I used a Tripplite Isolation Transformer on my system. However, after it started to hum after a few years, I went wild and purchased a Shunyata Everest Power Conditioner, which honestly, not only protected my gear from a lightning strike that fried our generator and HVAC, but elevated my system to a new level of satisfaction. The Everest added a 3D quality to the soundstage that I felt was lacking and now the system is just synergistically perfect! An expensive but highly recommended purchase! |
@facten It could very well be that I live in an older apartment building with around 32 other tenants. All the best, |
Yes, good to hear your voice again @erik_squires , thanks for your comments. I have a lot of ideas based on this conversation, thanks for all the feedback. |
True, though Helene’s swath of destruction and power outages that reached far inland. For sure though, we are now talking the type of damage a surge protector won't help you with. :D Still, 99% of the surges that fry computers and stereos are not nearly this severe. |
@nonoise Interesting your experience with ZeroSurge I have one in each of my 2 audio systems as well as one with my main TV and there's no etch or restraints on sound etc. |
@oldelectricalinspctor Thanks for the warm welcome. I find that other hobbies such as watchmaking and speaker making take my personal time away from general audiophilia, but I'll pop in from time to time where I can help. |
@thecarpathian - I wish, their power recovered faster than ours did. SC. |
I've had a TrippLite and a ZeroSurge and they both negatively affected the sound. I thought I could do it on the cheap and was wrong. I've been using the Audioquest Niagara 1200 for years and the sound is cleaner with no leading edge etch and no restrictions in soundstage or dynamics. Although passive in design (no transformers) it still "conditions" the sound, if you want to get technical, in cleaning out the grunge and I believe, scrubs DC offset noise if present in your system, and that's where a large share of the noise can come from. It has non sacrificial surge protection that immediately clamps down on surges, and keeps on keeping on. Garth Powell left Furman to go work for Audioquest so there's some decent engineering behind it. The only downside is that the price has gone way up. I paid $1,000 and now it goes for $1500. They have other models priced above and below it that supposedly do the same, or similar things but you'll have to dig deeper to find out. All the best, |
https://www.btx.com/wattbox-surge-protector This is what I have been using for all things internet and Roon, Tidal streaming The NEC now requires whole house surge protection on all new services |
The best surge suppressors are low pass filters. The low pass filters slow down the surge to give the surge suppression gear time to respond, so no, not really easy to do one and not the other. Based on the Wirecutter articles I often quote and others, all the best surge protectors (in terms of let through voltage) include filtering. Whole house surge protectors are important, but the let through/clamping voltage is significantly higher than a good surge protector. I wrote about it in too much detail here. I've been in the cross hairs of 3 different hurricanes this year and suffered power issues each time, so my sensitivity to risk is a lot higher for me than many readers here. |
Like carlsbad2 said, oxymoron. You're asking for something that is good and bad at the same time. If you're interested in protecting your gear, and helping it last as long as possible (because despite what you're asking, all that filtering and conditioning increases the longevity of the circuitry in your gear) ignore audiophile equipment. Use a Medical Power Conditioner, such as an AMETEK Powervar unit or even their standard use (non-medical) version of the same unit. They can be had in up to a 1,920 VA load rating. I happened to have one fall into my lap because the previous owner thought it was a non-working UPS. As soon as I added it I experienced better sound. But my entire apartment is on a single 20A breaker in an old, Edwardian era home with ring and loop wiring still present, so I'm a prime candidate for issues.
p.s. Asking for a non-captive cord in this scenario is like asking for "something good, but not too good." |
I have an Environmental Potentials EP-2050 that works very well: |
@terry9 @total111 --All good here. Texas is unimaginably huge- I was in touch with some folks in Denton, which is north of Fort Worth (famous for its music school, particularly jazz performance) and asked them how they fared given the hurricane/tornados that hit, among other places, Oklahoma. The response I got was that they are still three plus hours from the northern border. Yep, West Texas (not to be confused with the town of "West" near Waco) is vast-- apart from those windmills, there are places where you see nothing but scrub in every direction as far as the eye can see. We took a trip to go that observatory in Ft. Davis- they have several big old telescopes- got to star gaze- since there is no ambient light out there, pretty amazing. Thanks for the kind words, Terry. Much is owed to the contributors. |
@whart did you ever see the wind mill farms in west TX....as far as the eye can see unreliable but expensive power generation ....
