Do I need a 20 amp or 15 amp power conditioner/surge protector

ZeroSurge 2R20 for the best protection.

+1 on the big power flow to small amps.

Spend twice as much as a tiny tpa3116d2 for a 5 amp LPS and see.

@carlsbad -thanks. So north of you up here in the PNW, we rarely see thunder storms or hear lightning (even with all that rain...) but we get wind storms and that's when we loose power for a few seconds, and every time the power goes out, it trips the circuit breaker in the amp. I've been told every time the varistor does that, it looses some of it's ability to protect the next time until it doesn't have any "saves" left, then my amp will unprotected. I run like a mad man unplugging my audio gear when the wind strikes, but sometimes I'm just not fast enough, and often it's the wind that hits the power/transfer station first before it gets to my neighbor hood. So, that's why I need some sort of protection. Unfortunately, my power amp weights 125 pounds and costs 5 figures, so don't want to fry it for all of the above 😬 But, yes, otherwise, I would love to be able to keep it plugged into the wall... -cheers

@carlsbad -thanks, good info to know. If I followed correctly, I think you're right regarding how my map operates. From the manual it says that when you plug it into the wall, then flip the big circuit breaker on/off switch in the back to the On position, the amp is then in standby mode. Then, to turn it on, there a soft switch (feels like a loose aluminum billet about a 1/4" round - you can jiggle it a little) hidden under a overhang on the front that you push up on and the following happens: you hear a "click" then about 7 - 10 seconds later, you hear a loud, but muffled, "pop". So, I believe that's the soft relay start you were referring to. When the power goes out, even if I unplug it from the wall, the big switch in the back trips and moves itself down into the Off position. The scary thing is, this once happened while I was listening to music and as soon as I heard it trip, I looked over at the amp and the power meter needles had shot up to the max of their range and slowly floated back down to zero... That event alone made me check my pants when I flew off the sofa.

Then, the scary event I alluded to in my original post, was after using the system this past Sat. night for watching a movie, afterwards, when the movie was over and the entire system was at idle (and no weather events - no wind, etc.) , my wife and I were talking and we heard a loud pop/bang and the smell of electrical ozone in the air, but nothing tripped or turned off - I went over to smell the vents of the Dan, McInstosh, and plasma TV but there was no electrical ozone nor arcing smell. The biggest problem is that I don't know the source of the bang, it was definitely one of those three components because that's the only thing on that side of the room. I also tested all my gear and everything operates and sounds as normal.

Everyone in another thread told me it was most likely the varistor (MOV) that blew in the Dan, but left the circuit open and so it still works, but now I have no surge protection. So, I slid the top off of the Dan and saw absolute nothing (to the naked eye and bright lights) - no swelling or burnt caps, resistors, transistors, and more to the point, the disc MOV is very easy to see because it goes across both terminals of the input mains - it still looks shiny new - no carbon soot, no discoloration, no smells, etc. My LAD salesman told me that when Dan's go, which isn't often, they just stop working altogether, etc.; that's when he suggested I buy the Niagara 5000, so that's what started me on this quest to figure out the best protection at the best price that wouldn't degrade the sound... -cheers