Customer Reviews

Monster HTS 3600 MKII 10-Outlet Power Center with Stage 3 Clean Power

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Got it today from Amazon at a great price. Setting up is easy with the included cables. The manual can be further improved with more technical explanations on what the protection circuitry actually does. My TV (50" Panasonic 1080p plasma) doesn't seem to have improved over a direct connection to the wall outlet; but the sound stage (via digital optical) of my Yamaha YSP900B (surround sound projector) does. The unit is well built and well integrated with other AV components. The only flaw is the low frequency buzz - audible within 5 ft from the unit. One would think Monster, being a reputable AV (primarily in AV interconnect cables) manufacturer, would not have allowed such a quality issue in the circuitry design. When the unit is enclosed in my AV cabinet, the buzz is not noticeable. But audiophiles beware! I would not have lived with the buzz if the unit is housed on an open AV rack.

The included gold plated coax cable is only 3 ft long, obviously not enough for any serious setup. Again, Monster is a cable company after all; it should have included a longer cable.

Overall, the unit is a good performer with a flaw (the buzz).

I have read some luke warm reviews of this system. My review ONLY focuses on the sound. In fact for me, Two Chanel Stero is more important then all other things like Home Theater DD 5.1 DTS etc. The improvement on my system was immediate and unmistakable. The sound stage became wide and deep.
But wait, as an audiophile i knew that i was capable of self delusion. Maybe I was talking myself into thinking the sound was better. Soon, my NON audiophile wife came home. She took two steps in the door and and asked me, ok what I you bought now? Nothing I said. I really did not count the Power Center as a audio purchases, but in retrospect it was one of the biggest improvements to my system. How well it will do on video I have no idea. Now for an interesting side note. Since reduction of electrical line noise made such a difference I saw a Belken unit that claimed Level 6 Line noise reduction. While in my mind I knew that it was not fair to assume that the levels of noise reduction were the same measurements I was lured with the prospect of getting even better sound. After all I reasoned, if the Belkin Listed for 700.00 Suggested and I could get one for 250.00 I might get even better sound... NOT!! The lack of dynamics and everything else was imediete. I deluded myself into thinking that it needed time to settle in. Yea that's the ticket. After a month I removed the Belkin and regulated to Video duty on our Home theater system. The Music had returned. Again, as for video I have no informed view. For audio, this unit is a dream. Note: This review is for the 3500 Mkii which I think is disconnected. I think the only diffrence is the Analog Metter(3500) vs the Digital one.

I had an older version of this model. Plugged into it were the following components: Pioneer Kuro 60 plasma, Sony PS3, Pioneer Elite A/V receiver, Pioneer Elite DVD player, Denon CD player. Windstorm knocked out power. When electric company re-connected power, big power surge came into the house. The Monster Power unit stepped in front of it and took the hit. Destroyed the unit. But all components were undamaged. Called Monster Power to see if I could send it in to be fixed. Instead, they simply asked if the unit was less than five years old (it was 18 months old). They gave me a return authorization. Sent it in. One week later, received new HTS3600MKS II. Newer model and more expensive than the original. Would a less expensive "surge protector" have done the same thing? Maybe. Do I fully understand all the benefits of "clean power" that is promised from Monster? Not really. But they stood behind their product, replaced it without complaint or hassle. All I know is that it saved thousand of dollars of A/V equipment. Based on my experience, if you spend the extra $$$ on Monster Power, you will get a peace of mind that your expensive A/V equipment is protected by a company that understands customer service.

Monster makes some nice gadgets that are light on your wallet.... Pfshh, we all know that's a lie, the products are nice but they are super expensive. Luckily this was for a customer. The 3600 works fine, does what it is supposed to do, but on page 17 of the manual it specifically states "The Included Rack Ears..." but they were not in the box. After calling in the afternoon and holding for an hour for "sales", I had other things to do. So I decided to call the next morning. I waited about 20 minutes for Technical Support, the rep was very nice, and opened up a ticket for me, but at the end, says "but I can't help you with this, you need to speak with sales". So transferred, an hour later, sales still has not picked up. Finally hung up, emailed....

Q: Hi there. We recently ordered a HTS-3600 MKII Power conditioner for a customer. We opened it up and it did not have the rack ears included with the product, but on page 17 of the manual, it specifically states "This Monster PowerCenter includes two "Rack Ears" mounting plates for installation into a standard size equipment rack." After waiting for over an hour on hold for sales yesterday, I called this morning and after 20 minutes, spoke with a technical support person who gave me a case number which is *****. She then transferred me back to sales in which I waited another hour on hold before deciding to hang up. Hopefully we can figure out a way to get this rack ears situation figured out as soon as possible as it is holding up our job from being completed. And it seems like you guys are doing well, so maybe it's time to hire some more customer service people? Hour+ wait times for sales is pretty unacceptable. If someone could please call me today at..., I would appreciate it. I need to get this resolved ASAP. Thanks

Received an Email response 2 days later:

A: Per UL regulations the rack ears are not sold separately. The can be ordered from our site at: [...]

WHAT?? So I am in the same place that I started. Thanks Monster.

