Monster surge protector, good or no ? !

[jdbrown82]

hmm im giving her a look now !

[jdbrown82]

anyone here have the monster surge pro i mentioned above ?

[boomer9911]

went from an Adcom ACE-515 Enhancer to a Monster HTS5100 and now using a Monster HTPS7000...has protected and shut down my HT system during thunder storms and power outages...no issues...does what it does...my equipment is fine...and protected IMO...[H]

[jdbrown82]

awesome, thanks for the info !~

[toadtobin]

I cannot explain technically why, but I will reiterate something that has been mentioned on several threads and have recently confirmed myself. Do not plug your power amp into your line conditioner, rather plug it straight into the wall outlet. I recently purchased the Monster HTS1000 MKII for my system. When I got it home and plugged everything into it, I listened to my system for about 5 minutes before I realized something was wrong. Everything sounded flat...how better to explain...dynamics were reduced, the music I was listening to was a recording I was very familiar with and had almost a completely different timbre to it..

Anyway, I plugged my power amp directly into the top outlet and all of my other electronics into the conditioner which was plugged into the bottom outlet and now I can definately say the product was money well spent. I now notice a meaningful difference in the overall sound of my system as well as a vastly reduced noise floor just from what it does for my preamp and CD player.

Of course, the drawback is that if my amp DOES take a surge, it nor my speakers will be covered by Monster's warranty, but to me the difference in sound is well worth the risk.

Hope that helps.

[T2K]

I received the Belkin PF31 Power Console today. It was packaged well and arrived undamaged. I won't have time to incorporate the thing into my HT setup until next week, so I plugged it in and drug out the blow dryer for a test. Seems to work well. Seems well built. The UPS tracking said the package weighed 30 pounds if that helps any. Its black so it should disappear into my TV stand. I don't know why the PF31 BLACK is priced at $129.99 and the same model in SILVER is $60 or so higher. I wanted the black anyway, so I'm happy.

I bought a Monster HTS 3500 MKII a year or so ago when everyone here was buying. I paid $105 for it and it has worked well, so no complaints. I have had my front pair of KSP400's plugged into the Monster and the speakers still sound great and shake the house. I'm going to swap the Monster job out and use it in my audio rack and use the Belkin for my TV and the KSP400 front pair. The Belkin has 2 dealyed 'AMP' plugs so I'll see how that works out. I'll post resultant comments when I get the time, probably this time next year.

I used a Panamax with my last Sony TV and components and it sacrificed itself to save my electronics. I used the TV for 12 years so the money spent was well worth it.

Anyway, besides what you can read about the Belkin on the net the only other comments that I can add is that the PF31 seems to be well built and looks nice, if that is important, if less flashy than the Monster product. I like it.

Keith

[jdbrown82]

thanks guys. as far as an amp goes im not going to use one, just the reciever. good advice though, i keep it in mind. never know i may end up with a amp before its all said and done.

[Jay481985]

reciever/amp same thing

[fanbrain]

If you want really good protection, look for something that has a battery back-up feature, EMI/RFI filtering, and automatic voltage regulation. Those units are usually more expensive, but they do more and give you more protection. Look at products by Furman that have a "PF" on the end of the model #, that stands for "power factor". That means the unit has ability to hold a charge to provide correct voltage in the event of a sag as well as limiting peaks. They also provide power in blackout situations. Good for rear project TV's and front projectors. Tripp Lite also sells excellent equipment. The HTRL15UPS is what I will be buying this week. Excellent piece and for a reasonable price. Don't buy into the different "levels" of power filtering. If it doesn't filter all of it, don't buy.

(I do work for an AV dealer and I did a LOT of research on this stuff. I have been told by manufacturers (of audio gear) to use voltage regulating systems for any sensitive electronics; and no, I'm not a dealer for Furman or Tripp Lite).

Good luck.

[jdbrown82]

im just going to go with the Monster Home Theater Reference HTS2600MKll, but thanks !

[tommyboy]

I'm sorry I'm late here, but I have the Monster HTS2600. It's protected my system a few times. (thunder storms, bad weather, etc.) I've been more than happy with it. I was a litle skeptical at first, but glad that I bought it now!

[Chewy734]

I have the Belkin PF60 shown here: http://catalog.belkin.com/PureAV_detail.process?Product_Id=178925

It has really good reviews, and you can find it consistently for under $200 shipped.  Personally, I'm not a fan of overpriced Monster, so this is a very good alternative. 

[HarryO]

Hi,

I HAD a pair of Furman AR-1215 conditioners. Last week I was hit by lightening. I lost my PC, and some other appliances. I lost both conditioners and a seperate surge protection strip. Lightening hit less than 20 feet from my systems. I doubt anything is totally safe from mother nature. I will say I THINK I would have lost about everything in my system if it hadn't been for my conditioners. Don't cheap out. It may cost you a lot.

Harry

[Guest " "]

if you want surge protection...shop and compae the joules ratings.

some products have 30 jolues of protection....some have 480 jolues of protection......the more the better.

