Surge protectors--how many $ make sense?

Surge protection is a good thing for all the appliances in your house. If your utility allows it, a Type 1 protector installed in your meter panel is an excellent first line of defense. My electric utility doesn't allow use of Type 1 protectors, so I settled on the next best thing, which is a Type 2 installed in the electric service panel.

I have power conditioning installed ahead of my audio components, but I don't think of those units as surge protectors.

@cleeds Power conditioners generally provide a level of protection against surges.  Now the power condition could end up being sacrificial, which will bother some because of the price, but it is really hard to protect everything.  I will never put a current limiting device on my amp.

Jerry

If you are looking for true surge protection, I suspect the SurgeX products would fit the bill.  Of course, there are those that would never accept such a "non-audiophile" product.

I suspect on many systems, current limiting would not be an issue and surge protection would far exceed what many "power conditioners" afford.

I use a whole house type II (at the main service panel) from Siemens plus on the main system, a surge board in the iso transformer that protects the outputs- 4 gauge to a sub panel that feeds 10 gauge dedicated lines. For most appliances, computers and my vintage system, I use point of use surge protectors. I keep the antique Quad Loudspeakers in the vintage system on constant charge using a Zero Surge.

"Whole house" may not be sufficient (some surges are within the household system and the "whole house" will not address these); in the realm of "point of use," a lot of the conditioner/surge protectors have a sound. That’s where you have to experiment through try before you buy or buy with the right to return with minimal penalty. The Siemens FS 140 is overbuilt, but still uses MOVs and has gone up in price; I used an Eaton before that. There is an "audiophile" whole house by Environmental Potentials that is now about twice the price of the Siemens, have not tried that unit. There are also more industrial/commercial units that can be even more spendy.

My go-to on electrical systems is @Jea48. Others here are also knowledgeable.

@whart , @cleeds

+1 on the addition of a SIEMENS surge protection. on the electrical panel.

i did it when I Reno”ed the house two years ago. I moved my “A” system to a new room and ran two new 20A dedicated lines into the new room

unless I go away on vacation, the high-end integrated amp and the high-end streamer-dac both remain powered up full-time according to their manual specs .

The panel solution works like a charm.Highly recommended.