Why whole house surge protectors are not enough

I installed a Siemens whole house surge protector, and my gear is all plugged into n Emotiva CMX-6, which I am not sure provides surge protection. The amp is plugged into the wall which is a direct line to the breaker box. What do people recommend for surge protection that does not affect your audio quality? Also, the common recommendation is to plug your amp directly into the wall, are they better at dealing with surges or just worth the risk for the audio benefits?
 

What do people recommend for surge protection that does not affect your audio quality?

Furman with LiFT and SMP has never let me down. Also provides exellent noise filtering.

Emotiva CMX-6, which I am not sure provides surge protection.

Based on specs it does not. Based on images it may have some MOVs in there but it’s not passed UL or ETL testing. MOVs may just be thrown in to help the units overall reliability as many devices have, like PC power supplies, etc..

Also, the common recommendation is to plug your amp directly into the wall, are they better at dealing with surges or just worth the risk for the audio benefits?

I’d go the other way. I’ve never had anything but positive listening effects from using a Furman, therefore I always use them.

I personally don’t think the idea that all surge protectors/conditioners are current limiting and your amp is better directly to the wall. I can see this being true for many though.

As others have pointed out though, this really depends on where you live. If you are in Florida with gear you don’t want to replace, always surge protect it.

I know some people who have never lost gear due to power problems. OTOH, I have and when I moved in here there was a surge protector still attached to the wall which had obvious scorch marks. Clearly this is an area prone to lightning strikes.

It's not all about lightning either.  When I worked in an area covered by PG&E we lost several PC power supplies over the course of a couple of days.  Each time we could smell the MOV.  In another job we lost two floors worth of surge strips over a week due to PG&E switching problems.

As others have pointed out though, this really depends on where you live. If you are in Florida with gear you don’t want to replace, always surge protect it.

I'll vouch for Florida. :-(

@erik_squires 

Furman with LiFT and SMP has never let me down. Also provides excellent noise filtering.

Thanks Erik. Any models from Furman in particular that you recommend? Elite? Reference? Is Power Factor a worthwhile feature?

@zlone

Furman makes dozens of models for the pro and home use, from actual strips, rack mount and the Elite like home equipment like units. The features I know are important for noise and surge are LiFT (linear filtering), SMP (series mode surge protection) and EVS (extreme voltage shutdown). The latter will protect you from long term over voltages which are not necessarily surges. Like 90V or 140V AC. The unit will shutdown until corrected. In SC I’ve had this trigger at least 2x.

Apparently they go in and out of stock from Amazon and Sweetwater so it's worth checking in repeatedly if there's a particular model you have in mind.  The cheapest is the strip, which has LiFT and SMP but not EVS.

The rest are convenience features. I don’t think power factor matters that much, but the Elite units have add-ons like switched outlets which are great if you use a HT processor or preamp with a trigger but your amp doesn’t have one.

I use an Elite after a unit with VR (voltage regulation). Not that I need the VR feature here like I did in California (more PG&E problems) but I have it so I might as well use it.