Monster HTS-3600 MKII power center - good for hi-fi system?

[goldear]

It kills the sound, the soundstage, dynamics, and ambiance. I prefer the Isotek stuff myself.......

I've opened-up an Isotek Unit, and there is essentially no power conditioning of any sort happening inside of one of these. They are just a supper high quality power strips, and little more. They also lack any sort of surge suppresion, so I hope that you not depending upon that unit to protect your system from any sort of over-voltage condition, becuase it offers none!

I agree that the Monster units can have some negative impacts on the sound in a high resolution system. But the effects you describe seem largely constrained to using with power-amps in my experience. Some digital gear actually seems to benefit noticibly. But there is no doubt that the most meaningful improvement is with video.

 

[yamahammer]

ahh the subjective joys of power conditioners , speaker cables ,interconnects

 

[JBN]

I've opened-up an Isotek Unit, and there is essentially no power conditioning of any sort happening inside of one of these. They are just a supper high quality power strips, and little more. They also lack any sort of surge suppresion, so I hope that you not depending upon that unit to protect your system from any sort of over-voltage condition, becuase it offers none!

I agree that the Monster units can have some negative impacts on the sound in a high resolution system. But the effects you describe seem largely constrained to using with power-amps in my experience. Some digital gear actually seems to benefit noticibly. But there is no doubt that the most meaningful improvement is with video.

From what I understand with Isotek they make different levels of filtration as you move up the line. They do make the Nordost thor.

 

[outshined]

I haven't read all the responses, so I may be repeating myself here, but most any power conditioner is suspect if they use MOV's to suppress surges. They can explode; i.e; deteriorate and become useless, even though the device seems to be working properly.
One company that doesn't use MOV's (metal oxide varistors) is "Brick Wall" They have proprietary technology that will not fail with repeated spikes or surges. Check it out. brickwall.com

 

[DKak]

Here is the way to set it up: Use your Power amp (or receiver) with the absolute minimum filtering possible. Too much filtering on your amp will cause current limiting, which can adversely effect your sound.

Use all digital sources (CD player, DVD player, etc) with the maximum filtering possible (stage 3). If you use a TV with your system, it should get connected to at least the stage 2 outlets. Everything else really doesn't really matter very much which outlet is chosen. This is because the rest of your components will not be very sensitive to current limiting or RFI.

I suspect that the "high current" outlets have parallel filters and the other outlets have serial filters.

It's not so much how much filtering you have, rather it is whether the filters limit current. Parallel filters don't limit it, serial filters usually do but can be even more effective at noise reduction than parallel. And the amount of power that source gear draws is probably well within the serial filter's capacity.

Dave

 

[gogofast]

after reading all your responses, i've decided not to use the power conditioner for my mostly vintage tube gear set up.

so for those of you who's main system is comprised of vintage tube gears, what do you use to protect them from surges and possibly condition the power for sound improvement? or do you not use anything? i'd hate to compromise the sound of tube gears by using power conditioner if that's true at all - since the chances of damaging my gears by not using a surge protector is very slim.

 

[DKak]

after reading all your responses, i've decided not to use the power conditioner for my mostly vintage tube gear set up.

so for those of you who's main system is comprised of vintage tube gears, what do you use to protect them from surges and possibly condition the power for sound improvement? or do you not use anything? i'd hate to compromise the sound of tube gears by using power conditioner if that's true at all - since the chances of damaging my gears by not using a surge protector is very slim.

With absolutely no interest in starting a holy war over power conditioning products, here's what I use -- PS Audio Power Plant regenerators for all my low-level gear, including tubes. To me, my gear sounds better with them and they have protection.

Based on my experience and to keep price down I suggest you look at their Duet or Quintet units for protection and non-limiting conditioning. Maybe they'll work for your needs. http://www.psaudio.com

Dave

 

[outshined]

after reading all your responses, i've decided not to use the power conditioner

I would also strongly suggest you use some surge/spike protection. My brand of choice id Brick Wall, because the product will never fail, unlike MOV controlled devices (most use them).

http://www.brickwall.com/

 

[motorstereo]

I use a variac to turn on and off my tube stuff. It's much kinder to the old units I have to turn it on this way I'm told. I also am able to set it at 115 volts rather than what ever the power company feeds us. Will it protect against power surges? I don't know and I'll let someone else more knowledgeable than me answer that question. I would think once you have it set at whatever voltage you want it remains close to what you set it at. My dmm says it does so that's good enough for me. As far as the sound goes I don't hear any reduction in quality anywhere.

 

[similost]

Since no one has mentioned a brand I've been looking at, I thought I would ask if anyone has or is using SurgeX?

They are pretty pricey, but they appear to be great gear. We are using one that is also a power conditioner on all of our Polycom video conferencing equipment at work.. wonder how well it would work on a PA system?

 

[seamas]

what would be wrong with a ups?

 

[DKak]

what would be wrong with a ups?

Typically the output is highly distorted when the battery is boosting or creating the output, but its intended use is usually for PCs & networks. The APC units now made for a/v use might be better suited, though. I don't know anything about the quality or frequency range of the filtering, either.

Dave

 

[JimJ[VT]]

since the chances of damaging my gears by not using a surge protector is very slim.

I wouldn't think of leaving my equipment plugged into the wall without some sort of protection against surges...

 

[mjolley]

I currently have my receiver (HK-3480, which has my TT and Tape Deck plugged into it) running off an APC Back-Ups CS350. It is a very modest UPS I got years ago when I had a desktop PC. Now that I have a laptop as my primary computer, I don't really need a UPS so I just have the laptop's AC adapter running off a surge protector.

The sound quality does change when it switches to battery, but I didn't really decide to use the UPS for listening to music during a blackout, mostly I chose it because we frequently get brownouts, or times when the lights seem to dim a little, and the UPS can instantly step in and correct that. The UPS is designed for power-hungry electronics that are very sensitive to power fluctuations, so I figured the receiver would work too. It's also, of course, a surge protector.

None of my equipment is super-high-end (everything except the HK was bought second-hand!) and I don't profess to have golden ears, so I can't argue the merits of how power supply solutions "sound," I just wish I had the kind of setup where the difference over something like that really mattered.

 

[goldear]

From what I understand with Isotek they make different levels of filtration as you move up the line. They do make the Nordost thor.

I sure hope so. Frankly I was a little shocked when I pulled apart the one unit that I could get my hands on and discovered that the net, total filtering was one 1 nf cap in parrallel with the line! That almost constitutes no filtering at all. And that unit was expensive (>$1000). And there were no MOVs, or any other sort of device to deal with over-voltage conditions.

Considering that I have had several surge-suppresors sacrifice themselves while protecting the equipment inside my house, you simply will not catch me running unprotected like that.