but it is really hard to protect everything.  I will never put a current limiting device on my amp.

Jerry

If you are looking for true surge protection, I suspect the SurgeX products would fit the bill.  Of course, there are those that would never accept such a "non-audiophile" product.

I suspect on many systems, current limiting would not be an issue and surge protection would far exceed what many "power conditioners" afford.

I use a whole house type II (at the main service panel) from Siemens plus on the main system, a surge board in the iso transformer that protects the outputs- 4 gauge to a sub panel that feeds 10 gauge dedicated lines. For most appliances, computers and my vintage system, I use point of use surge protectors. I keep the antique Quad Loudspeakers in the vintage system on constant charge using a Zero Surge.

"Whole house" may not be sufficient (some surges are within the household system and the "whole house" will not address these); in the realm of "point of use," a lot of the conditioner/surge protectors have a sound. That’s where you have to experiment through try before you buy or buy with the right to return with minimal penalty. The Siemens FS 140 is overbuilt, but still uses MOVs and has gone up in price; I used an Eaton before that. There is an "audiophile" whole house by Environmental Potentials that is now about twice the price of the Siemens, have not tried that unit. There are also more industrial/commercial units that can be even more spendy.

My go-to on electrical systems is @Jea48. Others here are also knowledgeable.

@whart , @cleeds

+1 on the addition of a SIEMENS surge protection. on the electrical panel.

i did it when I Reno”ed the house two years ago. I moved my “A” system to a new room and ran two new 20A dedicated lines into the new room

unless I go away on vacation, the high-end integrated amp and the high-end streamer-dac both remain powered up full-time according to their manual specs .

The panel solution works like a charm.Highly recommended.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Living in San Francisco and Los Angeles I had to pay a lot for real power conditioning.

The absolute safest, and most affordable solution is this Furman with voltage regulation, series protection, and automatic over/under voltage shutoff.

This comes up so often I wrote a blog post with more detail here.

I also wrote specifically about hos a whole house unit and high quality surge protector work here and why you need both.

Basically a whole house unit has a much higher let through voltage than the best surge "strips."  Good for your range, not so much for your laptop or audio/video gear. The manufacturers recommend the use of both.

I forgot to mention that on new construction and work done on existing systems, a whole house surge protector is now required as I understand it. 

I forgot to mention that on new construction and work done on existing systems, a whole house surge protector is now required as I understand it. 

As of 2020 the NEC requires it, local codes will vary.  Among the things they protect is the house wiring itself, as well as anything else you can't or wouldn't normally put on a surge strip, like fire alarms, GFCI outlets, smart switches...

Yep, @erik_squires and there is a 2023 edition with further "clarification" on the subject but it depends, as you said, on the locality. This link purports to identify state by state adoption of the NEC and which version applies: https://www.mikeholt.com/necadoptionlist.php#:~:text=The%20NEC%20is%20adopted%20and%20enforced%20at%20the%20local%20level. 

I don't know (this is where @Jea48 comes in) whether, if the state is stuck on an older version of the Code, a county or city within it can demand that the newer Code edition be enforced within its jurisdiction.

+1, whole house surge protection. Given your current system, don’t compromise performance by installing Furman or similar type of surge protection devices. They will choke the life out of your audio system. And they can’t handle high current amp so what’s the point…..

https://www.vhaudio.com/environmental-potentials-ep-2050.pdf

My SC home is 18 years old.  It doesn't require whole house surge suppression vut it was the first thing I dId.  Prior experience plus moving to a lightning prone area made this essential for me.