Topic: about belkin surge protector

[bodin]

 A computer store in my place is selling this BELKIN surge protector and the salesman claims it does also well on audio/video system. Anybody familiar with this brand and make some comments? tnx.

[MAtZTER]

If surge protector is all you need then almost any surge protector can do the job for A/V as long as it passes the rating (Panther for example is less than 800w if I remember correctly).

But if you are looking for line conditioning, read this:

AC Power Conditioners

An AC power conditioner plugs into wall outlet and provides multiple AC outlets for plugging in your audio equipment. Before we talk about what a power conditioner does, let’s look at the AC power line and its relationship to an audio system.
   
The AC power from the wall outlet is a 60Hz, 120VRMS sinewave that powers the audio system. All your components are connected via the power line. In fact, your audio components are connected to every other electrical device in your house, and to every home and factory also using the power grid.
   
Power equipment on the AC line generates noise that travels back onto the line where it enters your audio components. The FCC regulates the amount of noise that can be put back onto the power line by appliances and industrial products. This noise called electromagnetic interference, or EMI. Light dimmers, refrigerators, and other household appliances put high-frequency junk on the AC line. Vacuum cleaners and electrical power tools are a major source of power-line noise because the fibers in the motor’s brushes are continually making and breaking contact. The line is also polluted by AM radio stations; the power lines act as antennae, superimposing the AM signal over the 60Hz line.
   
Another source of EMI is your radio system. CD players, digital processors, CD transports, and any component using a microprocessor (some preamps, for example) put noise on the power line through their line cords. This noise then gets into preamps and source components to degrade their musical performance. In addition to putting noise on the AC line, audio components with digital circuits pollute other components by radiating radio frequency noise, or RF, through the air. Digital circuits work with clock pulses and electronic switches that operate in the AM radio frequency range; their operation radiates this RF noise, which is picked up by other components.
   
In addition to introducing noise on the AC line through the power cord and radiating it into the air, components also transmit noise to other components through the AC ground line. The AC ground connects all the chassis of an audio system together. If you’ve got a noisy ground on one component, you’ve got ground on all your components. Some of this noise gets on the ground by leakage through electrolytic capacitors in power supplies.
   
All of these problems can be controlled with a well-designed AC power-line conditioner. First, nearly all conditioners filter the incoming AC line to remove the high-frequency garbage generated by factories, neighbors, and your own appliances. The filters allow the 60Hz AC to pass, but remove noise from the line. Second, some filters isolate the components from each other with small isolation transformers on some of the conditioner’s AC outlets. These transformers break the physical connection between components, preventing noise from traveling from one component to another. The isolated outputs are often marked “ digital “ for plugging in digital components, preventing a digital processor from polluting the AC supplying the preamplifier, for example. Third, a good line conditioner will reduce the amount of noise coupled to signal ground. Finally, AC line conditioners can protect components from voltage spikes, lightning strikes, and surges in the power-supply voltage. Not all conditioners perform every function listed here; conditioners vary in their design principles, with some addressing one problem but not another.
   
Cleaning up the power line for source components and preamplifiers is a different job from conditioning AC power for power amplifiers. Power amplifiers have very different AC requirements and thus must be treated differently. The description earlier of what a good line conditioner should do applies to source components and preamplifiers that draw very little current. Power amplifiers, however, draw enormous amounts of current from the wall. When the power amplifier delivers a significant amount of current to the loudspeaker-a bass-drum whack, for example-the amplifier’s power-supply reservoir capacitors are drained to supply the current. The amplifier then draws a huge amount of instantaneous current from the wall outlet to replenish its filter capacitors. The amount of current pulled from the wall can be so great that the AC waveform distorts under the amplifier’s current draw; the waveform’s tops and bottoms clip under the load. Any isolation transformer or conditioning device in the AC path could limit the amplifier’s ability to draw current, and thus degrade the amplifier’s performance. The power amplifier needs to be supplied by a low-impedance, high-current source. Power-line filters that remove high-frequency noise can benefit a power amplifier, but transformers in series with the AC supply should be avoided.
   
   Because the AC line voltage varies according to the time of day and the load on the line, one may expect a line conditioner to regulate the voltage and provide a constant 120V AC to your system. Regulation, however, doesn’t improve the sound of an audio system, and can actually degrade it if the input voltage moves around the threshold at which a separate transformer tap kicks in. Moreover, most high-end audio equipment is designed to work within the tolerances of the AC line supplied by the electric company. This is why power conditioners for computers-which often incorporate line regulation-shouldn’t be used for audio systems.

   When choosing a line conditioner, make sure its power capability exceeds the power consumption of the components you’ll be plugging into it. Choose a conditioner with a sufficient number of outlets for your present and anticipated needs. As with all accessories, try the power conditioner in your system before you buy. Expect to pay a minimum of $250 for a conditioner with just few outlets, to several thousand dollars for a state-of-the-art system. Many excellent conditioners cost less than $500.
   
   A power-line conditioner can’t make poor audio components sound good; instead, it merely provides the optimum AC environment for those components so that they may realize their full potentials. The sonic benefits of a good line conditioner include a “blacker” background, with less low-level low-level grunge and noise. The music seems to emerge from a perfectly quiet and black space, rather than a grayish background. The treble often becomes sweeter, less grainy, and more extended. Soundstaging often improves, with greater transparency, tighter image focus, and a newfound soundstage depth. Midrange textures become more liquid, and the presentation has an ease and musicality not heard without the conditioner.

   If you haven’t tried a power-line conditioner, you may not have heard your system at its best.

-The Complete Guide to High End Audio
Robert Harley (Stereophile Consultant)

If you are looking for Line conditioners, Try the Bada 3000w line conditioner w/ surge protection

click here

[ericag_ph]

I have used $50-$70 Belkin surge protectors before (110V)...joule rating was in the thousands...they even guarantee your equipment upto XX,XXX dollars...I bought mine in the USA. In general, the higher the joule rating,
the better the surge protector.

My brother plugged it accidentally into 220V while stuff was connected to it...all the appliances attached to it blew.

I wrote a super angry letter to Belkin...told them "there was something called a 5-cent fuse".  They told me by plugging it into a 220V outlet I "beat" their system. Wow..my kid brother just defeated their entire product line.
No money came my way of course. Lousy piece of junk! 

Luckily, the stuff attached to it blew their own fuses...something Belkin didn't engineer into their 110V surge protectors.  I replaced the fuses myself and told Belkin I would publish their email in the web.

Octagon (Megamall) sells the 220V version locally at about P800+.

A computer store in my place is selling this BELKIN surge protector and the salesman claims it does also well on audio/video system. Anybody familiar with this brand and make some comments? tnx.

[audiojunkie]

Your surge protector is rated at 110-120 volts, it has IC and other stuff also of sme rating.The 1000's joules rating is also rated 110 v. so voltage beyond that rating the surge will pass to all equipments plugged into it if fixed fuse inside didn't blow.

I found one passive power strip made in U.S.A. by wiremold that could be used 110 - 240 volts without any damage.   

It's available at ebay. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Naim-Wiremold-AC-Strip-50-gets-you-1000-improvement_W0QQitemZ110133596098QQihZ001QQcategoryZ3283QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

(Wiremold power strip)

[oReOsHaKe]

Would anybody know where locally a 220v version of this single Belkin surge protector can be bought?

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-SurgeCube-Surge-Protector-Outlet/dp/B00006BBAB/ref=sr_1_23?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1372954103&sr=1-23&keywords=surge+protector