Interesting responses. I am happy with the results so far. I may give it a try (plugging it into the outlet directly) but I do like the piece of mind.

If peace of mind means surge protection only, I suggest a surge protector that is installed at electrical panel level.
I have one. Sure, it doesn't come with any promise to compensate for eventiual damage to your equipment, but it's $35 and protects the entire house.

Whole-house surge protection is a good idea, but which panel surge protector is available for $35? The ones I've heard about run a fair bit more than that and require an electrician to install.

Gonk, I guess you're right. I cited the price I've paid 5 years ago, my bad. Today, Home Depot has them now for $200, better ones I guess. see here . I've also installed the thing myself.

But one might want to check this one out here

Sorry everyone for this double post. The first one above was to have been a response to the original post.

Sorry!

That Home Depot part isn't really a "whole house" solution. It can only accept 12AWG wiring so it's really only useful for one circuit.

The other MOV-based solution isn't workable either since it is a one-time only solution for large surges. MOVs work by "falling on their sword" when their maximum joule rating is exceeded. They also slowly degrade over time as they shunt voltage over their clamping voltage to ground. (at least that's how I remember it....it's been a long time since engineering school).

Lastly, surges coming in from outside your home are one issue. There are also quite a lot of surges within your home when A/C compressors go on and off or your refrigerator's compressor goes on/off, etc.

Cheers,

An example of what Ritz is talking about: Brickwall .

After having some conversations with the Brickwall folks, I opted for a case of their surge protectors in a couple of recording studio environments. I've been pretty happy with them. We're using these:

http://brickwall.thomasnet.com/item/audi...raud?&forward=1

Best,

Runing my 7700 thru my Monster Power 2600, along with a Denon 3803, a DVD player and a DirecTV Tivo HD receiver, I was pulling 2 amps (via the LED on the Monster 2600)/

When I cranked the volume WAY UP during a HDTV broadcast with Dolby Digital to an insane level, the LEDs indicated only a 4 amp total draw.

I would NOT listen to any movie or concert DVD at this level. However, I may attempt it again with my SPL meter to see how loud it really can get!

With Klipsch speakers and a rear-projection set, that sounds about right. my setup (big ol' direct-view CRT and Paradigm speakers) I pull around 4 amps under normal conditions and closer to 6 when I really push it hard.

My Sony XBR is on the same 20 amp dedicated circuit, but a different outlet.

The XBR and my Def Tech 250 watt sub are both plugged into a Monster PowerBar 1100 ( i think its the 1100), and they are drawing only an amp or two. (EDIT; it is a Monster Powerbar 2100)

This 20 amp circuit was put in just for the home theater stuff. In Hindsight, I wish I had run a total of 3 20 amp circuits, but who knew......

If you are only drawing 5 or 6 amps from the main system when it's at ear-bleeding levels (4 from the Denon and Outlaw, maybe 2 from the XBR and sub), it would seem that a single 20A circuit was a good choice.