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Surge Protector


GlennG

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GLEN,

For my birthday my son-in-law gave me a FURMAN RP-8 POWER CONDITIONER. I don't know how one would rate its effectiveness. Nothing has failed since August 10. But then, again, nothing failed due to power surges before August 10! I guess I rest better at night knowing that it is in place. I have never had to collect from my fire insurance on my house. But I wouldn't do without it.

I'll bet you have had some particular bad experience. Maybe if you shared that with the FORUM we could get some ideas going.

DR BILL

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Hello Dr.Bill

Right now I have been blessed to not have had any power surge problems that affected my equipment, however, there is quite a bit of construction going on around my neighborhood that sometimes will cause the power to abruptley go out. I also know some people who have had their equipment destroyed due to lightning strikes. I just wanted to add some kind of affective protection to my equipment.

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I had a Panamax that died after 5 or 6 years, but it wasn't real expensive at about $100.

I now have a Monster One-Eye that has lasted about the same length of time. It cost 6 times as much as the Panamax, but it does some filtering where the Panamax did not.

Furman or Tice is probably better as AC line-filtering and protection products is all that they make, and can include filtering, but they cost about the same or slightly more.

I would look at getting some filtering, I like it for some of the equipment. DO NOT RUN THE POWER AMP ON A FILTERED OUTLET (they say you can, but it REALLY cramps the dynamics!); however digital and pre-amps are good to filter the AC on, IMO.

DM

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To simply ground an audio system, you should use a three-prong surge protector, with electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency (RF) filtering, then plug all of the front-end components into it, without any cheater plugs. I would look for the most Joules for the least money that will give you the most economical power line surge protection.

Due to the sagging power of my old Palm Beach Gardens home in Florida, the lighting capital of the US, I changed to a small APCC Council uninterrupted power supply (UPS) and a new surge protector. With electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency (RF) filtering, the new power strip replaced a very old one. The combination made quite a difference for the money. They seem to lower the noise floor. There was more quiet in the room. Quiet passages had more air around them. Subtle differences I know, but good ones. This improvement is as effective as a disc mat or vibration isolation platforms, even if they are the ludicrous home made variety (see http://www.enjoythemusic.com/tweaks/).

. Recently I seriously auditioned, in my old and new home, with the same music and equipment, for EnjoyTheMusic.com, Quantums RT800 black box and loved the dynamic affect it had on my big ole horns. This was NOT so noticeable with the Aperions glue covered 522D Powered cone Towers, but then what is?

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0904/quantumrt800.htm

PS. If their cheap copper cables with the simple connectors and their $50 is nothing price are any indication, then Monsters power conditioners are way over priced and I bet somebody here could find just as effective equipment online for a lot less.

2.gif

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On 12/30/2004 2:46:01 PM GlennG wrote:

I am considering the Tripp Lite - HT1010sat3, which has 10 outlets, 3345 Joule rating, 3-line coaxial (gold) surge protector and $250,000 lifetime warranty. The cost for this item is $56.00.

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I have had good luck with Tripp-Lite. Some may also know them as "Isobars."

The Furman is an excellent choice but I do not believe that they offer Insurance.

dodger

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On 12/27/2004 10:03:21 AM GlennG wrote:

I am in the market for a good surge protector, guaranteed to offer my equipment the best protection possible. Can anyone offer some suggestions?

Thanks

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For the "best protection possible" you need to get a series mode surge protector.

For many years this type of unit was only available from Surge-X, Brickwall, or Zerosurge. Now the technology has been licensed also to Adcom and Furman.

Furman is the company that I would recommend right now (even though I personally have a Surge-X unit in my rack). The Furman units are offered in more different configurations and at better price points than the other series mode companies.

Do some technical reading on the following websites and you will never buy another MOV based surge protector again!

http://www.surgex.com

www.brickwall.com

http://www.furmansound.com

http://www.zerosurge.com/

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Leok, one of our resident technical gurus really likes the Belken line conditioner/surge protector. Here's part of what he had to say about it:

"I selected the Belkin because it has substantial rf filtering features. It is not a "gizmo." Its features are real. I work with similar devices in industrial products and the Belkin approach is sound. It looked like a good way for me to see if such a device would make a difference. Would I want a more expensive "audio" power line filter? Maybe, but some convincing would be in order.

The Belkin F5C980 (F5C960, or F5C940 based on # 0f AC sockets) is an inexpensive way to see if RFI is an issue. In the end, it may be all the protection you need."

