Surge Protectors


Hello Friends, 

I recently added a dedicated 20amp circuit just for my Dutch & Dutch 8C's (active speakers). In addition to some vibration control (T podiums) the setup sounds amazing. I couldn't be happier with the 8C's, and the impending firmware upgrade adding BACCH to the system is just a big fat cherry on top. I'm nearly at the end of my journey in terms of buying/upgrading. 

 At the moment the right speaker doesn't reach the new outlet so both speakers are plugged into a surge protector, which is plugged into the new outlet. 

My question is this, is my surge protector ($26 Belkin with 12 plugs from Amazon) a bottleneck, or in any way limiting the benefits of the new circuit? 

 

 

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Thanks folks, I appreciate your thoughtful responses. 

Getting back to the original question, I'm wondering if our plain vanilla surge protector is limiting the amount of current from our dedicated 20 amp circuit to music system?

Another way of saying this is, do I need to buy a specially designed (rated) surge protector to get the most out of the dedicated circuit? 

 

To be clear, I'm not expecting any "improvements" by adding a surge protector. I'm just looking to maintain the fantastic sound quality I already enjoy. 

@erik_squires Please explain why you no longer recommend Zero Surge, Brickwall, etc., as a good choice. I’ve been using a Brickwall 8 outlet audio model for years, in addition to a whole house surge protector, and have never had an issue. I am a big proponent of series mode versus MOV, and am puzzled by your position.

@rlb61 If you already own them and have used them for years there’s no reason to change. They’ve already delivered their value to you and will continue to do so, but in terms of new purchases I think they’ve been dethroned as the best buy.

I tried to make my reasoning clear in my blog post but here is the summary:

  • They are no longer the only one’s relying on series mode protection.  Furman with SMP has it too and it's very good. TrippLite has some models which seem to perform as well but I'm not 100% sure if it's series mode or not.
  • Zero/Brickwall no longer test as well as other units in terms of let-through voltage. The legendary low let through and low response times they gained fame for have been bested. See the Wirecutter article I link to.
  • For the price they lack features we may want which Furman has, things like switched outlets, built in voltage regulation, active noise filtering, power factor correction, etc..

Of course ZeroSurge, Furman and TrippLite offer many different models but a straight up comparison between a ZeroSurge and a Furman with SMP and Lift makes the Furman a better buy.