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How to protect my amp without changing the sound?

My house has terrible power surges. One surge fried my former system with all Cary Audio electronics and speakers. Everything was fried from the amp, preamp, speakers to the speaker wires and interconnects.

Now I've replaced much of it with a Wadia Intuition amp/preamp/DAC unit. But for obvious reasons can't consider plugging it directly into the wall.

I started off with a Furman power strip/surge suppressor which really throttled the output. Made my $15K system sound like $3K.

Next I tried a Brickwall surge suppressor which really opened up the sound (getting more current through) but drained warmth and musicality from the sound.

I broke down and bought a Furman 16A power conditioner that is warmer sounding but still doesn't compare to plugging the amp directly in the wall.

What do I do? Keep moving up the Furman line?

Power conditioning isn't absolutely necessary, but strong surge protection is. And I'm no fan of MOV's. Any ideas?
larrybou

Showing 2 responses by jea48

jea48
2,944 posts
 
Larrybou,

What country do you live in?
What is the mains nominal voltage?

How bad does the mains voltage feeding your home fluctuate?
How high above the nominal voltage have you measured?

I would probably start at the main power electrical panel and install a good high quality SPD, Surge Protection Device.
Then down stream at your equipment install your secondary SPD protection.

Note,
A short sustained high voltage event above the limits of the SPD will fry the SPD.

Whole House Surge Protection
.
jea48
2,944 posts
 
Here is an interesting video on SPD protection presented by Current Technology.

Part one

Part two

Disclaimer, I am not associated in anyway with Current Technology and do not have any first hand experience with their products.

I do know MOVs can and do fail under the conditions represented in the video presentation by Current Technology.
.
Jim

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