Hi. I was thinking of getting one of these for my home theater system. Does anybody own one and are they worth it? Thanks.

I have the Monster Home Theatre Reference PowerCenter™ HTS 2600 with Clean Power™ Stage 2 v.2.0. It's their second from bottom model.

I really like it, and am very glad I have it. But, If you're getting this because you think it will have an effect on the way your system sounds, I would save the money. If, on the other hand, you are interested in getting some protection for your equipment, that has some nice features, then by all means jump on one.

One of the things I like about it is that it has a couple of outlets which are timed. If you plug your sub and your amplifier (if you have one) into those outlets, everything else comes on first thus preventing any "thump" from the speakers which can occur if the amps come on first, or even at the same time.

There's another thing I like about it which is going to be tricky to explain. My 2600 is not remote controlled, which means that I have to get up and go turn it on manually. However, there is a way around this. You plug the powercenter into the wall, then plug your receiver or preamp into an unswitched outlet in the powercenter. Anything you plug into the powercenter's unswitched outlets will operate without the powercenter being on. Then, strangely, there is a second power cord on the powercenter which you plug into a switched AC outlet on your receiver or preamp. Now, when you turn on your receiver, which of course can be done with your remote, the powercenter comes on and turns on any of your equipment you have plugged into the powercenter's switched, and timed outlets.

I feel Monster products are, in general, overpriced, so I got my unit on Ebay for considerably less than list price. I did so with some trepidation, but the whole transaction went smoothly.

Thanks for the reply. Thats a little disappointing that the sound/ video quality didnt improve much. I was reading the reviews on Monster and everybody was saying there was an improvement, of course, you dont know if they are skewed.

Chris.

Chris, welcome. Jack's information is certainly a realistic appraisal. Keep in mind that much of what you may have read about "dirty power" affecting sound quality is pure nonsense. The transformer, rectifier and filter capacitors in the power supply sections of amplifiers already supply clean DC to the amplification section and need nothing more for that purpose.

I have Belking PureAV PF60, their top-of-the line surge protector / line conditioner. While it did not improve the audio quality of my system, I noticed a slight improvement to my Samsung DLP video. I also noticed that my Rotel power amp (200wpc) sounded a little refrained, so I plug it direct in the wall now. However, I feel comforatable that I have my expensive setup protected!

Here is a review on the Monster HTS-3500 at Audioholics. They reviewed it favorably. I have this unit and basically agree with everything Ajax said. It has been a very convenient power center for the equipment. I use the switched outlets to power my sub-woofers and the 12V trigger signal on my Denon AVR-3805 is used to turn on the switched outlets on the Monster power center. I can’t say it made an improvement in audio or video because I’ve always used it, but for what it’s worth, I have had no problems at all related to AC power signal noise.