4 stars for product, delete one for not including the rack ears and another for wasting hours of my time with your seemingly wonderful customer service.

I love this overpriced surge protector for a couple of reasons.

- If you have a Sony, check your factory warranty. The only way they will replace your TV in case of an electrical surge or spike is if you have an "approved" surge protector. No worries here.

- I am always surprised the folks will pay $4K or more for a TV, another $1K to have it installed and mounted on the wall and then just plug it into the wall without any surge protection.

- Everything that plugs into my TV goes through the 3600, including the coax from my DirecTV dish. The only item that is plugged into the wall directly is this. It is great to know that everything has some sort of protection including what comes from my satellite dish.

- For the ultimate protection, try running this through a power stabilizer (ASV 2000) that ensures all components get fed a near perfect 120w instead of the fluctuating power you usually get. Consider it like running your car on high octane at all times, never slipping a gallon or two of 89 oct. in the tank.

- I also like the amp display instead of the wattage display. The voltage display just tells you what you are feeding your components, not how much power you are using. The amp display helps you keep an eye out if you might have left a component on and didn't mean to. My kids are always leaving the DVD player or stereo on. If you notice a high amp readout, you know something was left on. My components are behind dark glass, it is hard to see if items are left on.

This might be expensive, but you won't have any regrets. You'll know you took the right steps to protect your investment.

This really is an excellent product and worth the money. (Unlike Monster Cables which are a sham.) I live in Florida and have lost several appliances to power spikes over the years, some of which were protected by comparably priced surge protectors. The response time of the HTS 3600 is remarkable. On several occasions it has gone off before a close lightning strike. I have been using mine for approx. 14 months and have had no issues with noise or anything unusual whatsoever.

The Monster HTS 3600 MKII Power Conditioner arrived just in time for the
start of the Bejing Olympics. The first thing I noticed was effect the unit had on the picture. It took it to a whole new level. I have a 50inch Panasonic plasma with a PS3 for blu-rays. Bestbuy never
could sell me on their calibration service due to the fact my picture
looked so good right out of the box. I was afraid they would mess something up and my plasma would never look the same again. I did'nt think
it was possible for my picture to get any better...that is until I hooked
up the Monster Power conditioner. The picture became sharper, the colors
more vibrant and saturated and there seems to be more of a 3D sensation to the picture. The box is quiet with no noise whatsoever. It stays
cool, no heat whatsoever even though I never turn it off. I got mine for
less than half of the list price through Amazon so I'm real happy with
the deal. As I always say, If Amazon don't sell it, I don't buy it. Amazon is the greatest.

Don't believe the hype on these units improving sound and video. I noticed no difference. This is nothing more than a rack mounted surge protector. For the price, I thought I could use it as a line conditioner when running a generator. Support said this is in no way a line conditioner. I guess you pay the high price for the good looks. I actually purchased the 3500 which has a voltage meter instead of a digital readout. Luckily, with the $50 rebate (which I have not received yet), I paid $137. If you can get it for cheap, then this unit is fine.

I added this Monster Power Center to my home theater system over a year ago. And it has worked perfectly. I live at a lake in a very rural area and we are prone to having many electrical surges from the rural electric company or from bad weather! On many occasions, while watching the big 52" flat screen, listening to the surround sound system and the Blue Ray player puting out high definition... then a power surge from the electric company or a lightning strike in the area has caused the Monster HTS 3600 MKII Power Center to instantly stop the electricity going to all electronics plugged in to it. The Monster HTS 3600 counts "up" for several seconds and then turns on the systems I was useing. As another reviewer indicated... most flat screens are not covered under warrantee unless you have an approved surge suppressor "connected properly" to your system! Monster adds 10's of thousands of dollars of insurance coverage to your system "IF" you properly hook up the Monster system according to instructions that come with the system. It was very easy to install the Monster at the intertainment center. Outside... you will be required to ground the incoming signal cable with a copper rod that is put in the ground at least 4 feet. Very easy to do. At the price this product is being offered on Amazon... you must buy the best protection for your electronics investment. Much smaller surge protection products will cost you nearly as much as this Monster system at this current price!

UPDATE: 12/24/2011 This Monster is still performing like new!

I just bought the Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ800U 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV and wanted to have a power center that would let this TV work at its best with any video source. For reference, my old TV set was a Sony 27" Wega with all components plugged in to a much more basic Monster Power strip (the Monster Cable PowerCenter Audio/Video Surge Protector (MPAV700RP) (MP AV700 RP)). I knew that while the old power strip would probably do a decent job, I wanted something that would really let my new plasma set shine. In addition, our town is somewhat subject to brown-outs and spikes and I wanted a power center that would really keep the power level as clean as it could be. I didn't have the money to spare on a true constant-voltage system like the Monster Cable MP AVS 2000 Home Theatre Automatic Voltage Stabilizer, which guarantees a constant 120 volts to all equipment, but at least I knew this unit would cut the power as soon as levels got to anything dangerous to the equipment.

