Monster Power HTS 5100MKII Anormal Voltage, Help Please!

[PENG]

In my opinion (as an experienced EE and long time home hifi/ht hobbyist), people don't need to pay so much for those Monster or similar, complicated devices jammed with electronic parts and no one know how effective they are, and/or whether they might actually create other issues that are not obvious to the users.

Just something like the following will suffice for probably 99% of home users, and installation could be simple and quick to do depending on the kind of electrical switch panel they have:

Note: Another one I found that seems convincingly better, by Siemens, but cost a lot much.

For the main incoming panel:

in addition, at the wall outlet when the audio devices, such as an expensive AVR, are plugged into:

I used one of this, but anything make by the likes of Siemens, Eaton kind of reputable manufacturers should be adequate:

Many, if not most, people don't use any, and I believe 99.9% have no issues. Manufacturers typically don't suggest the use of such devices either. Some, such as Bryston, actually recommended plugging their amps directly into the outlet, though in recent years they started to make their own surge protection devices and recommending using them (of course right...).

It really is sort of a myth, that while the principles are there, that surges occurred more frequently than people think and would definitely cause damages, the "need" is, however, often exaggerated to the point that it might have made people lose sleep unnecessarily.

 

[highfigh]

That is the way it used to be done. The live went back to the breaker, and the neutrals went from outlet to outlet whether or not it was on the same breaker.

In the past, BX and conduit were used- are you saying they daisy chained only the neutrals? That would have been extremely time consuming and confusing for electricians or their helpers who weren't mentally sharp- the Hot wires would need to be marked clearly for their breakers & destinations and would have added wires to the conduit and for older homes that had BX, they usually ran a second BX to a junction box and wired the neutrals together, hots assigned to the outlets or switches and all grounds combined by screwing them to the metal junction box.

I have never seen neutrals daisy chained in the way you described- that could create several problems, including dead outlets and low voltage at some outlets, normal at others and classic ground loops. Worst case, the voltage drop caused by the neutral wiring in this way could cause devices to fail prematurely.

Wiring correctly, as you probably know, involves wiring to the first outlet and leaving a loose end that's long enough to add the end going to the next outlet. Each subsequent junction box should have this end, with the last only having the feed end. The hot, neutral and ground wires are each twisted to its matching wires with a short section that connects to the outlet- whether wire nuts or WEGOs are used is up to the electrician.

This one topic is a great argument for not letting weekend warriors, wannabes and optimistic homeowners do their own electrical work. The change I referred to regarding wiring switches to light fixtures is another one that can cause problems, especially if someone who fits the descriptions above tries to use a newer dimmer that needs a neutral when they want to 'make it work' without understanding why it needs to be wired differently.

 

[highfigh]

In my opinion (as an experienced EE and long time home hifi/ht hobbyist), people don't need to pay so much for those Monster or similar, complicated devices jammed with electronic parts and no one know how effective they are, and/or whether they might actually create other issues that are not obvious to the users.

Just something like the following will suffice for probably 99% of home users, and installation could be simple and quick to do depending on the kind of electrical switch panel they have:

Note: Another one I found that seems convincingly better, by Siemens, but cost a lot much.

For the main incoming panel:


View attachment 67525


in addition, at the wall outlet when the audio devices, such as an expensive AVR, are plugged into:

I used one of this, but anything make by the likes of Siemens, Eaton kind of reputable manufacturers should be adequate:

View attachment 67526




Many, if not most, people don't use any, and I believe 99.9% have no issues. Manufacturers typically don't suggest the use of such devices either. Some, such as Bryston, actually recommended plugging their amps directly into the outlet, though in recent years they started to make their own surge protection devices and recommending using them (of course right...).

It really is sort of a myth, that while the principles are there, that surges occurred more frequently than people think and would definitely cause damages, the "need" is, however, often exaggerated to the point that it might have made people lose sleep unnecessarily.

The current demands from power amplifiers doesn't work with some surge protection because of the design of the protection, which can limit current. If a bank of varistors is used, it doesn't affect the line voltage or available current but varistors don't last forever and are considered 'sacrificial'. People want things that work forever and after a large number of surges, a 'power strip with protection' isn't really able to offer much protection.

Have you seen TrippLite's videos of their 200VAC tests? Some brands can handle that, many can't. When they can't, the magic smoke comes out of the wires.

Personally, I think that if Bryston sells protection that actually works and they make enough to stay in business, it's a good thing. If they made crappy amplifiers and only used the protection to jump on the bandwagon and allow the owner to have a gold Chrysler 300 & Segway (Noel Lee), not so much.

 

[PENG]

The current demands from power amplifiers doesn't work with some surge protection because of the design of the protection, which can limit current.

"Doesn't work..." in terms of limiting current demand", so for clarity, let's say that while that is true, many users are not affected by such current limiting. For example, let's say in my application, peaks, ie absolutely maximum peak current demand (aside from start up surge) draw from the output is well below 10 A continuous and 50 A for 100 ms, then whether the device limits current or not will be transparent to me

Have you seen TrippLite's videos of their 200VAC tests? Some brands can handle that, many can't. When they can't, the magic smoke comes out of the wires.

No, I have need to worry about such tests, if I do then sure I will do my search will likely come across such tests/videos.

Personally, I think that if Bryston sells protection that actually works and they make enough to stay in business, it's a good thing. If they made crappy amplifiers and only used the protection to jump on the bandwagon and allow the owner to have a gold Chrysler 300 & Segway (Noel Lee), not so much.

I trust Bryston's. That does not have much do with the opinion I offered to the OP. I gave my Bryston 4B SST a couple years ago, and I know it is still in top shape after 19 years, and always plugged into a 20 or 15 A dedicated outlet. Bryston's 20 years warranty is good, even one does not use any such protection devices lol...

Then again, I have no objection to use of Bryston's BIT20, or have anything negative to say about it, though for myself I would just use what I am using now that costs me less than $200.