Power protection to the rescue!

So, you're putting together a rockin' A/V system — full-on home theater, audiophile-grade sound, the works! Let's see:

High-powered home theater receiver?
Check.

Progressive-scan DVD player with SACD playback?
Check.

Sweet-sounding 5.1 speaker system?
Check.

High-definition television?
Check.

Fat cables to link the system together?
Check.

Ok, dim the lights, sink back in your favorite recliner, and get ready for action, right?

Not so fast. Time and time again we see folks trying to build the perfect A/V system, while forgetting a vitally important part of the equation — power protection. Sure, everyone knows that their precious pyramid of home entertainment electronics is only a well-placed lightning bolt away from smoldering ruin, but what are the chances of it happening to me?

I'm not trying to be an alarmist — you could very well live to be 100, groovin' the whole time to gear plugged directly into a wall socket, and not experience so much as an electrical blip. You could also dance on your roof during the storm of the century wearing a tinfoil hat and climb down afterwards unscathed...but why take the chance? Basic, effective surge protection is affordable and easy to add to your system.

Not surprisingly, there are a lot of serious audiophiles roaming the halls of Crutchfield. All I had to do was ask around the building to hear stories about how a simple power-strip surge protector willingly gave its life so that a system might live, and how a lack of adequate protection led to A/V ruin and heartbreak.

Power protection is not just about preventing the wholesale frying of your system. Smaller anomalies in the current as well as line noise and interference can wreak havoc with the performance of your A/V gear and ultimately shorten the lifespan of your individual components. If you've shelled out a fair sum of money for a cool system, you'd be remiss (read: insane) not to team it up with solid power protection for top-notch performance, long life, and peace of mind.