Moar Good news about Power

Tweak of the week- Do MOVs restrict how good your amp may sound? Plugging my HP amp and Dac power transformers into a clip strip with NO MOVs, chokes or other protection, opened up highs and vocals and made things just a bit better compared to a Tripplite standard Surge suppressor clipstrip with its little bits of cheap MOV and maybe a choke. Then again going directly into the wall should yield similar results.

 

Probably changes things, sure, but is it worth the risk?

 

Buy an SMP protector and get the best of both worlds. SurgeX, Zero Surge & Brick Wall. These are even better at surge protection than your typical MOV and can potentially last until the parts literally rust away with age.

I recently acquired an Empower M2100 which uses a SurgeX protector in it. I will be posting impressions of it in the main power thread at some point. Very happy with the way it turned out.

 

Doesn't @schiit say that all products are required to withstand a certain level of surge/energy anomalies by default?

 

I'll look into it, thanks.

Google-sensei failed at looking up the empower.

 

Risk........smisk.

I have been on this planet for many decades and have yet to have any power related failures. And there ain't no 2 cent MOV that is gonna protect against a lighting strike. My Dad got hit and no amount of surge suppressors saved his stuff. And you do know or perhaps not MOV wear out rather quickly and leave no indication that they are done, til they catch fire!

Now that does not preclude me from being anal about isolating digital and switch mode supplies from dumping their junk back into the AC live, but we are not talking about little wimpy surge suppressors there, haha.

 

Empower was a consumer brand of SurgeX that they stopped making a few years ago.

Nice thing about these SMP protectors is that they isolate noise and such just as the big Furman units do, minus the ticking time bomb and sound degrading MOVs.

 

As a side note, also be wary of any offered 'warranties' that the products offer on damage to upstream equipment. The companies have many ways to get out of paying you a dime, let alone full value/replacement of the damage.

 

Yeah. I use a SurgeX XR-315 in my system. Fantastic products compared to your usual surge strip.