power for mc452 and c2600

@lowrider57 - what is the breaker rating on your Furman? The one I have (and used for some ancillaries, not in the audio chain itself) had a 15 amp rating, though the wall plug for the Furman is a 20 amp type. Thus, the lower amperage breaker (at the conditioner or device) ought to trip first since it is lower rated than the breaker at the panel, which is 20 amp (per dedicated circuit). I know the amplifier becomes part of the electrical circuit, but assuming both breakers- at the panel and at the device are the same rating (and both operating within their parameters) isn’t the breaker at the subpanel or panel "earlier" in the chain? (maybe this reflects my ignorance of household electrical theory and practice in terms of which breaker is going to get hit with the surge first and how the ground and return work- thus, somebody with real electrical chops should probably answer this). My amps (Lamm SETs) are fused at the IEC receptacle on the amp. I do have ’whole house’ but my impression was that this was necessary, but not sufficient, for critical equipment. (I plug straight in).

Hi Bill,

The main role of the breaker is to protect the downstream wiring in the case of overload caused by malfunction of downstream devices/wiring and thus prevent fires. Not so much the person or the equipment. Read up on GFCI receptacles if the mood strikes you for info on that. Excessive sustained current draw downstream (ie beyond that of the breakers rating) will (should) trigger it to discontinue passing AC to the downstream wiring.

The breaker will be the first to see the spike of current coming from upstream (lightning etc) but may not and often does not respond quickly enough to save equipment (not its design criteria) and likely will not respond at all, at least in any effective way. Thus the importance of faster and more reliable protection devices in the AC link downstream but prior to the audio equipment if incoming surge is a concern. By and large, if these devices use MOVs/chokes, etc. as the sole method of protection, they will do little to protect equipment anyway in the event of an extreme surge on the incoming AC line. $$ "guarantees" are a cruel joke and an indicator of an inferior and incapable product from a company that prioritizes marketing over performance.. Much to be read on the WWW re: the Monster "guarantee" and the weasel words deliberately inserted by their legal team to avoid any type of compensation actually being rendered. Look inside the device for the real story of its value in protecting audio equipment or especially in improving sound quality. If you see "lollipops" (MOVs) and chokes, recommend that you MOVe on to a real product that uses modern and superior technologies that actually work. They usually cost money.

In 30 years of audio, I have only had one component (a TV) damaged by lightning surge and that came in through the cable provider’s RG6 line, not the AC, in an apartment complex. Learned that devices that effectively shield the equipment from incoming TV cable problems are more valuable than the AC-only type.

My power conditioning products over the past 10 years do not contain components for surge protection in the interest of better sound quality. I live in severe-thunderstorm Hades (near Houston) so admit to being a risk taker. So far, so good.

Dave

Thanks kalili. We good.

Dave

Dave- I can’t disagree with anything your wrote. I have always pulled power to my main system in the case of severe (or even not so severe) electrical storms. We are now in Austin, which probably doesn’t get as much electrical storm activity as Houston, but when we do get such storms, they are pretty intense. As to the MOV devices, I’m inclined to agree. Certainly the cheap power strips and some of the other products you mention are questionable.

What’s interesting is that the surge protection within my industrial/commercial style isolation transformer (10kVa from Controlled Power) which sits outside in a Nema weatherproof cabinet at 400 lbs is in part MOV based, with a warning light that indicates the need for replacement. Ditto, the whole house unit that is side mounted to the main service panel for the house. I have had for some years one of those ZeroSurge units that doesn’t use any MOV (I’m sure I mentioned this above) and that’s what I keep my vintage QUAD ESLs plugged into.

I guess my starting point is to be pretty skeptical about how much any of these devices can protect against a close strike, but I use them, nonetheless, as well as point of use boxes, like those made by Tripplite, for computers and appliance type electronics, e.g., the printer, the paper shredder, as well as my record cleaning equipment.
The current code now requires Arc-Fault type breakers. Those were installed at the service (sub) panel fed by the isolation transformer for my dedicated lines. I was concerned about false triggers, but they have worked fine. The cable point is a good one. I should look at my cable modem/router, which only provides Internet service-- no "TV signals" as such-- we stream video and have otherwise ’cut the cord.’
I think we come out in the same place, no?
I’m relatively new to Texas, but really love it here, despite the heat.