Customer Reviews

Monster Cable MP HTS 1000 PowerCenter with Clean Power Stage 2 (v.2.0)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This unit did not work at all with my Direct TV receiver. I have a new Direct TV HD-Tivo DVR-250. It's an all in one unit. After hooking it up correctly, I could not receive any satellite signal. Removed this surge protector and everything went back to normal. I don't think it supports everything. Better check before you buy.

This powerstrip is good, but recently it caused two of my HD channels to drop out when the cable was connected through it. If you read the instructions, it tells you that all connections to your equipment must go through the PowerCenter in order to be covered by their warranty. When the channels stopped working, I called the cable company and they came out to see what the problem was. The cable guy right away said its probably the powerstrip because he has seen this many times before. I doubted him because it was working fine. Turned out he was right. He put the cable directly into the cable box instead of going through the powerstrip, and the channels came back. The connections were tight, and all the rest of the channels were fine, so that wasn't the problem.

Beyond that issue, the powerstrip works fine.

The product was certainly well made and heavy. However, it does not work with my Dish High Def Satellite service. When hooked up to the Dish per the instructions, the television signal will not come through the unit. When disconnected and plugged in the old way, the Dish signal comes through. I found this unsatisfactory because this is the newest version of this unit, the HTS1000 Mk II. I have read that older units will not work with Direct or Dish service; this was the newest unit and was supposed to have the bugs out of it. I spoke with two audio/video professionals about this problem and they agreed; the units do not permit the Dish Hi Def signal to pass through the unit. Case closed.

5 stars. I'm now a believer. Skeptic, until I heard the difference with my own ears. I have a very nice 2-channel stereo system. PhaseTech speakers, Rotel 130W amp, B&K digital preamp, Pioneer SACD/DVD. I thought I needed a sub, but with this power strip added into my system I don't need a sub. Befor I could barly tell if my speakers were in or out of phase. Now it's obvious that I'm in phase throughout the spectrum. The imaging improved, the bass response is much lower and smoother. No boom, just so much better all the way around. Best bang for my buck yet! I have 3 rooms with gear so I bought 3 HTS PowerCenters; 1000, 1000MKII, and 2000. I noticed the huge improvement with all of them, but if I had too choose one I'd go with the MKII. I wonder if the other more expensive models could be that much better. If you doubt these things are for real, trust me - they made a great improvement to my $3500 stereo system.

I reviewed all surge protectors from monster, belkin, and other "big" names for the past few months. I decided on this one since I just bought a 46" Samsung LCD and wanted to maximize the clarity of the Comcast Digital Cable. It does absolutely nothing to clear up the picture for the digital and HD signals. I reviewed all the major cites on these things and thought that I made the right purchase at the time. Save your money and buy a cheaper model that will do the exact same thing!!!

First, I can't comment on the HDTV and Satellite issues mentioned by other reviewers so I would check that out before buying. But with that being said this was a great purchase for me. And I highly recommend it.

I have been looking at fuzzy text and faint, slow moving horizontal ghosts on my Sony Trinitron TV for a while now. My Xbox connection is composite, my DVD is S-Video, my Cox cable is...well cable. For the most part I figured the poor visuals were due to the TV being low quality and the connection method. But now I know better! Let me give a brief example...

A few months ago I borrowed the S-video connector for the Xbox so I could see what the quality would look like. Of course the S-video on the Xbox rendered an image that was at least 50% better quality than the composite. That is what I would expect. I gave it back and resolved to get one later.

Last week I got the HTS-1000 and hooked up all my equipment. When I fired up the Xbox (hooked up via composite) the picture quality was about the same as it was when I hooked up the S-video. Even my wife, who thinks I am what too critical about such things, noticed the difference. She told me that she didn't expect to see a difference. She doesn't notice subtle quality in audio and video, but was surprised that she saw such a marked difference.

The cable TV is clearer, the DVD has more vivid colors...some of the improvement is hard to describe other than just saying the picture is soooo much better.

I will say this though, my home is small. The kitchen, with its high power drawing appliances, is close to the living room. All these appliances contribute to the dirty power. You could see less improvement if your home is laid out differently or have newer appliances.

I didn't give it 5 stars because it is bulky. It has plenty of room for power bricks, but it has a high profile. The strip that Monster sells that has a slim profile doesn't have room for bricks. Also, the schema for what devices are switched and what aren't doesn't make sense to me, but it is nice to have 4 outlets that are constant power.

Summary: If you have lines, ghosts, poor color, whatever...try this out it could make a world of difference.

I bought this when when my wife bought me a 46" Sony LCD. All of my stero components were plugged into ancient multi plug outlets etc. Let me tell you - this thing breathed new life into my stereo. Surround sound is cleaner, bass is heavier - just better in general. I'm sure it improves the picture as well - although I don't have a reference point. It's worth it just to have my stereo back. You WILL notice a difference. I was blown away

I bought a new 61" 1080p TV and wanted something decent to protect it. I have a full Dolby 5.1 home theater setup. When I hooked up everything, the first thing I noticed was the diference in sound. With all the settings equal and the only change being the Monster HTS 1000 MKII, it was immediately apparent that the subwoofer was much more substantial and the surround speakers had more impact. Since I was sceptical about the whole thing, I had to attribute the improvement to the HTS 1000. I have not hooked up HD to it yet, so I can't confirm or deny the issues others are having with the video connection. Also, since the TV is new, there is no before and after comparison. However, I can say this much, even a TV this size, without an HD feed, has an excellent picture while plugged in to the Monster HTS 1000.

I purchased the Monster Cable MP HTS 1000 without reading the reviews,(which I don't usually do) for the simple reason of where I purchased my hdtv, Samsung HLS-5687w they were trying to sell me but for a $150, which was too much. I plugged in my equipment to the monster and at first there was no picture only sound. I have directv and they have a connection which allows you to receive digital and analog signals through the same cable. That connection needs to be placed after the monster in the connection loop. After switching around the cables I had a picture again. I can't really see an improvement in the picture quality (HD is beautiful) I bought the monster basically for the protection.

I just got a Panasonic Plasma ED TV and was concerned to get a good surge protector that might also enhance the picture quality. Before getting the Monster HTS 1000 I noticed some annoying picture glitches occasionally cropping up (I get a directv standard digital signal): a kind of vague line that, especially when background colors were pretty homogenous, you could follow moving up the screen; the kind of thing you could easily overlook but once you notice it, you can't help seeing it and it drives you crazy. Since running everything going into the tv through the Monster 1000, it's completely disappeared. So, this thing really does seem to deliver on what it promises: a cleaner picture.