Power Surge Damage

The "surge" that most surge protection devices are designed to stop is the modest fluctuation in the power generated by your power company or, for example, the surge created when your power kicks back on after a unexpected power failure. I would be highly skeptical of any device that you plug your equipment into that claims to protect your gear from the 1 million plus volts that can be produced by lightning. I unplug my gear whenever the potential for storms is in the forecast, which is often here in the South this time of year. And, I have good insurance.

Thanks for all the responses. It seems that after a recent thunderstorm where we did lose electricity temporarily 3 times my system now sounds different. I did not know that the AR1P had any surge suppression whatsoever....good to know.

Now I'm just not sure what may have sustained any damage. My Rogue 90 amp, Eastern Minimax preamp or Music Hall 25 1+ mods cdp. Can my Vandersteen speakers sustain surge damage? Or has the summer heat just set in and everyone is using their AC a lot more grunging up the power. What I do know is that my system was dialed in perfectly up to about a week ago. Now it has less bass and a harder midrange, there's less magic happening.

Unplugging when lightning threatens is the safest thing you can do to protect your system.

I rewired my house with Square D's top of the line commercial system at the meter with a 200-amp switch for the house and a 100-amp switch for the AV system. A dedicated armored cooked and cryo'd 00 awg cable runs 85 feet from the 100-amp switch to a dedicated Square D QO panel with 5 dedicated armored cooked and cryo'd 10 awg cable runs to cooked and cryo'd Hubble hospital grade outlets. The meter has its own surge protector, the QO panel has Square D's top of the line surge protector for lightning prone areas and each outlet connects to a Transparent PowerIsolator that supposedly clamp surges in pico-seconds instead of nano-seconds.

Still, I unplug.

Yes, summer grunge and humidity could be changing your sound. Also if you are getting a dip in voltage, a PS Audio Power Plant Premier will keep your system grunge free during the summer and also provide superior surge protection. Lots of good deals here on A-gon.

I have a Linn Kudos Tuner and a Magnum Dynalab indoor outdoor antenna that I only use indoors. You also have to disconnect it even if you unplug the system. The antenna in the Tuner is enough to draw lightening even if it is a near miss. So, if you live in Florida or any places that get lots of lightening, unplug the system and unhook the antenna, even if it is indoors.