This morning we had a power surge. First one I ever experienced. It knocked out the sub woofer components of my GoldenEar Triton one speakers. In my ignorance I had them plugged into the wall rather than a surge protector. Soooo it blew the amplifiers in the sub woofers. It’s going to be a costly proposition: $500 for the amplifiers plus God knows how much the dealer is going to charge for coming to my house. (He’s very reluctant to do it, wants me to lug the 80 lbs speakers to the store.
Meanwhile, I’m having to listen to bass-less speakers for the foreseeable future.
So, the moral of the story is plug everything into a surge protector.
@jea48 , I continue to follow this thread with interest. I did go to Lowe’s site and find their listing for the Siemens FirstSurge 140-kA Indoor and Outdoor Surge Protective Device.
After reading the second to last post you made, it got me wondering about this: in the spring of ’20 we had a micro-burst that brought down one of two large pine trees in my front yard. The tree almost could not have came down any more fortuitously than it did--no damage to my house or anyone else’s and only minimal damage to the cap on one of my pickups (which the tip of the pine tree hit). But it did take out the line from the power pole to our house (it did NOT yank the meter out). It also did not damage any equipment or appliances (I don’t think I was manually tripping circuit breakers back then). Was I just extremely lucky?
I got a new complimentary amp from GoldenEar and had it installed in the speaker.
I’ve decided not to worry about a new surge. It was the first one I had in my house in the 50 years I’ve lived here.
I’m keeping the speakers plugged into the wall.
I’ve decided not to worry about a new surge. It was the first one I had in my house in the 50 years I’ve lived here.
I’m keeping the speakers plugged into the wall.
I’d most likely do the same thing in your shoes, given the particular chain of events you’ve described.
At the same time, I have to admit I’m curious as to why Golden Ear replaced the amp for free if the problem was with the Furman...
Yes; that is fantastic, indeed. So, a happy ending, at least!
The fact that every audiophile has a different system, hears differently, has different tastes and different experiences with different gear can complicate the process of choosing whose recommendations to act upon.
I’m old enough as well to just not worry about a lot of stuff. Yes, a once in fifty years kind of thing is worth not worrying about.
I remember putting UV filters on my Nikon lens to protect them. What a waste. I stopped that twenty years ago and have never damaged a lens… but got the best the lenses have to offer. I don’t lock my car… I live in a very safe area… and there is nothing inside to steel. Etc. I just don’t sweat that stuff any more.
If you have two spare slots in your main panel, I'd recommend you consider having an electrician install a whole house surge protector. If you don't have two spares, they still can work around that, it's a bit more expensive.
If you have two spare slots in your main panel, I'd recommend you consider having an electrician install a whole house surge protector. If you don't have two spares, they still can work around that, it's a bit more expensive.
@ejr1953 , does it matter where in the panel those slots are? I thought I read something to the effect of closer to the top the better, but I don't know that I'd have enough wire to move the breakers that exist in those slots down.
@immatthewj I don't think it matters where in the main panel the surge protectors go, but I'm not an electrician. The electrician who wired our new house placed them in the upper left slots on the main panel. In our previous home, that electrician installed them near the lower right side of the panel. Installing in the panel will protect all the electrical devices in the home.
@ejr1953- There are two related recommendations for WHSPs - Keep any leads short while avoiding sharp curves AND place the WHSP as close to the inlets as possible.
The thinking here is that shunt-mode surge protectors (which all WHSP I know of are) are affected by the resistance (R) and inductance (L) of the wiring between them and the inlet. The higher R and/or L, the higher the effective clamping voltage. Also, the shorter the lead distance(s) the less likely you’ll have an insulation breakthrough or arc to an unwanted path.
Still, you are better off having a WHSP than not so a sub-optimal installation is still much better than no installation at all.
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