Farmerkid Posted March 30, 2002 Share Posted March 30, 2002 Does anyone out there have any experience with line conditioners e.g. Monster Cables HTS-2600?? I'm am still plagued with a bit of noise on my subwoofer. It is present even when it is the only component power. Tried the infamous 'cheater' plug (the noise actually gets worse). These conditioners that Monster and other companies make appeal to my engineering side, however, my business sense is suspicious. Any feedback? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted March 30, 2002 Share Posted March 30, 2002 Is your system hooked to up to cable TV? If so try unhooking it from the system and see if it goes away. If it does, Mondial makes a tiny unit called MAGIC. It looks like a coax splitter and runs about a C-note. It's listed on Klipsch's web site. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngklip Posted April 1, 2002 Share Posted April 1, 2002 Go to Cinepro.com They have some Line conditioners that will blow away Monster Cable. ------------------ Bose Suck..Period Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 1, 2002 Share Posted April 1, 2002 fk, i use the monster hts-2500 (is that what u meant?) & like it pretty well. can't say i heard a drastic dif in sound quality though. monster does make a lil one just for a sub too. there was some debate before on whether an amp should go thru any conditioner at all as it could sap some power. tried my amp hts bypassed & could hear no dif there. which sub is it? a servo? is the noise present when u disconnect the interconnect from the sub? ------------------ My Home Systems Page This message has been edited by boa12 on 04-01-2002 at 04:10 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 Check out this site, http://www.psaudio.com I may try the Ultimate Outlet. You can try any of their products for 30 days. If you don't like them you can return them and get your money back. If I like it I can also return it and upgrade to the Power Director. I've been reading about Line conditioners and balancers over the last couple of months. I've ruled out Monster Power and Panamax. The Cinepro Power Pro 20 Ac Line Balancer/Conditioner also sounds good. It also has a 30 day return period. There is also Transparent Audio, Audio Prisim, Alpha-Core, VansEvers. Q. ------------------ Q-Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 I have the Monster HTS-3500 and know that it at least does something. I just had Time Warner Cable replace my Digital Box with the new HDTV box. When I initially setup my system, I ran the coax cable from the wall to the 3500 and then back to the cable box. I never even tried it from the wall to the box. Everything sounded fine and there was no background noise. The first thing the TWC installer told me to do was to run the coax from the wall to the new box and bypass the 3500. He said the Line Conditioner depletes the signal. After doing so, I had a tremendous hum coming out of my speakers (on all sources). We tried 4 other boxes and it was the same thing for all of them. He reluctantly had me run the cable back thru my 3500 and told me I had a problem with my electrical system in the house. Is this true? Can I get around the hum without using the 3500? Is the 3500 depleting the signal coming from the wall? With the coax cable running thru the 3500 I have no noise whatsoever. Thanks in advance... Mike ------------------ My Music Systems This message has been edited by Mike Lindsey on 04-04-2002 at 08:17 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted April 4, 2002 Share Posted April 4, 2002 Mike, No time right now, but I will talk about this later. Q. ------------------ Q-Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 4, 2002 Share Posted April 4, 2002 mike, yea the TW guy told me the same thing so I just bypassed the lil monster conditioner i have on that wall w/ the cable tv line. i did try it thru the monster & it didn't change the tv pic any for me, but i still went ahead & bypassed it since the cable is grounded outside the house (one reason I get the ground loop buzz). as you know i solved my GL buzz the only way i really could - cheater plugs on all the 3-prong components. as stated this could be unsafe, but for me it's worth the risk. do you notice any pic degradation when u run thru the monster? if not i'd keep it that way. or if you want to shell out another C-Note, you could get that mondial magic. should take care of the GL & also provide some protections from static & such. i tried the magic but it didn't totally eliminate the GL buzz, though it reduced it significantly. but i also felt it changed the tv pic some not really to my liking. of course you know i'm an anal purist. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandern Posted April 4, 2002 Share Posted April 4, 2002 I think I just blew my wad. Yep I did. I thought I was cool cause I'm getting a pair of RF3II's. Well I'm going back to my dorm room now. ------------------ I like my bass like I like my women, deep and tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted April 4, 2002 Share Posted April 4, 2002 An interesting problem. You describe that the sub makes a hum even when it is the only component powered up? There is no reason to believe the hum is coming from noise on the line. Rather it sounds like 60 cycle hum. No line conditioner is going is going to remove 60 cycle hum. Please tell us more. Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted April 4, 2002 Share Posted April 4, 2002 If you can borrow one for a while, see if you can lay your hands on an AC sniffer and go through the room like a Geiger Counter. It may be coming from something totaly different. There was another thread on here about a speaker that would hiss even when all the equipment was off and disconnected from the speaker cable! He used a sniffer and found the problem. Yes, I use a Monster HTS5000. If anything it's a good spike protector and an easy way to turn on/off all the equipment with only one button. