APC surge protector "killed" my Stax amp

[Fifinder]

I have a new APC P11VT3 surge protector that I plugged a few pieces of audio gear into yesterday morning, including a Japanese-voltage (100V) Stax SRM-007TII amplifier that is hooked up to a VCT VT-500J step-up/down transformer.
 
I'd already forgotten about the surge protector when I began listening to some music late at night. Soon, I realized that nothing I played sounded good. The sound from the Stax amp and the SR-007II headphones was narrow in soundstage, and congested, and I occasionally had trouble following bass guitar parts and other low notes.
 
Then it hit me: Could it be the surge protector? That was the only new device in the chain, after all.
 
After plugging the VCT VT-500J directly into a wall inlet, with the SRM-007TII attached, the soundstage widened, the bass tightened up, and all the instruments retook their rightful place and timbre. 
 
I have no idea whether the use of the step-up/down transformer influenced things. Maybe a 110-120V U.S.-market amp, without the transformer as a go-between, would be fine with or without a surge protector. Maybe regular amps (as opposed to electrostatic ones), are immune to sounding bad if you plug them into a surge protector.
 
Now I have some more listening to do determine if other components, such as my DAC, also benefit from being untethered from the APC.
 
By the way, I have no reason to assume that it's specifically APC surge protectors that produce the unwelcome effect; other brands may well do the same sonic "damage."
 
Oh: so now I have an amp that sounds good but is unprotected against brown-outs, spikes, and surges. I live on an island and the power to my house is "dirty" and often unreliable. What would you do? Thoughts?

 

[dmbr]

I was quite skeptical to begin with, but I'm a convert to power cleaning. Switching from a standard power strip to a Furman P-8 Pro Series II Linear Power Conditioner 20 AMP with a PS Audio Noise Harvester (and quality power cables) provided a lower noise floor and superior specialization.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I've tried various power conditioners, surge protectors, EMI/RFI reducers, ferrite cores, etc. They can definitely sck the life out of the sound. I found PSAudio's more simple offerings didn't harm the sound the way more mainstream line conditioners did, and they had surge protection. I've also had good luck with the Emotiva unit reducing transformer hum if you are dealing with that annoyance. 

 

[amazzara]

The manual for the APC P11VT3 says , "This device features an internal protection that will disconnect the surge protective component at the end of its useful life but will maintain power to the load - now unprotected."
This means that if you have two consecutives surges, if the protector worked for the first surge, it may no longer protect for the second surge, leading to damage to your equipment. In the end not that big protection. 
I used a much more expensive  Monster MP HDP 1800 High Definition PowerCenter 8 Outlets, Stage 2 v2.1, and  my amp was buzzing... i imagine an issue with the internal transformer..

 

[dannybgoode]

I've looked at surge protection before but then tried to remember when I have ever experienced a surge. I'm a day off 40's I can't think of one time, ever.

Sure I can see the point for protecting business critical or hyper sensitive monitoring equipment, lab equipment etc but in the home? Can't see the value personally.

Mains conditioning / filtering maybe but not surge protection...

 

[amazzara]

I agree... 

I've looked at surge protection before but then tried to remember when I have ever experienced a surge. I'm a day off 40's I can't think of one time, ever.

Sure I can see the point for protecting business critical or hyper sensitive monitoring equipment, lab equipment etc but in the home? Can't see the value personally.

Mains conditioning / filtering maybe but not surge protection...

 

[westom]

I've looked at surge protection before but then tried to remember when I have ever experienced a surge. I'm a day off 40's I can't think of one time, ever.  ...

Mains conditioning / filtering maybe but not surge protection...

 
A potentially destructive surge occurs maybe once every seven years.  Robust protection already inside electronics makes most surges irrelevant.  Worse, spec numbers from APC do not even claim to protect from those rare and potentially destructive surges.
 
Surges that might occur daily or weekly are only noise.  Again, read APC specification numbers.  Those so called and frequent surges are so  tiny as to be completely ignored by an APC protector.