Tripp Lite ISOBAR6ULTRA Isobar 6 Outlet Heavy Duty Power Strip Surge Protector, 3330 Joules, 6ft Cord, Flat Plug, Metal Power Strip, Industrial Garage Work Shop Bench, Under Desk and Wall Mountable

This is the best surge protector there is. Get this one! You can research it if you like, but this is where the internet will point you. And you'll likely think it pricey, but if you have any sensitive musical or computer equipment, this protection is the best out there and it's actually cheaper than some other professional grade surge protectors. The ISOBAR is built of solid metal, I mean solid, so the box itself will last forever. This is a professional grade surge strip.Now there are some plastic trip-lite protectors meant for your TV stuff. They're cheaper and work fine, at least I've never had any problem. But I definitely want the ISOBAR for all my musical plugging in. I bought my first ISOBAR over 20 years ago, and it still works like a charm. I've bought 5 more since. I have a project recording studio that I use these in for pretty much everything I plug in there, and other than making the move to installing an overall surge protector at the studio's breaker box, in which if I did, I'd pop some big bucks for, these are all I will ever use.Now, as great as these are at protecting your equipment against the all too frequent and city common city power voltage surges, particularly in areas with hydroelectric power, all surge protectors have their limitations. While they protect against surges, most surge protectors don't deal with sudden drops of voltage. And I've been told by my amp guy, it's the drops that you should worry the most about. The ISOBAR is designed to recognize a sudden voltage drop and let the power latch down a bit slower to protect the equipment. Now there are some power conditioners out there, quite a bit more expensive to be sure, that are actually designed to deal specifically with sudden drops in voltage. Of course the main culprit here is city power going out altogether while you have your equipment running. And the best protection for that is a battery backup that will keep all your equipment running at a steady voltage level even without power. This is your best protection by all means. But the grade of battery backup you will need in a music project studio is going to cost you a big old wad of cash. And, you are going to have to run some power strips out of it anyway, so they might as well be ISOBARS.And one last disclaimer. Despite everything you do. There's one equipment killing culprit you just can't do anything about. And this one has gotten a few of my machines. Static electricity! In particular, the static caused by nearby lightning strikes. It travels through the air, so there's just no way to block it. But you can try to keep the studio as centrally located in your dwelling as possible and that will really help.One way or the other, you want some surge protection at the power source, and this is the surge protection strip you want.

I've been involved with electronics all of my life and I make a living at it.So, here's my take on this Surge Protector; this is actually a tutorial on surge protection for those serious enough to read through it!First of all, some facts: To be considered a "good" surge protector, three things are required:.1. Appropriate clamping voltage: 330 is excellent and 400 is OK, anything higher is questionable.2. Sufficient amount of energy absorption (rated in Joules) 2,500 Joules or more to be considered good now days.3. Good quality, tight gripping outlet sockets. Hard to measure unless you have an outlet "grip" tester.No electronic device with solid state devices or built in CPUs or Logic controllers should be hooked to any outlet without a good surge protector being used. This includes modern refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, dryers, microwave ovens, digital toaster ovens and other digital appliances, as well as your computer, home theater and other home audio equipment..Line surges and spikes are devious and silent killers. Every time any reactive device is turned on and off, a voltage spike is generated. Motors are the most serious offenders. So, your furnace motor, AC compressor, vacuum cleaner, freezer, and refrigerator motors all create spikes inside your own home and these spikes travel down the power lines exposing the other electrical equipment to these excess voltage levels. Normally, unless the spike is huge, it does not take out appliances on the first shot. However, repetitive spikes cause little pin holes and carbon tracks to develop in transformer windings and capacitors, as well as stressing solid state devices (transistors, diodes and I.C.s) eventually leading to premature failure.Not only should the surge suppressor be protecting your appliances, but it should also be protecting itself by being large enough, joule-wise, to be able to withstand large surges. Remember, surge protectors will clamp off the over-voltage, or die trying. Most surge protectors die quietly and you don't even realize that you are no longer protected. So, be sure to get one rated high enough, in joules, so that it will withstand all but the most catastrophic surges. This is double insurance and better than an extended maintenance agreement. IMHOAlso, the joule rating is misleading, as it is the sum of protection given across all 3 electrical leg-pairs. So, in reality, if equally distributed, only 1/3 of the total rating is what is afforded across the hot to neutral, or the hot to ground legs.So, how does the ISOBAR4 ULTRA measure up?First it has a clamping voltage of 330 volts which is excellent.Second, it has a joule rating of 3300 joules which is also excellent.Third, the outlets appear to be of high quality construction.Fourth, the design has built-in EMI/RFI suppression to also reduce the RF hash that sneaks in on your power lines.Fifth, it is all contained inside a fire resistant metal box, in case something flames up.Overall, for $40. this unit is a real bargain and built to last. Highly recommended!