Furman makes some good stuff. I use the AR1215 at home and the AR-117 (no longer made- replaced by the 1215) in the field. Furman's lower end stuff doesn't regulate power. Just a fancy surge protector (that doesn't work well- I fried my studio with a PL-Plus).

Equi=tech makes good stuff, too... Can't speak to Monster as I haven't used it. From what is inside, it looks pretty good, though. Overpriced, but good.

--Ben

The upper end Furman stuff is good and pro stuff. To get what you really need, you have to be prepared to spend about $2k or more. I don't think that Monster stuff gives you your best value for your money, but they are sure better than the wanker protection products most people buy thinking they are getting filtering and protection. Furman is widely used but many also think the Equi-Tech is as good.

Nobody ever mentions these guys when it comes to power quality, but they are amongst the best. They just don't know how to market to retail:

http://www.sola-hevi-duty.com/

Joseph Sola invented the ferro-resonant transformer.

Surge-X, is another possibility...

First though, a question:

Do you have a UPS for anything(At least your computer and as much as the UPS will handle)? A UPS is "the" thing for this stuff. I got mine from the office supply store, because I don't have much stuff(Only about 30 AC plugs!!! Not all on the UPS, but most on at least gookey, hardware store, surge protectors...), but they make UPS's v-e-r-y large(Big enough to run entire factories), and they do everything "we" need --- contrary to popular belief audio people are not the only ones needing clean, reliable power - certainly now in the computer age.

A UPS "does" superbly clean AC power, volatage regulation, surge protection, RFI filtering and, of course, outage protection(Though I don't use the "shutdown software") - we need no more. I use a Belkin, as they had the best "plug arrangement" and the highest power available in a "consumer/office-type" unit(At least when I bought.). It's been sitting under the table for several years and I have not had problem #1..... The battery should need replaced, soon(?), but, I may just look for an even bigger UPS with any "newie" upgrades, replacing the battery in the old and using it for "other" gear... It's paid for itself many, many, many times over, far as I'm concerned and, frankly, considering what it does, it was cheap like dirt. I haven't had one glitch that I could blame on "bad power". Mine is on the same circuit as my small window air conditioner! The thing starts and stops all the time, never a flicker on the computer! Power goes out, I just keep motoring(If it stays out for more than a minute I begin a normal shutdown.). If power goes out when I'm not home, the thing just drains it's battery keeping things on standby and the system goes "down" - v-e-r-y unlikely there will be any problems from this "state" - power comes back it recharges and i re-start the system when I get home.

BTW: THIS IS A GOOD THING!!! Your Gel Cell UPS battery SHOULD be "discharged" once in awhile! Good for it! If you DO install the software, you should be able to unplug the UPS from the wall once in awhile, sit there watching the voltage go down - through the software - when it gets down far enough(11v?) plug it back in and let it charge-up. With "everything on", it should only take 10 minutes, for a good discharge? Depends on the size of the UPS and what's plugged into it......

First, do what you can with a UPS(UPS your whole facility/house, if you can.), then, think about other forms of protection(You may never have to think about anything else?)...

TG