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@whart Quite right. I have two bare isolation transformers for most gear, and the main audio power supply also has it's own. The electrical inspector who came to inspect it remarked that it was the cleanest power he'd seen since working in a hydro power station. Whart, how are you? Hope that you're well. Thanks again for publishing audio related information - a real public service. |
@zlone--I have a few observations, no single theme. When I lived in the Lower Hudson Valley (between Nyack and Piermont) our power would go out if somebody sneezed. It was just ancient infrastructure. Here in Austin, though I’m in an old house in an old neighborhood (the original part of Travis Heights), power was extremely clean despite the fact that I’m a stone’s throw from a lot of commercial stuff on South Congress and downtown Austin. New infrastructure. However, the grid here got funky- maybe others who lived in Texas longer would tell you I’m FOS, but it seemed to get much less stable due to population growth, business growth, etc. since I started coming here in 2012. When I bought the Travis Heights house, I not only installed whole house surge (currently, the Siemens- nice unit), but added a big iso transformer- a Controlled Power 10kVa. There was an option to add a surge board to the box (the entire unit is roughly the size of a full on refrigerator but only 1/2 as high-- big NEMA box). That is what feeds the main system. For non-critical use, most stuff in other rooms, from the record cleaning equipment to the vintage hi-fi in the front parlor is on point of use boxes. On the big system, I could hear the effects of these boxes and am glad to be rid of them. I don’t know what the NEC says about having an electrician wire a raw transformer into a subsystem in your house for the hi-fi. The raw transformer should not be too spendy without a cabinet and associated audiophile jewelry. I think @terry9 went this route- doesn’t necessarily solve the surge issue but I can’t see the grid in Texas or elsewhere getting better in the future- more demand, more noisy apparatus on the lines. I did do a full overhaul of the electrical system when I bought the Travis Heights house and when we finally added a whole house back up generator, had the house re-wired in part--main service feeds two panels- one for the generator (26kWa) which has its own breaker box (Square D). Anything wired to that panel gets generator power. The hi-fi and some other things --- I pulled about 1/2 of the breakers off the original main panel but not the feed to the iso transformer -- which does not connect with the auto transfer switch so in effect, the hi-fi has no connection to the ATS or generator (other than shared ground, I guess). |
Furman Elite 15 PFi - plug your amp(s) into the amp outlet and the rest into the same bank or one of the others. Build quality is great and for me no impact on sound. I've tried Furutech strips, AQ filters, and Isotek through the years. The " current reservoir" for amps on the Furman is legit.
Only thing it is not a strip and is the size of a component. |
@zlone call Jason at the cable company. Ask about the wireworld matrix 2 power strip. |
I second Trpplite. I've used their surge suppressors for years, after a whole-house unit at the breaker box. Make sure to follow through on your excellent idea of metal boxes, because T sells both metal and plastic. ALL electronics in my house are protected by Tripplite or an isolation transformer. Tens of thousands of $ protected by some hundreds of $. Makes sense to me. |
@whart +1 on ZeroSurge. Similarly Brickwall or SurgeX
@zlone You're correct even if you have whole home surge protection (I do) the electricians still advise other surge protection at the equipment. I've had lightning strikes powerful enough to take out the whole home suppressor at the panel 3 times, though it did its job preventing any damage to the panel or otherwise. |
ZeroSurge is not a conditioner AFAIR, and there were some clones under other brand names. (Non-MOV). I use it to power my vintage QUAD loudspeaker, which requires voltage (a lot) to be on for 24+hours. I never unpowered it. I don't like those plasticy cheap surge strips. The power strip I bought years ago (NAIM promoted) had no on/off switch. It is currently in use after a transformer that powers a pair of ancient mono tube amps designed for Britain. Doubt it is even a surge protector--just a high quality outlet box (with removable cord).
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I have installed a whole house suppressor, however it is my first understanding that these may not be sufficient to save your gear. I do not live in a high risk area, so it might be overkill to worry about it. What if I revised the question and asked if there is a good audiophile power strip that simply provides high quality power access for my non-amplifier components. |
