Over the weekend I have 'suffered' three power surges.

What if any, affect is there to my system being switched off/on intermittently in this manner…

And can I sue, if my gear is damaged ?

naheed...

Hi there Naheed.Living in London I know exactly what you mean.Got so bad one night I unplugged all the kit in fright.
Should your kit become damaged I think it will be considered as inconsequential loss.Roughly translated it means tough luck sunshine.I lost £30,000 in one year due to power cuts and was unable to sue.To protect your investment and pride and joy I suggest a water tight insurence deal that will in the event of total loss replace with new for old.

My post may be in error and I hope any legal eagles or sparkies will contribute to correct any mistakes.

If in doubt unplug as I,ve seen at least 2 Naim systems that have been damaged by lightening.Not a pretty sight and my deepest sympathies to the owners.

hooch

If you check the small print in 'some' insurance policies you may find that 'Acts of God' are not covered.

I found this kind of bothersome to say the least.

Worth checking out and shifting your premiums if you feel uncomfortable about it in my book.

Merry Xmas

P.

I tend to leave my system powered up ALL the time, thunderstorms and all !!!

Is the whole system physically 'fried'... i always thought naim were just being over cautious saying switch it off in the manual.

naheed...

Pierre,

quote:

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'Acts of God' are not covered.

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Is it realy phrase this way ? Since there is no God, I think this is a meaningless sentence - and if there is a God somewhere, I don't think he is interested in insurence problems...

Arie

Naheed if you,ve got a Naim tuner with an antennae then your courting disaster.All the boxes on an active system are usually destroyed and in one case I heard of the speakers catching fire.Not sure but may have been SBL,s.
S99 Swiss Cottage had a system in that was totally f@~## ed by lightening.

Thunderstorms are pretty rare in london but me I never take a chance with £50,000 of kit.

My collegue pays £68 a month insurence for his kit and they toss in household insurence for free.The sod won,t tell me who he,s insured with.

The Naim warning on their printed stuff is not there to fill up space but is VERY good advice.

I leave my kit on all the time except when a thunderstorm is forecast.

Hope this helps.hooch

[This message was edited by redbug on TUESDAY 12 December 2000 at 16:42.]

JV once said that the power amps are most easily damaged by a voltage surge coming up the neutral line of the mains - which can easily happen in a lightning strike.

cheers, Martin

Lightning is very powerful, Naim recommend to remove the mains plugs of equipment from the wall in case of lightning. My understanding is that when lightning strikes the ground potential is lifted by the voltage of the lightning for a small period of time. If you've ever seen a house that has been close to a lightning strike, it is not just the hifi, it's anything electrical that was plugged in at the time plus the wires in the wall. Vacuum Tubes I believe can withstand such an event which is why they are so popular with the military!

Naim will have more experience of this than me. Perhaps they can illuminate (sorry) then issue.

Chris.

Naheed

It is possible to get distribution blocks and stuff that are supposed to protect against lightning. Doesn't help the antenna thing - but (hey haevn't we talked about Russ Andrews before?) RA say they guarantee their mains block against lightning. I wonder exactly what that means. Maybe we should ask.

Jonathan

Jonathan i see from your profile, you took the plunge. I initially ordered the same, but after 3 weeks wait and my order being inadvertently cancelled i just went for the Silencer.

The Super Purifier apparently has a super clamp fitted to protect against large surges/spikes.

naheed...

I have no experience with power surges in my neighborhood but I have two lightning stories:
1) While listening to my hi-fi, lightning struck (I have very high FM and TV antenae) and blew the power-supply of my 110 as well as one tweeter in my Kans. My Linn dealer replaced both tweeters with upgraded models free of charge, (I did buy a new cartridge at the same time) and after less than two weeks I received a brand new 140 for less than the price of updating my 110 because I had a reasonable deductable on my full replacement coverage insurance. (BTW I have a separate service panel for the hi-fi as well as properly grounded antennas).
And now the weird one;
2) While a salesman, a customer brought his LP-12 into the shop and said no sound came out. I plugged in the tone-arm cable of the Grace 707 and no music! I put a meter on it and it read infinite resistance on both channels!! As I tugged on the cartridge wires, they fell apart!!! Being perplexed I then dismantled the arm (by this time there were many curious onlookers) and there was nothing in the arm-tube but dust!!! The table's owner, and his wife were both in their 80s and this was from their vacation cottage so they weren't monkeying around and broke it. The gentleman admitted there was a serious lightning storm and I believe that must have done it. He also had replacement coverage and got an Ekos and Troika (the current replacement for his 707/Supex) for the price of his deductable!!!!! BTW his 42/110 was unscathed.
The lesson; Ground everything and have full coverage insurance.
Ron The Mon

P.S. Anyone else have weird or bizarre experiences?

The other reason that the military like valves is that they survive the electromagnetic impulse generated from a nuclear strike - unlike semiconductors.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

Andrew,

I guess some devices will survive nuclear war even after the operators of the equipment will be dead...

Arie