auxillary ground question

I just had my consonance opera audio ref. 2.2 cdp fried by lightning. I am wanting to add an auxillary ground to my basement subpanel that supplies only 3 20 amp circuits dedicated to audio/video. I have purchased a 5' copper pipe that is 1" in diameter to use as my ground rod as suggested by "the perfect vision" magazine. I purchased some unshielded 8 guage solid copper to run from subpanel to ground rod. Would shielded wire be better to use for this purpose? Will this really provide additional surge/lightning protection plus help lower the noise floor among other things.

Let me know your experiences. I really appreciate it.

Also, my speakers are the piega c-8ltd ribbon hybrid speakers. Amp is the aloia 15.01. Preamp is arcam av8. Already have a hram level 2 modded denon 3810 ordered.

Thanks,

Twc