Electrical Surges Do Happen?!?

[SlumpBuster]

I live on a pretty stable electrical grid. Rare power outages, no spikes, nothing too wierd. So I've been pretty lacking in the surge protector department. I even started to think the "surge" was a mythical creature or at least very rare. But I saw the real thing the othter day, or at least the result. We are mourning the loss of a cable modem and router. They will be missed. At least they died to save the computer.

So now I feel compelled to outfit the house with surge protectors. I was looking at the Monster Cable power conditioners rather than straight up Home Depot surge protectors. How well do these perform as surge protectors? I searched the forums and found lots of debate on how they sound. But, there was precious little on them as actual surge protectors. Has anyones equipment actually been saved by one of the contraptions?

http://www.monstercable.com/power/lineRefPower.asp

[PAT.P]

You could also check www.panamax.com and www.apc.com .They are more than surge protectors ,they are power conditioner and filtering device.I have the Panamax 5100 for my main HT.

[SlumpBuster]

Sure, I understand that they are more than surge protectors. But, my fear was that the surge protection takes a back seat to the other features. My hope is that these things, whether panamax, apc, or monster, are good surge protectors first with potential sonic benefits second. I don't mind paying a premium for an HT conditioner, as long as the surge protection is first rate. If I get sonic benefits to boot, great. If I don't get sonic benefits, then at least they look a whole lot better than a power stip lookalike on the floor.

Frankly, what has me wondering about efficacy as a surge protector is weight. Some are only listed at 4.5 lbs. All the APC surge protecors at my office are heavy, even the ones without built in batteries. But, maybe weight is unrelated?

[Eric Z]

What should you look at when getting a straight surge protector? What about prices? I have some old power strips and I'm not even sure if they would protect anything.

Thanks for bringing this up, SB!

[EdwardGein]

I learened the hard way a decade ago in my apartment building. Either an electric surge or lightning caused my computers insides to burn baby burn because I was stupid enough to plug the computer directly in a socket. You shouldn't do this with anything of value.

I recently bought on Amazon.com Monster Reference PowerCenter HTS 3500 MKII which besides being a surge protector actually improves the sound quality of your receiver & the picture quality of your HDTV. Its now on sale for $125 after the rebate & retails for $399 a great deal See the link below I bought 2 of them and attest to the fact that they did improve both my audio and video on my home theater system. As far as proving the surge protector works from experience, that's like proving a negative, you can't do it other then say nothing bad has happened to ones system. All I know is that plugging my computer directly into an electric socket caused the hard drive and power to be wiped out because of either an electric surge/blackout and/or lightning. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=172282

[paul_pci]

It is my understanding that most surge protectors/power conditioners from Monster on up offers an insurance-like guarantee to the point that they will reimburse the consumer for a specified amount should the product fail. To me, that constitutes a straightforward claim that that product is designed to protect from electrical surges besides any further claim to clean and dust the incoming power.

[PAT.P]

Sure, I understand that they are more than surge protectors. But, my fear was that the surge protection takes a back seat to the other features. My hope is that these things, whether panamax, apc, or monster, are good surge protectors first with potential sonic benefits second. I don't mind paying a premium for an HT conditioner, as long as the surge protection is first rate. If I get sonic benefits to boot, great. If I don't get sonic benefits, then at least they look a whole lot better than a power stip lookalike on the floor.

Frankly, what has me wondering about efficacy as a surge protector is weight. Some are only listed at 4.5 lbs. All the APC surge protecors at my office are heavy, even the ones without built in batteries. But, maybe weight is unrelated?

My Paramax 5100 provides comprehensive protection like spikes/surge and sustained overvoltages and undervoltages.If the magnitude of surge is greater than the capacity of the component it will disconnect to protect.It will protect to 12,000A surge.

[wayner86]

Pat where did you pick your unit up? Im going to look into one of these and would like to avoid best lie. Im also in ontario so there should be some common ground as far as stores go.

thanks

[PAT.P]

Pat where did you pick your unit up? Im going to look into one of these and would like to avoid best lie. Im also in ontario so there should be some common ground as far as stores go.

thanks

I bought mine in Ottawa ,Canada (last year model) $349CND on sale.Check their web www.panamax.com for dealer near you.I bought mine from www.audioshop.on.ca Marc is my contact person.

[LMB]

wayner86,

Tweeters now carries Panamax did away with Monster Power Conditioners
I too, have the 5100 Panamax returned the Monster conditioner
I could never run may cable through the Monster got a lot of rolling lines not with the Panamax

good luck

[Jim Clark]

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/...base_sku=P8T3V

I'm not an expert on these things but Office Max is selling these for 19.99 right now. Surge/spike/filtering. I bought one, it's worth a try and has to be at least as good as my current surge protector. Maybe they suck, if so I'm sure someone will be kind enough to tell me.

Regards,
jc

[wayner86]

thanks guys

[westcott]

I use two Tripp Lites. One for the Receiver and projector, and one for the subwoofer and SD TV.

[EdwardGein]

For just surge protection, Trip Lite is pretty good. As Paul said, if you buy a Monster Protector you'll be insured by them in case of a mishap & you can get a good price online either new or used- I wouldn't buy anything that retailed over $40 in a store as you can get it cheaper online. If you want your audio & video improved as well then get the Monster Power Center on sale at Amazon for $125 (retails for $400).

[westcott]

For just surge protection, Trip Lite is pretty good. As Paul said, if you buy a Monster Protector you'll be insured by them in case of a mishap & you can get a good price online either new or used- I wouldn't buy anything that retailed over $40 in a store as you can get it cheaper online. If you want you audio picture improved as well then get the Monster Power Center on sale at Amazon for $125 (retails for $400).

Tripp Lite provides 3700 Joules of protection with US$500,000.00 product insurance protection. It also provides signal isolation. Some are above 5000 Joules.

[ToddL]

I got to see a Panamax in action. A current surge was put through a competetor's surge protector(no name bashing) and it started smoking and didn't even trip or alarm. The same surge was put through a panamax surge protector, it tripped and the alarm went off. Afterwards it even reset. Also Panamax carries a pretty big insurance value $200,000 and up. This was one of the only Company rep demos that have ever had an affect on me. Also the store stopped carrying the other brand!