If you're going to get a surge protector, get a good one. And by htta I don't mean spending a king's ransom for a Monster (although they sure look cool.
I just recently did a bit of research on surge protecttion. There is a thread over at AVS that discusses MOV-based protectors (like Monster & virtually everybody else) and their inherent shortcomings, not to mention the fact that Monster (nor the others) will ever pay off in the event of a failure (they'll argue that your wiring is faulty, etc.). I finally ended up purchasing this baby...
http://www.wildwestelectronics.net/ace-315.html
I can't say that I have noticed any improvement in the sound or picture in my setup, but more importantly, I also haven't noticed any degradation in signal quality. The technology is sound and I feel much better down here in daily t-storm country (Georgia) with the peace of mind that this thing provides. Other maunufacturers of units utilizing the same tecnology (series mode protection) are Brick Wall and SurgeX.
Hope this helps.
