Surge protection, no filtering, no regen please...

I would be skeptical of any product that claims to prevent a direct lightning strike. Lightning ranges from several hundred million to a billion volts and up to several hundred thousand amps. Good luck stopping that kind of power. The "surges" most consumer products are designed to prevent are the minor fluctations in power from your power company. I use a Furman Elite 15 for "surge" protection and when lighting is in the forecast, I unplug.

You can purchase a whole house surge protector from Home Depot for about $75.00. It gets connected directly to your breaker box. Has green and red lights. Green good Red replace. Most serge protectors are good for 1 hit only and must be replaced. Contrary to popular belief that they reset themselves, most do not. If you talk to an electrician he should be able to get you one with a module that can be replaced.

You cannot really protect from strong direct hit since it creates plasma 1 foot wide and you need very thick wire and grounding rod to return it to earth, but any protection is better than none (protects from line spikes and indirect hits). I would unplug (if I'm at home) and if you have roof antenna - ground it. Metal structure on asphalt shingle roof gets charged by wind (static electricity) to thousands of volts and your house looks (electrically) like skyscraper.

http://www.ep2000.com/Index.html

Whole home protection is the way to go. If you don't own the home then that isn't practical so something portable... I've had no issues with Transparent Audio Powerlink Ultra which I have all my office stereo system plugged into including my amp. Also check out the Audience product line.

All that I can say is that my house has been struck twice by lightening. One time my system was not on but my computer was and had a surge protector. The computer was fried. The second time in another house, my system was on and lightening struck my water heater which was only six feet away. The system was all plugged into the Sound Application ac filter. Neither it nor the stereo system was damaged at all, although the water heater had a hole blown into the gas line, the garage door opener was fried, as was the house intercom system and answering machine, and all ground fault sensors were tripped.

Presently, I use only unplugging everything in electrical storms.

Gs5556 brings up a good point. Airplanes are designed to withstand lightning because the plane's skin is ground to the electronics. Radio and radar towers survive because they have lightning rods.

A lightning rod is a sacrificial metal rod which is attached to a thick copper ground wire. Lightning strikes the rod and channels the energy to the earth. It doesn't have to be sacrificial, it may take numerous hits. I've seen copper wires range from #6 to 0000 size for AL.

This is not a do it yourself type of project, you have to have an engineering-electrical group who installs this sort of thing do it for you. Do understand what I am saying: I am an EE and I wouldn't design one for myself. The trade off is that lightning rods attract lightning.

Since I made my last post, I found a link where a guy's house was hit by lightning. See: http://www.digitalhomedesignline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216403470&cid=NL_DHDL

One engineering manager I worked for some years back had his place hit by lightning. Everything that was plugged in was destroyed, even things like the motor in the refrigerator. In short, if it was plugged it, it was destroyed.

Hope this helps...

Ditto Gs5556. Whole house surge protector lets you sleep easy. Also like the Brick Wall devices.

Install a whole-house surge arrester at the main panel. This will protect your equipment from lighting as well as transients from arcing light switches and refrigerator motors. Consult an electrician for what's on the market - there are some inexpensive ones that do a good job. Look for something that handles at least 50,000 short-circuit amps and over 500 joules. But keep in mind that lightning strikes are never fully protected against unless you have an engineered system like the ones on airplanes and radio towers, for example.

Again, consult an electrician - surge arresters are useless if your grounding system is inadequate.

Since I also like to plug my amps directly into the wall socket I installed a pair of Sycom surge protectors in my main fuse box, here in Wisconsin there are plenty of thunder storms.While one would do the job I installed one at the top of the panel and one at the bottom.They are about $120 a throw so not a large investment by any means and also may protect your appliances,stove,fridge ect.I'm no electrician but the install was a piece of cake,but always use caution...of course.
Just a thought

http://www.solahd.com/products/Index.htm

I second Buffs comments; particularly regarding fully isolated power for digital & analog. Having the amp on a separate circuit mandatory imho. I feel 20 watt circuits are very worthwhile,especially for the amp. I would add that an older MIT Z Stabilizer ll is worth looking into. My experience was increased clarity and dynamics with no downside. It has provided a more nuanced, delicate and involving sound in my system. It's was also marketed as providing some protection for other equipment. I wouldn't be surprised if MIT markets a newer version sometime.

i have not personally tried them yet, but given your requirements, i would check out the bpt cpc. i believe you can order one with surge protection but no filtering.

i am changing my system soon and will need a new power device, and they are who i am looking at calling myself.

they are very well reviewed and are available with a trial period if you don't take advantage of the lower audiogon pricing.

i agree, however, that anything you put between your system and the wall will probably change the sound somehow, though often for the better. also, with bpt you can upgrade things like outlets to your taste to try to minimize the change in sound quality.

Frankly, you probably won't be able to buy anything that will protect you from lightning. There is do much energy in one bolt that there isn't much you can do about it.

Look at it this way, the average lightning bolt has enough energy to lift the Titanic out of the water. Given that happens in less than a second, you have an idea of what you are up against.

I suggest you pick a power conditioner which sounds better than just straight from the wall. When there is a danger of lightning, just unplug every thing.

Looks well made, but, as usual, not clear on the method of surge protection which Chutt is mainly interested in. If MOV,s, no matter how costly and what implementation is used, they eventually fail, and you never know when! Also, looks overpriced compared to what I suggested above.

Hi, this may be what you are searching for
BlackNoise Energy Distributors

Hi! I always felt the same way you do. A change in sound is not necessarily an improvement. My only concern has been surge protection. Sudden transients in the power line are a reality. I have 20 amp dedicated lines for isloation and quietness. But for surges have used Brickwall filters from Price Wheeler Corp. I use 3 of the 20 amp: one each on the mono power amps and one on the transport and DAC. I have never had a problem in 20 years. They do not current limit current, they divert any noise to neutral, not to ground, and do not use sacrificial components such as cheap MOV's. They are also silent and inexpensive. Their website is very comprehensive and they sell direct. I hope this helps.

I have amp plug into wall direct now and I don't have plan for dediciated line for now due to my house situation.

I'm just worried about lightning etc. so I want protection... but I want nothing more added to my system...

I think they will all have some effect on the overall sound. What you want is one that improves, not detracts.

HAve you tried plugging the amp straight into the wall, while using one of your conditioners for all other components?
HAve you tried separate isolated sources of AC for digital and analog?
Do you have 20a dedicated circuits in place?