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit This message has been edited by tblasing on 04-04-2002 at 11:01 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted April 5, 2002 Share Posted April 5, 2002 boa, Thanks for the reply! I have to admit that the analog channels improved significantly but the digital and HDTV channels weren't noticeable. Unfortunately, there is no way I could listen to that GL hum and had to run the coax back thru the 3500. Q - Looking forward to your response... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted April 5, 2002 Share Posted April 5, 2002 in your case mike, maybe that HTS is acting like the double-blauxan (or whatever) thingy & converting it to more like a 300ohm signal. or iow it may be taking away the cable ground w/ it's own ground in the electrical sys. what do u think guys? anyway if it works... ------------------ My Home Systems Page This message has been edited by boa12 on 04-05-2002 at 10:36 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 Mike, Line conditioners are susposed to remove some of the RF grunge and provide a lower noice floor and better vidio picture. The cable guy knows , as you do, that every splitter and cable added degrades the signal. They are looking at your conditioner as just another splitter in the line.They may not know that line conditioners are supposed to clean up the signals by isolating them, and by cleaning up the AC power noise. I don't know why your conditioner eliminates the hum, unless it's RF or digital related. It must not be a ground loop, because I don't think the conditioner would help solve that problem. I also don't think you have an electical problem in your home. Just be glad that it solves the problem. I'm using a Tributaries Ground Guard on my TV cable. Like Boa12, I don't see any improvement. The sound, in my case is tweeter hiss and some midrange buzz. This ground breaker did nothing to guiet the system, and it made the picture worse on some TV channels. I want to try one more thing with it before I take it out of the link.I guess my noise isn't ground loop related. I added a 30 amp dedicated circuit a few months ago. That has been the best improvement in noise and hum in my system. This eliminated all the subwoofer hum. After that I should have known that I don't have a ground loop, because when I disconnected the TV cable while the system was operating it didn't make any difference. I tried the ground breaker just the same, and I think that I wasted $100.00. If I decide to take it out of the system, any board member can try it . You can try it for free. If it works for you, then pay me. If It doesn't send it back and I'll let someone elce try it. Q. ------------------ Q-Man This message has been edited by Q-Man on 04-06-2002 at 09:23 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 A couple more things. I tried a special power cord on my McIntosh power amp. The cord didn't do a thing for the noise, but it did do something to improve the sound. There is a little more sense of space, meaning more seperation between the voices and the insturments. Also more detail in the bass.It's subtle, but surprising, I didn't expect to hear any difference in a power cord. This is why I'm now trying to pick the right Line conditioner. Check this site out. http://www.vansevers.com These are the conditioners that the McIntosh dealer recommends. After checking out his conditioners click on Tuning/Tweaks. There are some cheap tweaks with wood tuning blocks. This guy is eather a nut or a genious. One more thing about Ground Loops. Is this a solution? Why not disconnect your cable ground at it's grounding point and connect it to your electric service ground. Now you will have one common ground instead of two. This will eliminate the ground loop. This is so simple, there must be a reason that no one is doing it. What is it??? Q. ------------------ Q-Man This message has been edited by Q-Man on 04-06-2002 at 09:08 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marathon Man Posted April 6, 2002 Share Posted April 6, 2002 Well here is my two cents for what its worth. I too was told a long time ago to purchase some type of surge protection/line conditioner to improve the sound of my systems. I went with Monster Power and was happy until I learned that the surge protection stuff actually gets in the way of the ac current and degradates it. The best source of ac power is straight from the wall. The filtering in products such as the Monster Power HTS-5100 which I own and its sitting in my rack being used to run front end equipment such as cd-r player, my TV, vcr, and sat receiver these components should be ok running off of one circuit. Back end equipement or equipment that need clean high power, equipment such as power-amps, pre-amps, sub amps, etc.. need to go with a dedicated power source. I have just run 4 dedicated circuits to my room, and I use chang-lightspeed power cords. This made all the difference in the world in the performance of my system. The filtering the chang-Lightspeed cords is very good. You can get them for about $300.00 a pop. If you plan to take this advise upgrade add the dedicated circuts first. This is one of those mods that one won't do without the other. Besides power thrirsty gear like power amps, and sub amps need all the power they can get, however they also need clean power in order to sound good and that is where the changs or whatever brand you like come in. Remember garbage in garbage out.. thats my new motto. I think it applys to much in life. As for the surge protection, getting a direct lightening strike will be about the same odds as winning the lottery, and if you do get a direct strike you can kiss your gear goodbye regardless of what you have protecting it. If you live in an apartment then obviously this won't be something you can do (running dedicated circuits), but I could not beleive the difference it made for my system. ------------------ MM This message has been edited by Marathon Man on 04-08-2002 at 12:03 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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