With respect to part of your question, I have had equipment fried by power surges twice. Both times were over 15 years ago; lost a Pioneer receiver and a CM Labs amp. I know at least once, the surge was associated with a nearby (not at the house) lightening strike.
Dedicated outlets vs Power Conditioner
Would like to know opinions of people who have compared plugging components into a dedicated outlet vs a power conditioner. I currently have 2 dedicated lines, one line is shared by my monoblocks, the other I have an MIT Z center conditioner. The transport, Dac, turntable, and preamp are all plugged into the MIT. I have the option to add another dedicated line, if so I am considering plugging all directly into dedicated lines and remove the MIT. Has anyone done this before? I could do the evaluation myself except my power cords are currently too short for my preamp and dac to reach my dedicated outlet. Also has anyone ever had equipment damaged from a power surge? Thoughts on this would be appreciated.