Another company that occurred to me after I posted in this thread previously is BrickWall . They produce pretty economical surge protection that is pretty well regarded by some folks online. Another company used by many Outlaw owners is TrippLite.

I own and use a Brickwall unit and I buy into their theory of protection/filtering. My home theater sounds "black" and silent when nothing is going through it. I'm happy and planning on buying a separate unit for the lfm-1.

Jay

Dennis - sorry to hear about your 950. R.I.P

The page in your link talks a lot about the differences between surge suppression in expensive and cheap products. I wholeheartedly agree - possibly the only difference in suppression is the warranty. It's the protection (by shutting itself down) from undervoltages that turns a power strip into a line conditioner (not to mention the additional protection and features typical to them).

Their point is a little muddied, though - Panamax sells a unit with more features for less than the 8 outlet Brick Wall unit they're pushing.

Thank you for your condolences Sluggo, however we did reccover from our period of mourning relatively quickly thanks to a QUICK replacement unit sent by Outlaw.

i have made a promise to myself to do my best not let this re-occur with the 990 which hopefully will be in the rack in the next few weeks.

The things impressed me about the Price-Wheeler(Brickwall) company was the fact the company was created with a mission statement that had absolutely nothing to do with protecting audio components. I have a tendency to believe them regarding entry into the "audiophile" market was more or less by mistake when people started using the "original ugly" units for the purposes that you and I require.

I took a look at the TrippLite units that you had mentioned Gonk, and seemed to me at the time, that they were a bit more expensive (if my memory serves me correctly, which sometimes works good and sometimes not so good).

Oh yea, at the time my first 950 unit went down, I was running my system on two separate 15A circuits using two Woods suppressors with 3450 joule rating on both circuits.
I am happy to report that both of those units have long since been retired to the "round file" but not until after having learned "the hard way".

Dennis - Where in Frisco are you? These days I'm on site at a customer on Legacy south of 121 (think salty snacks).

Been to the imploding Ultimate electronics yet? I'm going to miss those sweet audition rooms...

i think most power conditioners are overrated. you could get the same performance from a surge strip and some filters (if you even need the filters). the ones that regulate the power (though very expensive) have some benefit (no power lags). there are a lot of better things you can spend $200 on. just get something with a warranty for connected gear and anything at all is better than nothing.

I agree with the guys on the backup issue it is important to have the time necessary to shut down your gear properly. The newer technologies like LCD, HDILA and DLP projection type televisions have very expensive lamps which could be damaged when suddenly shut down by a power outage. The temperature of the bulb can shorten the life expectancy when not properly cooled down. This goes for front projectors as well.

I have been embarrassingly owned by this issue...I have spent quite a bit of money since December and have "bought into" the need for spike protection but moreso the line conditioning...I think I have rather clean electricity but I have heard noises when some things run in the house (paper shredder, fridge) and I don't hear it through the components running through the Panamax MAX 5100...there are probably better units out there but I did make the $200+ "insurance" purchase twice...piece of mind...anyway...my .02
Bill

Hi Sluggo!

I'm just down the road from where you are working. Westin Resort&Hotel (Legacy & Town and Country Blvd.I'm actually on Town & Country.

Have'nt been over to Ultimate lately...what's up with them? Did you say self destruct mode?
Are they having any "fire" sales?

I guess we have the ability for local comparisons/auditions if the opportunity arises! Glad to know you!

Ultimate is closing all 10 of their D/FW stores due to "market saturation." Funny, but the market wasn't saturated until they opened 10 stores here....

They're selling everything in store at a discount, at least 20% at this point, might be worth your while, especially if you need any accessories (like a line conditioner!) or speakers. The HDTVs were looking slim over the weekend...