Protecting one's Equipment

[royalty]

So I recently purchased a Monster surge protector from ebay because I felt that the 10 dollar Belkin I had for my home theater was most likely not adequate to protect my stuff. I was just going to get a regular high quality surge protector, but instead I was able to make a deal with a seller for one of Monster's power centers. This power center not only promises to protect my home theater for up to some ridiculous amount of joules, it will also clean up my power, thus providing me with a better viewing and listening experience. What I wanted to know is the current consensus on these power centers made by companies like Monster, Panamax, and APC.

[blakeh]

I think there are a few components to the question you're asking...

1. In my experience, power conditioners do a relatively good job of cleaning up the power that gets to your components. The better ones will prevent over and under voltages from reaching your equipment which many people think can cause excessive wear & tear on the components. In my home theater, I have an APC H15 power conditioner that does a good job of making sure my components get good, constant power. I've never heard a difference in my home theater audio because it's been plugged into the APC unit, but I can say that the picture on my LED TV was improved.

2. As far as protecting equipment from things like lightning strikes, I'm not sure any consumer piece of equipment can really help you in those instances. Sure, they'll help with power spikes, but a direct (or even near direct lightning strike) is going blast through pretty much anything if that something is in its path. I've seen power conditioners blown to pieces after a lightning strike.

3. For "audiophile" listening, I'm sure it's a lot like the cable argument. Some people hear a difference, some people don't. Many people will tell you not to plug your amps into a surge protector because it may end up limiting the power delivered to your amp, but most higher end power conditioners have special amp ports that are non-current limiting.

Personally, I would not feel comfortable having any expensive equipment plugged into a $10 power strip. I chose to go with an A/C regenerator for my 2-channel system which at least assures me that clean, constant power is delivered to it. I used to run a Panamax 5400 which also did a great job. I'd say anything from APC, Panamax, and even Monster probably does a pretty good job of filtering power.

[AudioGenics]

fyi... there is no standardized testing methodology to determine the energy rating of a surge suppressor