"Surging audiophiles, we need protecting from them", You read my mind.

I was the lightning hardening guru for the IT Field Services department at the large electric utility I recently retired from, and my most important takeaway is to stop lightning at the service entrance. If the surge gets past the breaker box it will induce destructive transients where you would never have guessed. I used a 500 KHz oscillator and a selective level meter with a loopstick pickup to hunt down the path lightning would take when it struck the tower. Many times I found paths that amazed me; at one site the aluminum cable tray was as hot as a firecracker because it was fastened to the steel ceiling every few feet with allthread. Putting shoulder washers at the hanging points finally stopped the once or twice a year that I had to go replace smoked parts... _expensive_ smoked parts. Another site had over $40,000 damage to one piece of equipment. That was nearly a quarter of the equipment's total cost. The most common problem is ground loops. Ideally, we could eliminate every ground loop and any old sacrificial surge protector would do it. In reality, ground loops are almost everywhere, and even appear in many new houses. Just kill the demon at the service entrance. For American readers, it would help to understand the National Lightning Code (NFPA document 780) is only concerned with life and fire safety. www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-standards/list-of-codes-and-standards/detail?code=780 The EU has a much more comprehensive system that defines different levels of protection that include electronic equipment. For audiophiles, it all boils down to one thing: a "whole house" surge protector installed by a qualified electrician. If you do it yourself and don't find the best ground (in a lightning sense) to connect it to you will not be happy.

Very much appreciate your thoughts as always Paul! Cheers

"Dont get the long extension strips because they are deadly to sound quality". So what about the long wires inside your wall then?

Best is to keep the surges away to begin with. Proper grounding (only ONE ground for the entire building), make sure there's no ground loops, proper shielding, oversized conductors, reducing the number of interconnected systems, proper use of isolation transformers are a great place to start. With real lightning, only unplugging your equipment will work. Native Floridian here and I've seen plenty of lightning damage over the years. In my rack there's a Furman isolation transformer/voltage regulator which keeps things calm. BUT I have no illusions. It will work for typical power co foulups, but you aren't stopping lightning.

Welcome to the 2020 NEC where surge protection devices type 1 or 2 is required for all rework and new builds. Type 1 = at power meter and type 2 = load center (breaker panel). We have Eaton CHSPT2ULTRA which were added to both of our 200A panels. They have some of the better specs for whole house SPD's. They type 3 SPDs that Paul is talking about are located at the device / outlet.

Maybe “$300 or $400” is a special price for Paul’s KZfaq subscribers, on the $749 Dectet?

I use a Chang Light speed surge protector for my system. Seems to work very well. When we do get the rare summer monsoon thunderstorm in the desert, I just unplug my system completely from the wall outlet. As a native of Florida, we always unplugged things during daily thunderstorms. Had quite a lot of damage over the years in my parents home from lightening.

Very useful information. Thank you.

I just got a power conditioner, and I can confirm that the conditioner has a massive impct on the sound. Now I just have my noisy computer and TV plugged into the conditioner which takes care of the noise while keeping my audio components plugged into the wall. Best of both worlds.

Myself, I use these power blocks and strips by AEG, which is kind of like an industrial brand of electronics, but you can definitely get home-purpose stuff. - The thing is, they're of higher quality than your average consumer-grade stuff, with better build, thicker cables, protection and some conditioning. - Also, when I say "strip", they're not very long ones and have few spots for devices. - Like I have this block for my computer that has 3 spots, which works out nicely for a PC, a monitor, and one I opted to put an extension for small devices into. - I also have another small strip that I use for my guitar amplifier and pedals, as well as one for the Hi-Fi stuff. Now, as far as sound-quality goes; I don't know and I don't really care. - I imagine it might help a little, but as long as nothing sounds inherently wrong, like noise or anything, it's good. - As for the cost; They're a bit more expensive than the "brandless" stuff, but one of those blocks or strips would range from 40 to 70 Dollars or something, but not into the hundreds. - I've used them for years and they're still going. - If you'd want something more than that, I suppose a company like Furman would have good options that are yet a bit more expensive but not stupidly expensive.

Great answer👏

I had a Onkyo M504 in the 90’s burn from lightning no surge protector, learned my lesson.

I use Brick Wall surge protectors that l bought years ago. They don't use MOV technology They are the size of a small toaster, so size might be a concern. But might be worthwhile checking out

Thank you 🙏🏼

For pro applications I have been using SurgeX products. They use an inductor instead of MOVs. They are expensive but the protection is great.

Supra has power blocks with triple surge protectors, and two outputs for amplifiers, and the rest of the outputs are a bit more RFI filtered. And they also have some that have DC filter built in.

