30 Years, 5 Cities, Many Storms - Not One Failure

I take it you don’t work in the insurance industry. Your reasoning, if you can call it that, is completely flawed. You can't take the data from a very small sample (you) and apply it to the masses when doing a statistical analysis of risk vs. cost. That is completely backwards. You have to look at the percentage of systems that do get hit and then the cost of your system vs. the cost of protecting it.

Your line of reasoning is akin to these pearls of wisdom I’ve heard over the years.

“I drive drunk all the time and I’ve never had a problem.”
“I’ve been smoking for 30 years and it’s never hurt me.”
“Chester married his sister and their kids seem normal.” (I live in TN)
“Seat belts will just trap you in the wreck; I would rather be thrown free.”

OK, that last one doesn’t apply but it’s just as dim-witted.

Andredoan

Ha - well spotted! This is actually a very recent development mainly for the new PC system.

I thought I would give those a try but mainly because they were
a) < $200 and b) convenient with cool lights

But I have never used them for my Levinson amp or ARC preamp, which remain plugged naked and direct into the wall.

Herman

No, I don't work in the insurance industry, but I work in the investment industry and have at least a bit of statistical analysis in my background.

Yes, you cite several dim witted examples which I will try not to take personally as an insult to my thinking.

From an investment perspective we like to describe risk as positively or negatively convex, where I might agree that not having a surge suppressor is a negatively convex risk, provided one is not spending the mega bucks on surge suppressors from say, Transparent, which is one of the brands that inspired this thread.

So easy enough to understand that just because it hasn't happened to me, doesn't mean it wont happen to me or that I should drive around with no seatbelt.

But to be honest, until this thread I had never heard of anyone losing a component, while more and more manufacturers seem to be jumping on the bandwagon with high margin products.

So what I was driving at really, was the amount of snake oil and fear mongering that goes into the marketing of these devices.

I do wear a seatbelt and I dont smoke. But I drive a motorcycle(with helmet and protective gear while sober always), drink red wine and I particularly love cheese and red meat.

Thanks for the advice as I try to find a similarly appropriate place on the risk/return spectrum with surge suppressors.

Thank you

My brother lives in the country and he can expect 2-3 lightening hits ,to his house, a year.
This pattern has been repeated over 14 years.

He has fried,besides eggs,two CDP,amp,pre ,too many clocks to count ,cordless phones and several modems.

So ,yes, you are very luck and playing Russian Roulette.
I wish you continued good luck.

Thefalls1117..."Hits to his house". Really? Not just a surge/spike on the line? If so insurance might cover damage. It did when a tree about 30 feet from my house was hit. Although no audio equipment was damaged, TV sets, VCR, control module on refrigerator, microwave and some other things were zaped. Insurance bought me new replacements.

Cwlondon,

I too have lost equipment to lightning strikes, but this is all anecdotal evidence, as is your experience in not losing any equipment. You said:

I am hoping someone will provide me with sufficient justification to add more expensive gear to my audio collection.

What would be sufficient justification? I'm not sure any of us are providing the information you're really looking for. If you give us a better idea, maybe we can be of more help.

David