OK, so this is the story of how we got into this...
Sometimes in industry, critical electronic equipment and systems are not allowed to fail... ever.
Price Wheeler responds.
Brick Wall Surge Filters were designed as an engineering response to the particular power protection needs associated with mission critical/fault tolerant electronic equipment and systems. You know, the typical industrial application where mirrored (redundant) hard drives and back up power systems are the norm. Any fault tolerant protocol is only as good as it's weakest link. More often than not this weak link can be found as part of the system's power protection equation. What was available, pre-Brick Wall, as far as surge protection was concerned... well, let's just say... was lacking
(want the whole story?) . So, out of that vacuum arose the Brick Wall Surge Filter. You would (and still do) find Brick Walls protecting electronic medical systems, data acquisition systems, telephony systems, computer controlled machinery, etc., etc., etc. This is no surprise... that's what they were built for.
This was our niche... our playing field.
To us this all made sense.
Then about five years ago we put up a website and you (the audiophile) started calling.
Yes, we understand that a powerline problem that causes damage or creates noise to your home audio/video equipment and system is a drag. What we don't understand is; why are you calling us?
We're thinking; sorry people, but if something fries in your home theater systems or if there is noise coming through your stereo speakers, as upsetting as it may be it hardly qualifies as a mission critical protocol. I mean no one dies. There is not millions of dollars lost in down time. You don't have to dispose of untold lots of very expensive pharmaceuticals.
We had our definitions and figured the world should abide.
However we're a polite bunch, so during this early period we tried to answer your question to the best of our ability.
"Will it protect my system?"
If your system does not draw more then 20amps and runs on a 110 line... better than you can imagine.
"Will it improve the sound?"
Well it is a highly engineered LC (inductive /capacitive) circuit, we don't know of a better line filter....
"Will it add blackness to the background and/or increase the depth of the sound floor?"
What did you just say?
When we forwarded these questions to engineering we got a colorful yet predictable response.
We began to dissuade; so in keeping with the current overall order of the universe you obviously began to buy. Then you began to complain.
"Hey, sometimes this thing hummms!"
Yes that can be an operational characteristic... it's funny, Ford Motor Company bought tons of these for their production floor... they never mentioned it as a problem.
"How come the receptacles are not isolated?"
Well sir it's because... for what reason do you want the receptacles isolated?
"Why is this thing so ugly?"
Look, we tried to tell... you know, just send it back and we'll send you back your money...
"No I'll keep it... as a matter of fact; please send me another.. and I think my brother will be calling you also."
OK... our mamas didn't raise no fools. It did not take a degree in marketing to realize that when a market emerges unsolicited, and then refuses to be denied (despite this company's best effort) it might be worth a little further investigation.
So now it is five years later. Our audio unit sales are about 50% of our total gross. Who could've known? By the way; there is no more hum, the receptacles are isolated and people actually like the way we now look. Yes, to the horror of the old guard, who thought ugly and efficient where synonymous, we had a cosmetic make over.
One more thing: As a complete surprise to us, we have come to thoroughly enjoy talking to you the audiophile (don't get a big head, remember we use to talk exclusively with engineering... water dripping from a faucet can be more engaging). You, on the other hand, are as entertaining as you are crazy.
So if you take the time to click through all this, and still have questions...or for that matter, even if you have no questions and are just in a mood to entertain, give us a buzz. Someone will most likely answer the phone... it's like we live here.
PS. If you have a fault tolerant protocol or just want the best surge protection available for a non-audio application check out our original website
www.brickwall.com.
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