I just invested in two APC whole house surge protectors at the incoming circuit box. Not one but two.

Mov/Varistors are fun. A 180VAC varistor protects you from a little surge. When lightening strikes and 6000VDC gets put across a Varistor you get to see where the varistor was not where it is. And your highfi equipment the same.

I purchased the dectec in November of 2020 for $499 and now it is $749. That’s a big markup in 4 months!

Would the PS Audio power plant still work if I plug in my hi-fi gear AS WELL AS two computers, a monitor and a television?

Brennenstuhl makes adapters with surge protection. The small ones for € 10,-- you can plug into the wall and then plug in your device (I use these for my WLAN adapters) and the bigger ones have multiple Plugs, are € 15,-- and come with an HF-Filter and I use it for my stereo, which works perfectly fine. I used the big one for my PC for years w/o any problems, but I got one of the Amazon Basics UPS's now. These come with surge protection as well, I just don't need a UPS for my Hifi system, otherwise you could use that as well. If you have frequent power outages, with on/off toggling of the power, even your amp and your speakers might be happy about this. :) P.S.: could it be, that Amazon links are not allowed here ? ;)

This is good info. I was rather skeptical of those 'power conditioners.'

Years ago I found the Zero Surge brand , which is affordable , does the job, has no effect on the sound quality . They do not degrade over time , use no MOV's & have virtually no limit to the amount of surge energy they will stop . Failproof . Website has an impressive list of commercial ,governmental & military customers . Mine cost me $199.00 . Two outlet heavy black box . Satisfied customer.

Paul, is the Furman SS-6B-PRO a good choice for a voice over talent or would a surge protector with good EMI RFI be better?

I like my powerquest 3 a lot, it was $300 with 8 outlets. We had a tree come down on some power lines during a storm, the transformer was burning in the road for a good long time. It fried my amp and bluesound node.

PS Audio once made a nice product called the Juice Bar which I would recommend, now discontinued, but I don’t think it had surge protection.

Look into the Polish Company Gigawatt, who makes some very good power filter/strips, with 6 sockets. It doesen’t effect the sound as your regular “Audio/hi-fi strip”, i promise. It also build like a tank, and checks for polarity and has the needed protection for your system. Doesen’t come cheap, but it’s best solution iv’e ever tried. Mine is: Gigawatt PF-2 Happy listening. Cheers from Denmark

Thx I didn't no that . I just recently bought some emotiva amps with my marantz receiver was looking for some protection. And was looking at a power conditioner. U said the thing you sell is 3 or $400 .. what is your web site sir ? You meant $749 !

Alternatively try a residual current device perhaps, eg ABB's switched socket outlets CRS113 and CRS213.

Wouldn't it make sense to take cheap line strip and replace cable?

If you use a Rogue Audio, battery operated amplifier, you will be the only one able to play music when there is a major power outage. All your apartment neighbors will think there must be power, and that their apartment only, is the problem. That scurrying around upstairs is them looking for fuses.

Very nice price in US. In Portugal is 950,00 €! Equivalent to $1153,86.. insane pricing where for PS Audio products 😬

Thank you Paul, how about the use of smart plugs?

Other problem is that, many of these devices lock the audio into a very certain direction.

In a perfect world with a perfect grid and maximum home electrical installation a simple surge protector would work. However my grid voltage varies from 110 to 130 depending on area demand. Most homes have a ground system with the code minimum grounding and most electricians do code minimum instead of giving customers the maximum. I use an ac line conditioner, I set up my home electrical system with lightning arrestors whole house surge protector and I have 6 ground rods to give me a ground rod resistance of .11 ohms. I also have a lightning arrester system on my roof. I have yet to see a man's pants fall wearing a belt and suspenders.

I use a surge protector that is a large block and costs like $400. It's not like the kind in the store that burns out. As these large surge protectors I use shouldn't ever wear out, and supposedly they are better for sound compared to the cheap strips from the store.

I do whole house Intermatic made in America then surge protected outlet with a quality power strip. In Florida it’s absolutely necessary with all our lightening. Did all this damage my music nope it doesn’t alter the sine wave so if Paul hears a negative difference good I don’t. The code for lightening protection is to use at least 2 in tandem and make sure your house ground is up to code with double ground rods also. That’s most important.

Never liked MOVs. As a recording, mix engineer they affect your headroom if your gear needs the juice. Furman moved on from MOVs years ago and now use SMPs. Better solution. Also prefer their units that reduce current compression. About as close as you can get plugged directly into outlets with protection. Just my take on it. Did extensive listening tests. If you need protection check them out.

why would a power strip be "deadly" to sound quality?