It's worked very nicely, and I'm quite happy with the purchase. I can see from the voltage meter how much the power in the room fluctuates -- anywhere from ~115 to ~125 volts (with larger fluctuations when things like the clothes washer or dryer are running). But no matter how the power may change while I'm using my home theater gear, the picture remains nice and clean and the sound is also much improved.

I think I can say that the biggest, most obvious improvement is with standard-definition video. On our old set, we had watched some video I took of our trip to Walt Disney World earlier this year. It wasn't bad-looking, but it seemed grainy and slightly fuzzy-looking. The camcorder was plugged in to the regular wall outlet and the TV was on the old Monster power strip. Video and audio was fed directly from the camcorder to the TV through the patch cables supplied with the camcorder.

When I hooked up the same camcorder to the new plasma set, I plugged the camcorder into the dedicated "VCR" outlet on the Power Center. The video and audio connection was the same as before, but the picture quality was night and day. No visible grain or fuzziness, more visible detail in the picture, and the sound was cleaner as well. Even my wife, who is not a serious home theater hobbyist like I am, noticed the difference and commented how much better the picture looked than when we'd seen it just a few weeks earlier on the old set.

Now, some of this improvement may be due to the picture-scaling circuitry of the plasma TV. But a Sony Wega TV is no slouch in the video quality department, and CRT has always been the reigning king of video quality and the "gold standard" that every other TV set technology aims for in terms of black level, contrast, color fidelity, etc. Just to see if it really was only the plasma TV, I unplugged the camcorder from the Power Center and plugged it directly into a wall outlet.

The difference was immediately visible. Areas with "jaggies" had more prominent jags -- a long scene shot on the "main street" of Hollywood Studios showed noticeably more and more-prominent jaggies in the center line of the street when the camcorder was plugged in to the wall. One part of the video where there was text on an awning across the street was perfectly legible and had good edge detail when the camcorder was plugged in to the Power Center, but when plugged in to the wall the text became much more blurry and the pin-striping beneath it almost blurred into a single line.

I haven't done similar A/B tests with my other gear (standard-def DVD player, HD cable box with DVR). After directly witnessing the difference with just the camcorder, I don't really think I need to. I'm convinced that this device does what it advertises -- cleans up the video and audio signals of all components plugged in to it so that you get the best home theater experience possible.

With all these positives, I do have one minor complaint: Whenever the voltage dips below 120 (which happens several times in the span of a 2-hour movie), the Power Center makes an audible low-pitched buzzing noise. Presumably, these are the various line conditioning circuits going into overdrive to compensate for the lowered power. It never lasts more than a few seconds -- once the power goes back to 120 volts, it stops -- but it gets annoying real fast, especially if it kicks in when whatever I'm watching is at a quiet part. Still, I'm willing to put up with it if it's keeping my gear safe. Just keep this in mind if you're considering buying this. The buzzing is why I had to give this unit a 4-star rating instead of a perfect 5. The video improvements are great, and I'm assuming there are audio improvements coming with it (just based on earlier reviews of this device I've read, along with the feedback I got from others I know who own one of these). But that buzz really does get annoying after a while.

Here's what I have connected to this Power Center:
- Onkyo TX-DS595 A/V receiver on the "high current" outlet labeled "Amplifier"*
- Sony 5-disc DVD player in the "DVD" digital outlet
- Scientific Atlanta 8300HD Hi-Def cable box / PVR in the "Cable/Sat" digital outlet
- Panasonic TH-50PZ800U plasma TV in the "DVR" digital outlet**

*Since my A/V Receiver is "all in one" with a built-in amplifier, it was recommended to me by a friend (who is an even bigger home theater enthusiast than I am) that I use the "Amplifier" outlet rather than the "Receiver" outlet. This gives the receiver enough current draw that it can handle the peak-demand needs of any film without any problems. If I ever go the way of separate receiver and amplifier, then I'll use the separate jacks.

** The same friend recommended the use of a digital outlet rather than the one labeled "TV / Monitor" for the plasma TV because all HDTVs process digital signals and also do all of their video upscaling and de-interlacing through digital circuitry. And in fact, if you look at the box the Power Center ships in, you'll see in a product shot of the rear of the unit that one of the outlets is actually labeled "HDTV". Oddly, though, the four actual outlets on my unit are labeled "DVD", "Cable/Sat", "CD", and "DVR". The "DVR" outlet is the one labeled "HDTV" on the picture used on the box, which is why my plasma set is plugged into that outlet.

UPDATE (2/26/2011)

Last night, the HTS 3600 MK II just proved its worth. My wife called up to me to let me know that none of our components would turn on, and that the "Abnormal Voltage" light on the power center was blinking. Turns out that either the circuit breaker or the circuit itself has gone bad -- We flipped the breaker off and back on, with no effect. We also noticed that some of the other items plugged in on that circuit (baby monitor, cordless phone charger base) were no longer working. When we tried plugging something else into one of the outlets on that circuit, we heard the breaker itself start to make a loud buzzing sound.

So this power center probably just saved every piece of my home theater gear from getting fried. I'm calling our electrician to take a look at what's going on, and even if the power center got wrecked because of this, I'm still well within my 5-year warranty period and can get a replacement unit. THANK YOU Monster!!