Question about power surge protection


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One of my customers at my job just told me that just about all of his appliances were destroyed a couple weeks ago from a major power surge. Items such as his TVs and refrigerators were all destroyed and there was not even a storm. He lives a few miles away from me in the next town. We never heard of this problem and it is rare for our area. His wife is devastated at this huge loss since they are having problems with their insurance company. He even plugged them into power surge protection strips too.

This made me alarmed because I use the generic power strips that offer little protection and now I want to buy the high end power surge protectors like the Brickwall surge protector or the Panamax 5300 power box. My question is, do I have to leave them on at all times for maximum power protection or can I turn the power box off when not using my stereo system and still be protected?
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spareribs
fuelie ...
From the ZeroSurge site:

Then in 2006, in answer to two specific application requirements (one military, one audio), Mr. Harford developed and patented Total Surge Cancellation (TSC) Technology®. TSC first filters off the most dangerous surge frequencies and then cancels the remaining residual surge voltage, totally eliminating damaging surge energy from protected equipment. TSC is recommended for ultra-sensitive electronics and where total surge cancellation is required.

So SurgeX's "Advanced Series Mode with zero let-through technology" is better protection than ZeroSurge's TSC technology?

I am very confused. When I spoke with ZeroSurge they claimed to be the manufacturer from which other companies such as BrickWall licensed the product. Now I find out instead that it is SurgeX who is the parent of this technology?
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Don't surge protectors degrade the sound? I keep all my components unplugged until I listen and only if there are no storms predicted that night.
Some of the folks who have better hearing than I do ( High frequency loss in both ears) claim that a SurgeX SA1810 drops the sound stage about 30%, and SA20 about 15%, but I can't hear the difference. I don't use it on the pre-amp or amp, just the cd player, phono pre-amp, TV, and computer. It sounds like it is best to use the highest amperage rated suppressor to minimize negative impact on the sound stage.