Monster Cable PowerCenter HTS 2000 MKII
by Monster Cable
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Monster Cable PowerCenter HTS 2000 MKII
Customer Review: A silver bullet for interference issues?
Summary: 5 Stars
My short review...
I'll start by saying I am NOT a Monster Cable fan. I think for the most part they sell overpriced cables and interconnects to unsuspecting consumers and laugh all the way to the bank.
However, in this case, I had just bought a new HD TV, and found that I could now see substantial interference on analog cable channels, as well as minor interference from any input.
After consulting several experts, I was told that I could have 1 of 3 things going on, and most likely a combination of at least 2 of them... 1.) Cable line ground-loop interference 2.) Power line ground-loop interference 3.) General RF interference.
Looking around at different power conditioners and cable-line isolators brought my to this Monster Cable product. I purchased it keeping in mind Amazon's excellent customer service on returns.
I was more than ready to be skeptical.
I hooked everything up, ran the cable line through it, and powered on. The difference in the video interference problem was pretty profound. I'd say there was a 95% improvement, and I can only see the interference now if I'm looking for it.
Supposedly this product was really designed to help my audio system (and the video cleaning was an addition), but I have not had time to give my setup an in-depth listen since installing the PowerCenter. To be fair, I've never had a complaint about my audio, as "crackles" and interferences occur very, very rarely.
But at least on the video end, this produce works as claimed, and has definitely improved the picture on my big-screen HD TV.
Customer Review: Solid product but no spectacular improvement
Summary: 4 Stars
The Monster Cable HTS 200 MKII is a very soild and well built surge protector. From the heavy industrial look of the product to the feel of the switches and plugs, everything is 1st class quality.
I am using mine with a Sharp 32" LCD TV and a Comcast HD cable box with AudioQuest AV cables. I route the TV signals through the unit and experienced no lost of channels as another reviewer had with the HTS 1000.
I especially like the LED voltage and ampage readouts feature. When I turned on the vacuum cleaner in the same room, I can see the voltage drop from 123 to 118 instantly and yet there is no degradation to the picture quality at all.
With all this said, I must honestly confess there is no big noticeable differences in term of picture quality with or without the unit. The grainy look of non-digital channels still give the same grainy look and the digital and HD channels remain the same level of good quality. I think the buyers of this unit or any other high end AV surge protectors should not have false expectation of dramatic viewing improvement but rather think of it as a good solid protection for your AV equipments.
Another reason to consider buying HTS 2000 through Amazon is the price. It is cheaper than what they charge for HTS 1000 at CircuitCity or BestBuy.
Customer Review: Actually fixed my sound problems!
Summary: 4 Stars
Like other reviewers here, I also normally hate Monster. I've gotten into shouting arguments with stupid employees at electronics stores about why you don't need a gold-plated HDMI cable for your HDTV (if you don't need a gold-plated $100 computer monitor cable why do you need a gold-plated $100 HDMI cable?). However, this product actually worked wonderfully for me.
I had been having tremendous problems with my surround system. Sound would flicker, especially when I used it through my cable box. After installing this Monster power system, all problems have gone away. Additionally, I've replaced a spaghetti pile of 3 surge protectors with this single unit, so the underneath of my entertainment system looks a lot nicer too.
I have not yet hooked up my cable through this as it seems to be working fine already. On a related note the "free $27 value!" included cables are so short as to be nearly useless, so don't plan on using them for much (unless your power unit is under 1 ft from your system).
All in all, this probably could be half as expensive as it is, but it works extremely well (and I would have ended up spending $70 on new optical cables to try to fix this problem anyway), so I'm happy with it.
Customer Review: HTS 2000 MKII Power Center
Summary: 4 Stars
Update on 2-9-2008 - The switch has broken so now only the unswitched outlets work. I no longer recommend this unit.
This item is larger and heavier than I expected. It appears to be very well made, however the first one I received started making very loud buzzing noises with occasionally clicking after the first day. The replacement has not had those problems.
I have not seen a noticeable difference in how my home theater system works before and after switching to this surge protector. The benefits seen so far are:
(a) it does look nice (and as expensive as it actually is),
(b) it makes me feel that my equipment is protected (even though I cannot prove it),
(c) the labelled sockets makes it easy to identify which plug I want to pull, and
(d) its display of current being drawn is useful (e.g. it helped me discover that one piece of gear was wrongly on an unswitched outlet).
One thing to be wary of is Monster support. I sent an email to them when I encountered the problems with the first unit and have never received anything from them (other than their automatic confirmation of a support request).
Customer Review: A bit bulky, yet useful & reasonably priced
Summary: 4 Stars
First time, when I bought it, it did sound like an expensive surge protector, but after using it for about 2 months, I think it was worth buying it and paying the money.
You need it if you have:
- HDTV & watch HD channels.
- Phone & internet/wireless router are in same room as TV Center.
- Lots of connection cables for your entertainment center.
Likes:
- Color coded power sockets and matching labels.
- Cable & phone connection goes through the power center to remove any degradation of signal due to interference.
- Noticeable improve in the HD quality. The effect on analog channels is very low and not observable.
Dislike:
- Size. It is big & bulky. you need to place strategically to hide it.
- Price. Not easy to spend so much on a power center. But other options from Monster are expensive and other brands lack reliability & reputation.
I don't know, whether it improves the sound quality of the sound system, since I haven't got one yet.