Voltage regulators have low joules ratings since their mission is voltage regulation....line conditioners have high joules ratings since their mission is filtering.

Also....the parts that provide joules protection waer out....after a few years...their joules ratings drop signifcantly...when they drop to zero...some surge protector's have a lED light that will no longer indicate protect.

I like all the various devices that folks put inbetween the wall outlets and their componets.....but....my take is that you should go down to home depot or lowes and buy some of those suge protection devices that look like circut breakers and install them in your breaker box. It's cheaper to replace that surge protection circut breaker than it is to replace some of our high end surge protection devices due to worn out MOV's and like componets.

[rcarlton]

I also have the Belkin Pure AV PF60. Works great, looks nice. I noticed an improvement in the sound, not much, but something seemed better. Currently looking at Richard Gray's Power Company products. RGPC 400.

[Snagglepuss]

After watching the Monster 3500 mkII on ebay for weeks I stumbled on this deal.  A PureAV PF60 for $156, with shipping at $18, it arrived in three days,  one day earlier than the tracking specified.  Looks great and has good reviews.  Just hooked up my receiver last night.  Don't know about music yet but with no input I turned the volume up all the way.  That annoying humm is gone so it is doing something.

http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=2634436

[mas]

Just a comment.

I get a bit tired of the same tired complaints against MOVs. MOVs work great. But the notion that all or many or whatever figure are 'worn out', so they are carte blanche rendered worthless, is absolutely absurd.

I have an oil and gas filter in my truck. They work great. Are there more elaborate methods of filtration? Sure! Do you necessarily want to pay for them? Nope! But gee, an oil or gas filter can become old and 'worn out' rendering them less effective or ineffective in filtering! So folks, the message is "Oil and gas filters suck. Don't use them. They don't do the job."

Does that make sense? Of course not! Are you capable of replacing the filters are reasonable intervals to preclude their becoming ineffective? Well, my guess is that MOST of you are! For those who are incapable of that very complex task, perhaps you shouldn't use oil and gas filters.

And the same goes for MOVs.

And filtering and effectively clamping voltages and currents is a well understood area of electronics. What amazes me is that this area is employed without allot of fanfare or angst in many very critical areas of electronics and industry.

But it seems that only in audio does the area assume an element akin to a mythic esoteric magical art. But then, its funny that most things seem to assume that quality when you mention "audio" (as the Twilight Zone theme plays in the background...)

[Guest " "]

mas

you can buy filters with different levels of filtration...some claim 99.9%, some 98%, some claim nothing (we will assume thats a bad thing, maybe 80%)

you can also buy surge protectors with different levels of clamping voltage...the unit of measure is Joules ratings....some provide 30 joules...some provide 480 joules

I'm not sure that changing a filter that has a low filtration spec often, will result in oil just as clean as a filter with a high filtration spec and left unchanged.

so I don't think replacing a 30 Joule surge protector every year will protect as well as a 480 joule surge protector that is replaced only when the "protect" LED goes out.

[mas]

Huh?

Sure you can buy filters and clamos with carying degrees of efficiency. That was acknowlwdged and never contested, so I am not sure what the point is.

But the continuing rants about MOVs being categorically worthless or bad is completely absurd. And anyone familiar with them knows that you can source them in MANY values! So treating them as a static monolithic 'thing' is also ignorant.

Are they the be-all and end-all of surge protection? Heck no! But they were never meant to be!

So in criticizing them for not being so, you are simply exercising your ignorance in assuming that they were meant to be.

Use them as designed and recognize their limitations and they offer a very economical solution to many otherwise expensive solutions. They definitely have their place.

But to debate them by saying there are other methods at much greater cost is to belabor the obvious. A Toyota Corolla gets you to the store just fine. Do you need a Bugatti Veyron? Gee, but its faster... And what if you are hauling a boat, do you want to use either of them?

I have read more debates based upon brand, method, cost and just about every factor other than matching site specific information, load, and necessary levels of protection. I mean, do you need $600 of protection to protect a $299 receiver and an $89 CD/DVD player?

That $10 30-joule protector just might be the perfect match for an appliance. It may not. But that won't be determined by an emotional preference for a particular protection schema!

There are many very established methods of establishing a risk matrix, without the assumption that you must employ the best most expensive method. More talk of this nature would be beneficial. Overly generalized debates over a component are not.

[Guest " "]

"Huh?

Sure you can buy filters and clamos with carying degrees of efficiency. That was acknowlwdged and never contested, so I am not sure what the point is."

Neither do I....we were talking about surge protection...you introduced oil filters...there are metrics for both...a metric is a way of measuring performance. Once a metric can be identifed for consumer goods...shopping for a "good" one becomes easier.

If we list all the surge protectors by their jolues ratings...and compare price..a line can be drawn between cost and value.

If we list all the line conditioners by their noise rejection values...a new list will emerge with different prices.

If we list all the voltage regulators by their stepping values..yet another list will appear and different prices.

There are different metrics for surge protectors, line conditioners, and voltage regulators.