I am planning to buy a 50-inch plasma Panasonic HDTV for a home theater system. I was also planning to buy a $200 to $300 surge protector/power conditioner to protect it and all my other home theater equipment. (The quality of my equipment will be entry level to average -- the HDTV alone would cost just over $3,000.) However, today I talked to someone who seems very knowledgeable who said I needed to buy a power protection device that also has VOLTAGE REGULATION. He recommended the Panamax M5100-EX. He said the chief cause of damage to plasma HDTVs results from irregular voltage, and that a $300 Monster surge protector can't protect from that (only the surges). In my area, irregular voltage is quite common.
Unfortunately, the Panamax M5100-EX costs more than normal surge protectors and is relatively large for my component rack. Do you advise I buy something like the Panamax M5100-EX instead of a $200 or $300 Monster surge protector/power conditioner?
The TV's have built in voltage regulators. I don't see this as a problem, really. The monster surge connector should be fine in my opinion, though a UPS(APC is my favorite) would be an even better solution and possibly cheaper as well.
Sounds like you are buying from BestBuy or similar. The power conditioner advise is just an upsell... (ever been asked if you'd like a salad with that steak?) to increase the total dollar value of your purchase and is a standard practice with the large chain outlets regardless of whether its a good idea or not. Evaluate your own situation (frequent brownouts or blackouts? Dimming lights in the evening?) before going much further with this one. But as mentioned in the rest of the thread, not a bad idea overall. In the remote mountain area where my Panasonic plasma resides we do have frequent power issues in the winter and spring so I did invest in the Monster unit due to its compact size and ability to mount on the wall behind the plasma where most UPS units could not.