Surge Protection for Bryston 14BSST

For years Bryston advised against using its products with any kind of line conditioner or surge protector. Now it recommends--of course!--the Torus units. Whether you regard this as nothing more than Bryston's attempt to get a share of the lucrative "power conditioner" market, the technical explanation given is that large power amps in particular can require short-term current draw that exceeds what a normal 15-amp circuit can deliver, but that the Torus line can store and deliver such instantaneous peaks. Of course, there's also the common mode noise rejection and surge protection that the Torus gear offers.

Technical explanations aside, I'm happy enough with the Torus I've got (15 amps, 1800 watts) that I'm ordering the 20 amp/2400 watt version for my main system to go with the 20 amp circuits that I installed when I rewired my house.

I doubt I need the massive on-tap current capability that Bryston says the Torus units offer (100 dB speakers), but compared to taking the power straight from the wall or via my Furman PM-8-II or my OneAC isolatiion transformer, my system has lower noise floor and better low-level detail with the Torus.

Note that according to Bryston/Torus, the ultimate power conditioner is a fully balanced Torus unit, but for that you need a 240 Volt circuit....

Maybe they don't get lightning or power spikes in Canada, but I would suggest any surge protection is better than none. 110-120 volts, 60 watts, 120 cycles is what should come out of an electrical outlet and that is what your equipment was designed to use. Any surge protection or power conditioner that gives you those specs should be fine. There is emi, rfi, and power drops on a power line. I have never heard a system using a power conditioner that sounded worse for using it. I know others disagree.

Brickwall

Like the Brick Wall. You may also want to consider whole house surge protection via a $40 unit installed on the main panel.

It seems that alot of amplifier companies suggest this.
However, I struggled with the same delema of wanting to protect my investment. I use a McIntosh mc352 and have it plugged into a richard gray 400 pro. It has 6000 watts of on demand power. I don't know all the technical aspects of it but I know my system sounds much better since the purchase of it as well as my peace of mind. For more info go to http://www.richardgrayspowercompany.com/