Electric Panel Surge protection

@skads_187          More importantly, IMHO, find out what, if any limitations your home insurance policy has when it comes to replacing stereo equipment, regardless of the cause.  For example, my policy covers personal property, at replacement cost, to a maximum of $600,000.  There are no limits or maximums on individual items.  I do in fact have a whole house surge protector at the main panel, but it's the insurance policy that lets me sleep easy at night.  I see the speakers I bought a few years ago for $30K are poised to raise to $60K in 2026.  Ahhh, replacement cost.  Two more beautiful words have never been written.  Cheers.

This comes up so often I’ve written about it.  Bottom line is you need both, due to different clamping/let through voltages and the difference in voltage during a surge of an outlet that’s 30’ away vs. at the panel.  

In terms of brand, ideally the best are the one’s that fit in your panel like a breaker.  The leads used by surge protectors which are wired into the panel increase resistance and inductance which increases the let through voltage. 

Here is why you need both. 

Here is what I recommend for surge protectors at the outlet.

@facten  what kind of power conditioners do you use for your system?

@bigtwin Yes, its something im going to do tomorrow or next week and also find out if it adding it lowers the premium.

@erik_squires Wow, ok , so yes, I do need one in general, but , you are saying, I should still protect my audio gear with surge protection as well. 

Which then leads me to my next question, what do people do when they purchase those non current sacrificing conditioners , which mostly clean the line, example the SR Powercell 8 SX. I dont think it surge protects. Or in addition, ive seen many comments online to plug in the amp directly to the wall, which offers 0 protection. 

I guess Ill have to start looking at the Puritan again as an option, I think in terms of current, filtering, price and surge protection , it might be the best option? I will create another post for that not to get too off topic.

There are power surges from the electric utility coming through your panel.

And then there are lightning strikes which can enter from various points. My neighbor had lightning hit a tree then up from the ground through a gutter then to support rods in his elevated house. Fried his frig and two tvs. 

@bigtwin +1 on insurance. I pay extra for the replacement cost provision.