“Deadly” to the sound.

Audioquest PQ3. Or Niagara series if you want the really good stuff.

They make receptacle surg protectors for about $25.00 (Surge Protector Receptacle with Grounding Indicator, Child Safe, Tamper-Resistant, Self-Grounding, 900 Joules, 2-Pole, 15A 125V, UL Listed)

Here we go again!

why are power boards deadly to high end audio?

what value ceramic capacitor needed to short out radio frequencies picked up or generated by power lines AM or FM?

One thing I could never get my head around is surge protectors. Why do we need them in the first place? Doesn't the electronic equipment have fuses? Isn't that the same type of protection?

ifi ac ipurifier, stops surges as well

What is this Deck Tech you talk about?

What are your thoughts on Using a UPS, Like an APC-1500, I have always plugged my gear into this and never heard any noise.

Audio power strips with a surgent price tag, really Works in many ways as projecting power, voltage, No interefference with the sound and u will be protected in many ways. But there is not many valid products out there, who does it all. But if your ready to pay some amount of cash, i would recommend the Polish brand: Gigawatt. They made a magnificent Power strip Called PF-2 ✌️❤️🇩🇰

Check out Panamax. I’ve been using them since the early 90s.

Look at surge protectors for RVs there are many types and are excellent quality

Try look Gigawatt up 👀 6 socket strip, with a kind of power filter build i, and polarity Detection. No audio get's lost on these. Other products also can help, but i'm very goob smacked about their products. But there is others out there 😉 ✌️❤️🇩🇰

When you are at Home depot pick up a $20 hospital grade wall outlet instead of the rebranded $50 he sells. There's always well made and not so much; even in power strips.

I certainly confirm -- Dectet is excellent and gives cleaner sound ( reduces noise/ dirt from power supply). Also confirm that cable AudioWave 5 makes further improvement. Now saving for Power Plant

Have a whole house surge protector in the breaker box and an APC H15 for my equipment

15 years ago, my DIY MOV based surge protector managed to "save" my entire second system after a local lightning strike. Only the MOVs blew and it blew dramatically - like a 22 long rifle round fired indoors - and the new replacement MOV only cost me around 5 USD.

can someone send me a photo how I can best connect thanks

Does it matter what quality of power chord goes from the Dectet to the wall?

Furman, Brennenstuhl, Taga Harmony, Supra, Isotek, iFi, Audioquest, Gigawatt, Oyaide, Oehlbach they all make good surge protectors, almost all having products ranging from close to $100 up to a few hundred, depending on quality and number of sockets. Prefer one with seperate cable. You might want to replace it with a better one. Compromising the audio quality? Nah

Hopefully someone at PS Audio can answer this. I have one of your electrical outlet filter/surge protectors. I'm not home right now so I don't know the model number, but I think it's the only type PS Audio ever made. My question is does that thing have a life span? How long is it good for, barring a nearby lightning strike? Mine is about 10 years old. Still working. I ask because I will be selling the house it is installed in and I wonder if it's worth the effort to take it out of the wall and maybe use it again at the new house.

I can't image that it would be to hard to make one. Looks like I found my next project. Wife walks in as I'm typing this, reads my comment and say's "Next? Why don't you try finishing the 10 other ones you started and haven't finished first!"

Panamax has a line of audio surge protectors that are reputable. I have two different sizes to match the current draw and cannot hear any affect on sound quality.

You never explained what is the bad. Correct, it is not the MOV, it is added resistance and impedance. More so by the 15 amp circuit breaker than the loose fitting outlets, and 18 gauge wire would add as total resistance losses. The circuit breaker is there to open the line when the MOV shorts out an overvoltage condition.

a Dectet power bar at 750$US a unit ? How about showing me with a scope the difference with a 30$power bar? Equipment with well designed power supply should alleviate most councerns. I would assume noise loops are much more trouble than anything else when power distribution is discussed.

I still use an old Monster HTS3500 mkll.

Paul what are your thoughts on something a bit more upscale than just a power strip. Something like furmanpower.com/product/15a-power-conditioner-with-lights-voltmeter/ I live in a rural area and suffer from brown outs and lots of bad weather that causes power outages. Just got one of your Stellar S300 and don't what it to get damaged.

My first thought when I saw just the headline: is this about pills to protect people against surges of audiophilia? If these pills work, it's not good for PS Audio and others selling high-end audio stuff 😁

I am a huge fan of Paul’s! Actually sitting reading his guide the now. But I have to say his recommendation is not the best I’ve heard from him. Ask your electrician to install surge protection into your home mains power consumer unit. It’ll cost you 100 bucks! This will have to detrimental whatsoever. Then you’re whole house will be protected. I have a dedicated CU for audio and it has surge built in.

