I would avoid the Monster power conditioners. They use MOVs, which have a relatively limited lifespan. After the MOVs are gone MANY times the Monster units continue to pass current to the equipment meaning that the next surge could destroy your gear. These units do have a light to indicate that they are no longer protecting the equipment but who wants to depend on a light that they can forget to check?

Panamax uses an avalanche diode that acts almost like a flood gate. It opens when voltage is above or below a safe area, then starts testing the voltage. After the voltage is back within the normal range for 7 seconds Panamax allows the equipment to receive electricity again. When an avalanche diodes fails they are stuck in the "open" position 99.9% of the time. Meaning that the equipment receives NO electricity so you know that the power conditioner needs to be replaced.

The PS audio units do a great job at power conditioning , but I can't speak to their surge suppression capabilities. They are just too new. I've worked with the Panamax and products for 7 years and the Monster products for 5 years.

Is this adequate protection for a system?
http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=H10BLK

Bob

I believe that APC uses MOVs (at least they were about a year ago the last time I checked into it thoroughly) which in addition to the above described characteristics also respond much more slowly to surges and brown outs than an avalanche diode. Panamax specifies that MOVs are 1000 times slower then their diodes. At trainings Panamax regularly does a demonstration where they hook up a Panamax and a Monster into a device that can create spikes, then into each unit they plug an illuminated lamp. Both units are then hit with a 150 volt spike. In the 10 or so demos that I

Panamax offers a reduced price on units, sometimes B-stocks (repaired units) if you send them a unit that isn't repairable. Unless they recently changed their policy. Give them a call and check into it. They are good people like that.

I used a Furman power center/conditioner which I absolutely love. Furman is the sister company to Panamax but does get some cool feature you can't get on the Panamaxes such as the Power Factor Technology. It stores extra amps so when you're power amp need it, the amp can pull more than what it would normally get from the wall.