Whole House Surge Suppressors

[john4618]

Anyone using a Whole House Surge Suppressor ???

Do they affect sound quality vs. not using one ???

Heres the blurb I found for the APC: APCs Residential Surge Suppressors are the first line of defense against damaging electrical surges and spikes that originate outside your home. They are installed by an electrician at your circuit breaker panel and safely reduce the severity of power transients caused by utility accidents, power outages and lightning. Always use APC line cord surge suppressors in conjunction with Whole House Surge Suppressors for maximum protection of your computers, audio/video components and other electronic devices.

Questions:

1. Parasound recommends plugging my A51 and A21 amps directly into the wall outlet for the cleanest possible sound quality and I tested this vs. my Monster Power Center and when plugged directly into the wall outlet the sound is cleaner and more dynamic sounding BUT, the thought of NOT having protection, and lightning possibly zapping my amps is a very scary thought at best, so Im wondering if one of these Whole House Surge Suppressors is possibly a solution ???

2. Is there a unit on the market that DOES NOT affect sound quality but DOES protect against lightning ???

[rich0372]

which monster power center do you have I have the 5100 and have everything running off it including my Rotel 200x2. I know the 5100 can give 35 amps of constant power thats a lot when I have my system cranking I only use about 5 amps I think it sounds better with the power center Rich

[MrMcGoo]

I have a whole house surge supressor supplied by my power company. It came with a 15 year warranty. It is located under the power meter. Such systems do not limit current flow in any way when voltages are normal. It limits spikes to ~500 volts. Hence, supressors are needed down the line, since the best rated UL 1449 supressors hold spikes to as low as 330 volts.

I use a Panamx 4400 surge supressor for my amps. It is unlike other Panamx supressors in that it does not use MOVs. It uses capacitors and does not limit current flow. It is a 20 amp supressor. For my other electronics, I use MOV based Panamax supressors that also reduce RFI and EMI.

[Malcolm]

I have a Leviton whole house surge suppressor at the service entrance, backed up by Isobar Ultras at the equipment.

A MOV based surge suppressor, whole house or other, is not going to affect the quality of your sound. It is effectively out of the circuit until a high enough voltage occurs to trigger it.

Nothing is going to protect you from a direct lightning hit, or even a hit on nearby powerlines. But a surge suppressor will give you some degree of protection from more distant powerline strikes, surges induced by nearby lightning strikes to ground, power grid switching transients, and surges induced by things like motors in your house.