SurgeX is what I use

As a consequence of plugging in a a surge protector into an outlet, all outlets on the circuit become protected to a certain extent. You don’t even need to plug directly into the surge protection device. The extent of protection of a given piece of equipment is dependent on the electrical distance from the surge protection device.

I can't help but notice that Paul is going on and on about the impact of a cheap power strip, yet fails to do anything about the mic noise in this video.

Come on now Paul, you know full well there are a number of excellent companies that do surge protection and do not affect the sound quality - Furman PS-8 being among the best, but also SurgeX.

I wonder if a power plant solves this so I don't need additional stuff?

Just install a whole house surge protector in your main power switch box, problem solved. In amateur radio We use regulated external DC power supplies it’s voltage regulator, and enormous power transformers, 40 pounds in my 50 Amp Astron, takes care of surges.

Why not go battery powered? Lithium in particular?

I hate to be this person... but even with the most unkind speaker load (let's say one that dips down to a 2.5 ohm highly reactive load in the bass region), plus a large room and high output levels, the power strip the amplifier is connected to won't matter. Unless the amplifier has grossly inadequate filter capacitance in the power supply, a very small amount of added impedance on the primary (like from a cheap power strip) will be neither measurable nor audible in a fair listening test. If I'm using an amplifier as a signal generator, then an undersized power cord is both a performance impairment and a potential fire hazard. In a home stereo application, most amplifiers operate at relatively low levels most of the time. Furthermore, when they do operate at high levels, it's for very brief pulses during a bass transient- that's what those big filter caps are for.

My big giant UPSs sure kicked on when the power went off, this was made obvious when they began beeping every 30s LOL made listening to my favorite LPs a nuisance and I couldn’t even power a hot plate.

I use Brick Wall's audio model

700+ now for the Dektet…. Thats a lot of money 😮

What can you do, if you have heard that a 5 bucks Home Depot surge protector is ALLEGEDLY bad for sound? Well, you could spend 5 bucks on a Home Depot surge protection and try it out. If you cannot hear a difference, the Home Depot solution is perfect for you. I do not see how Paul could help with this...

I have a Gigawatt power conditioner after a power surge in my house this saved my $250K system just buy one

Tripp-Lite Isobar wall mount.

Great topic after you’ve spent US$100,000 on your system and need to get it to the next level.

So how exactly does a "long" extension strip ruin sonic quality? Can you measure it? Can you even explain the theory? This is not scientific advice. This is nonsense.

Why are their no ETL or UL labels on PS crap? Can't meet any NRTL specs? Cus it's crap

run the system on battery power and the whole threat disappears, and, outside the realm of surge protectors, lightning rods the original solution to the most common cause of surges

wait I thought dectet had MOV

Audioquest Powerquest. I got three.

hmmm...... makes me curious, are there audiophile circuit breakers? if not , i am sure that there is a fortune to make, with the right marketing , of course. :)

So did I waste my money on the Tripp Lite ISOBAR Ultra? I know it's a surge protector that has some(?) line conditioning?

What about the furman SS-6B? Would that lower the quality of my sound?

Mr. Rogers..

Great video , Thanks. In my experience , The wall mount surge protector made bad influence on sound quality, As the better Audio equipment you have - this wall mount goes worse. But it's only my opinion. If you have really high end kit - go buy excellent protector ( Ps Audio / Furman / AudioQuest )

Lol around 3:50 Paul’s like yeah Dectet are not cheap they’re 300-400 dollars. Just looked they’re $749 & I’m pretty sure I looked a few months back & same - 2x+ < year…

Hey Paul like the audiophile mask I have audiophile toilet paper and my farts sound better. Cmon Paul. Your messin up

Although it is common to call those devices "surge protectors", they are not surge protectors. Rather, they are surge suppressors. "Surge Protector" implies that you are protecting surges, when in fact, these devices suppress the surges. It is common to call a stylus a needle, when it is not a needle. My point is not to expect that everyone stop calling these devices by the wrong description of their function. My point is informational, for anyone that wants to not use the wrong term. It would be helpful if influential people with engineering degrees would not mislabel them. Cheers!

In my 47 years, I have never experienced that equipment are destroyed by high current surge. It is not really a big risk for it to happen. And it was more dangerous the time we had wired telphones, and antennas for Televisions. The power lines are not the first the lightning want to follow. It will follow something that goes to ground first and foremost.

where the HELL is he talking about PS Audio Dectet being $200-300?!?!!? they SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS everywhere I can find. wtf