Leo used it to solve a line filtering problem he had but it also does the regular surge protection which is your primary interest, so it's two for one.

Cost is about $70.

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.....would look at getting some filtering, I like it for some of the equipment. DO NOT RUN THE POWER AMP ON A FILTERED OUTLET (they say you can, but it REALLY cramps the dynamics!); however digital and pre-amps are good to filter the AC on, IMO.

Damn, I have had my Baldwin tube amp on the Analog filter plug of my Monster 3600. I am going to run home from work and see if the dynamics are even better then what they already are .

Can it get any better ???????????

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Born: Interesting point and well taken. However, in my situation, I must offer a different point-of-view:

In my experience, listening to the gunfight scene in 'Open Range' on my Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi that is supplied AC power by my Tripp-Lite LCR-2400, there is no shortage of dynamic range with the dialog being at a normal, highly intelligible level and then those gunshots literally explode out in a realistically loud manner in comparison to the dialog. The difference between the two levels is truly amazing.....and frightening to some first-time viewers. 2.gif

I must say; $246 for a rack-mount, 20-amp line conditioner that powers my entire theater system except for the sub, is a great deal anywhere! It may even handle the sub, too. I simply haven't tried it yet. I see it correcting the incoming line voltage often so it puts me at ease knowing my equipment is being taken care of. What can I say? It works and it seems to be transparent to the rest of the system.

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Just so we are clear here in our definitions:

Surge Protector: pretty self explanatory - just protects the plugged in equipment from power line surges. Your cheap models use MOV's (metal oxide varistors) which DO wear out over time and cost less than 25 cents each. Much better models use series mode mode protection. (links provided above) There are also a few other technologies out there - silicon avalanche diodes is one technology that is available. Very few of the silicon avalanche models are available for home use. Many surge protectors do offer RF and EMI filtering as part of the package.

Line Conditioner: There units regulate the voltage - keeping it at 117 volts (or 120 volts) constantly. The Tripplite LCR-2400 mentioned in this thread is a line conditioner. It takes any voltage from 87 volts to 141 volts and converts it to a stable 117 volts. These units usually include MOV surge protection. Some newer models available from Furman Sound provide voltage regulation AND use series mode surge protection.

Power Conditioner: Now we get into the area of many "audiophile" discussions. People trying to "CLEAN UP" their power by removing noise and artifacts from the power coming into their equipment. Monster Power is a big promoter of the "dirty power" concept. Some manfacturers offer units into the many thousands of dollars. Also included in this category are "balanced power" and "ac regenerators". Some units also offer the power regulation of the line conditioners above. Surge protection again is included in nearly all of these units - MOV based.

When considering buying anything above a surge protector, ALWAYS purchase from a location that has a good return policy. If you don't hear or see any improvements - take it back.

Additionally - many of the units in all categories DO offer many nice convenience features like remote power on/off, sequential powering of outlets, 12 volt triggers for connected equipment, etc.

1.gif

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Wow.... I was over visiting a good friend of mine today, when he said "hey check out my TV..." so I looked at the screen and it was all messed up, had green and yellowish tint to it & the picture was all distorted. He owns a 65" Pioneer Elite. He said last night someone hit a telephone pole or something because the power went out & when it came back on... it must have had quite a surge? He did have it plugged into one of those cheap surge protector strips, and obviously it didn't do the trick. Totally fried his cable box also.

Right away I told him about this thread & that he should invest into a better protector/conditioner, one where he can plug everything into including phone & cable lines. He's got someone coming out Monday to repair it, I will keep you posted on what the damage is.

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Mov's come in many packages with many voltages and many current ratings for breakdown. If the transient is large enough (lightning) the mov's will fry themselves protecting the other units from destruction unless the lightning is huge, then the house burns down with all the good stuff inside. GE sold off

all their MOV stuff to some company in Florida but you have to buy 100 at a time if you want the good ones that will handle high currents. I have used them on 480VAC 3-phase systems with fantastic results and also on 120 volt systems. These are an absolute "must" for any electronic system. Power fequency changes fry motors and other sensitive stuff so they also must be protected from frequency changes. Grainger and Mcmaster Carr sell all kinds of these things in all kinds of packages. "Filtrons" are available to filter the AC line voltage of all electronically induced crap riding on the 60 hz.

Often overlooked is a bank of back up batteries accross the line which act

as tremendous filters. The big guy's have solved all of these problems years ago with big dollars and results. People at home have to keep buying new stuff as it gets wiped out to keep the economy going.

JJK

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