Monster MP HTS 1600 8-Outlet Power Center with Stage 2 Clean Power by Monster
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Digital camera reviews of Monster MP HTS 1600 8-Outlet Power Center with Stage 2 Clean Power
Digital camera Review: Nice to look at
Summary: 3 Stars
I put this on my home entertainment center that has a Plasma Tv and other high end electronics. Is it needed? Most likely not but it does look nest. I am sure there are much cheaper ways to handle the power than this Powercenter but at the time I thought I was doing the right thing. I was told by a service guy it was a little over kill.Digital camera Review: PowerCenter
Summary: 5 Stars
Fully functional power center at less than half the price of the unit
pushed by the retail store.
Digital camera Review: Pure SNAKE OIL (as are most Monster products)
Summary: 2 Stars
For an explanation, do a Google Search for "Ten Biggest Lies In Audio" or visit this link: [ ... ] and scroll to the part where he talks about fancy cables and about power conditioners.
Having surge protection is indeed important, and you can find a decent surge protector with multiple outlets for wire management well under a hundred bucks, with power backup...Belkin makes very good ones with a far more reasonable price to performance ratio, as does TrippLite and American Power Conversion (APC). More like forty to eighty bucks, really. And more than adequate to cover expensive HD TVs and components...don't let those silly salespeople at big-box chains scare you into thinking that you need anything more!
What is complete and shameless SNAKE OIL though, is any claim that a so-called "power conditioner" is somehow going to give you better audio and video quality. Unless you are living in some 200 year old house with 100 year old wiring in the middle of nowhere, there is ZERO scientific basis for these claims: just total sales BS.
My boss got this Monster "PowerCenter" and while it does look kind of cool on his shelf with all the flashing lights and LED numbers, we did an audio and video comparison with a cheap $30 surge protector (no backup power supply) and guess what? Identical sound and video. He kept the Monster unit though, since he's filthy rich and likes cool-looking gadgets. But he had to admit that I was dead right.
Also, the instruction booklet that comes with this unit is entirely useless. It's basically an advertising brochure telling you how great Monster is as a company, as a way of getting you to buy more Monster products. It doesn't bother to even tell you simple things like should you keep this unit turned on all the time, or turn it on only when you're using your HT system. It also doesn't explain the different groups of power outlets on the back, i.e. why there are even different groupings at all and what each grouping actually does differently.
Monster seems to work on the same marketing principle as Bose: produce sleek-looking products of dubious quality that are ridiculously overpriced and overhyped, counting on the average Joe to naively believe that he's getting what he's paying up the nose for, and invest tons of money on saturation advertising in order to establish name-brand recognition.
In general, don't get snookered by the whole Monster scam. Same with their fancy cables which big-box electronics stores love to push---generic cables from Walmart and Home Depot will do the job just as well for a fraction of the cost. Spend the savings on better electronics (again, other than the TVs, you can find much better components buying online and especially from Internet-direct manufacturers) and actual DVDs and CDs.
Great places to do your research and get advice would be online discussion groups like AVS Forum, Ecoustics, and hometheaterforum dot com. Oh, and the other rule of thumb: never, ever buy Bose. Do your homework and you'll find out why very quickly and clearly.
Digital camera Review: Solid buy at $149
Summary: 4 Stars
If you read home theater forums on sites like Polk and AVS, you'll find that there's a debate on whether or not general power conditioners take away from receivers (or amplifiers) power. Simply said, it's been suggested that power conditioners make home theaters sound "flatter," in comparison to plugging the receiver into the regular, grounded wall outlet.
When plugging in my receiver in the "receiver" outlet on the HTS 1600 I noticed a considerable difference in the way my front tower speakers sounded. Indeed, they sounded much flatter than before (without the HTS 1600). I also noticed that I had to repeatedly turn up my receiver to achieve the same sound that it once had - even then, it still sounded flatter.
So, I played around with the setup. Instead of plugging my receiver in the "receiver" outlet, I instead plugged it into the "high current amplifier" outlet. After this change, I noticed a considerable difference. My speakers sounded just as good, if not better. The bass returned to the towers, and the dialogue returned to the center. With this said, MAKE SURE TO PLUG YOUR RECEIVER INTO THE "HIGH CURRENT AMPLIFIER" OUTLET!
In terms of picture quality, I didn't see much of a picture quality that many have suggested.
In terms of silencing ambient "hissing" that comes from my speakers; the hiss is still there--yet, it's very quiet and only noticeable when putting my ear directly up to the speakers.
Cosmetically, the front panel is tolerable. There are four small lights that fall underneath a digital voltage meter (which is red). The four lights indicate: Grounding, Wiring, Clean Power, Additional Voltage, and Protection. The middle light, clean power, is detailed with ambient blue, which is kinda cool at night.
The one thing I don't really enjoy about this power conditioner is the fact that the innards are outlined on the top of this product. To me, it looks cheap, and kind of lame.
REMEMBER, VOLTAGE METERING BETWEEN 117 AND 123 IS NORMAL, WHILE A STEADY 120 METERING IS CONSIDERED IDEAL. THIS POWER CONDITIONER DOES NOT REGULATE VOLTAGE...IT ONLY METERS, CONDITIONS, AND PROTECTS YOUR COMPONENTS.
For $149, no shipping and handling fees, no tax (unless you live in Washington State), this is a solid buy.
Hope this helps!
Digital camera Review: The only safe way to run your HDTV
Summary: 5 Stars
This product does an excellent job of monitoring voltage going to your HDTV and other items for worry free viewing. I have had it for about a month now and it has been easy to install and the best part is I don't have to worry about surges or spikes hitting my HDTV.