Surge Protectors/Line Conditioners

sbcgroup1 · « **on:** 24 May 2004, 01:09 pm »

I just PM'd John Casler on this....

Anyone out there tried the Brickwall surge protector stuff? Recommendations in a sensible price range?

-Ed

JoshK · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 May 2004, 01:34 pm »

Never tried brickwall, what is your budget? What is sensible to you?

Juan R · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 May 2004, 01:58 pm »

I have one, is just a surge protector not a line conditioner. If you just looking to protect the eq. for the cost is a good one .

sbcgroup1 · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 May 2004, 02:08 pm »

The 15A protector from brickwall is selling for $169. The 20A is $399.

$169 is an attractive price...

I want something I can use with my poweramps when i get them that won't affect their sonics or limit their surge drawings of power, etc.

-Ed

Marbles · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 May 2004, 02:22 pm »

Quote from: sbcgroup1

The 15A protector from brickwall is selling for $169. The 20A is $399.

$169 is an attractive price...

I want something I can use with my poweramps when i get them that won't affect their sonics or limit their surge drawings of power, etc.

-Ed

Good luck with THAT!

Amps are pretty tricky not to change their sonics for the worse with these types of circuits.

You might want to try a BPT, but those are going to be a lot more than what you want to spend...

Juan R · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 May 2004, 04:39 pm »

I used mine only for the SACD,Preamp and the Dac, I will not recomend for the amps. soon I will add the BPT 3.5 to use with my Amps.

jgubman · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 May 2004, 04:43 pm »

If you go with the Earthquake amps, I've been told by their chief engineer to plug them directly into the wall outlet. They have a pretty massive toridial inside them (which he claims does adequate power conditioning) and they have 20amp circuit breakers across the mains.

He claims that the amps can survive any power surge that will happen in a residential house. You can email him at techsupport@earthquakesound.com and ask if you need a brickwall unit, but I guarantee he'll tell you to just plug it directly into the wall.

Now, a BPT unit on you source gear (pre, cd player, etc) is a very good idea. An BPT 1 Ultra can feed up to 1,000 watts and is fairly affordable.

ctviggen · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 May 2004, 05:02 pm »

I run all my stuff through a Monster power conditioner. However, this is because I have somewhere around 10 plugs and only one outlet. I'm going to add a separate 20amp circuit for an outlet and plug the two amps directly into this outlet, then leave everything else on the Monster. Bothe my amps recommend plugging directly into the wall, but when you have one outlet and lots of plugs, there's not much you can do. Also, I bought a whole house surge protector, although I have yet to install it. So, I'll have some protection. The people I bought the house from said that there was a power surge which took out their well pump and a bunch of other stuff, so some protection is better than none.

zybar · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 May 2004, 05:10 pm »

Bob,

Ditch the Monster and contact Chris at VH Audio and get his Hot Box.

Two of these will turn 2 outlets into 8.

I also suggest you get a second 20 amp line for all of the non-amp items. Trust me, this will be well worth the extra $100 or so a second run should cost.

If you want protection that doesn't screw up the spund and you can't spring for something like the BPT 3.5 Sig, you can get a $100 surge protector right in your panel box.

George

ctviggen · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 May 2004, 05:45 pm »

Hi George,

I'll check into that, thanks! I will probably have two 20 amp outlets run, as they only have to go less than five feet. (It's running the wires that five feet that's the problem -- I can easily install the lines, but getting them through the boards/drywall is the hard part. My room is in a "basement" room of a raised ranch, so the room is finished and running wires is hard.)

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 May 2004, 05:50 pm »

The Blue Circle Noisehound BC-86 sounds like a deal at $100 a pop (delivered in US). Look on A-gon; there is a couple Canucks that sell them for $100.

You need two, it seems, to derive serious noise reducing benefits.

Pocketchange · « **Reply #11 on:** 9 Jun 2004, 12:49 am »

www.psaudio.com

Check this site, most interesting and well thought of.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #12 on:** 9 Jun 2004, 02:47 am »

I have a bc 86 mkIII. Rather than eliminate a general hum or hiss, the parallel filter stuff is supposed to remove "sizzle" type hum from transients etc etc, stuff like that. For me, it seemed to make details a bit more delineated all around. I have an hum issue with my preamp I still intend to get ironed out though, and that may be masking some of the benefits of the bc 86. I got mine from Kevin at Harmonia Audio off of Agon. Great guy to deal with.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #13 on:** 9 Jun 2004, 05:35 am »

Quote from: TheChairGuy

You need two [bc86], it seems, to derive serious noise reducing benefits.

Depends on how bad the noise in your AC is. I've had customers note no noticeable difference between one and two, and others who have needed three to get the results they wanted.

Btw - these things work wonders for your TV picture...