Customer Reviews

Monster Cable PowerCenter HTS 2000 MKII

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My short review...

I'll start by saying I am NOT a Monster Cable fan. I think for the most part they sell overpriced cables and interconnects to unsuspecting consumers and laugh all the way to the bank.

However, in this case, I had just bought a new HD TV, and found that I could now see substantial interference on analog cable channels, as well as minor interference from any input.

After consulting several experts, I was told that I could have 1 of 3 things going on, and most likely a combination of at least 2 of them... 1.) Cable line ground-loop interference 2.) Power line ground-loop interference 3.) General RF interference.

Looking around at different power conditioners and cable-line isolators brought my to this Monster Cable product. I purchased it keeping in mind Amazon's excellent customer service on returns.

I was more than ready to be skeptical.

I hooked everything up, ran the cable line through it, and powered on. The difference in the video interference problem was pretty profound. I'd say there was a 95% improvement, and I can only see the interference now if I'm looking for it.

Supposedly this product was really designed to help my audio system (and the video cleaning was an addition), but I have not had time to give my setup an in-depth listen since installing the PowerCenter. To be fair, I've never had a complaint about my audio, as "crackles" and interferences occur very, very rarely.

But at least on the video end, this produce works as claimed, and has definitely improved the picture on my big-screen HD TV.

I can't get over it: my surround sound system sounds AMAZING! I had trouble getting the voices to come through and most of the highs were muffled (even after fooling around with the settings)... then I got the HTS 2000 MKII and I now have sounds coming out of the speakers that I never thought possible!! The sub no longer thumps, instead it creates the deep, rich bass without that annoying overdrive noise. The center channel came back from the dead and was so loud I had to actually turn it down! The rear channels are actually there now, and they too had to be turned down! AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING SOUND!!

The video improved, but I have always had good, clear picture, so it wasn't nearly as noticable as the audio clean up I experienced.

I got lucky and ended up placing this unit right where the cable and phone line comes into my house. I have the TV cable going directly into the PowerCenter and then it gets split off throughout the house. I was having daily problems with my cable internet modem before, but I have just noiticed that since I have run the cable through the PowerCenter I no longer find my modem recycling / resetting. Hmmm, wonder if this did the trick... Anyway, I didn't want anything going into my new HDTV that wasn't filtered first.

We get pretty bad thunderstorms in the Midwest, so I'll be running the phone line through it next, giving me total protection for my cable and phone lines.

The unit is made as though they expect us to run over it with a car. And the plug wire is as thick as my pinky finger! It's huge and will last you the lifetime of your system.

I HIGHLY recommend this unit to everyone that has a home theater. Even if you are just running a surround sound system and a regular TV, it's worth the money to hear your system perform as it was meant to.

The Monster Cable HTS 200 MKII is a very soild and well built surge protector. From the heavy industrial look of the product to the feel of the switches and plugs, everything is 1st class quality.
I am using mine with a Sharp 32" LCD TV and a Comcast HD cable box with AudioQuest AV cables. I route the TV signals through the unit and experienced no lost of channels as another reviewer had with the HTS 1000.
I especially like the LED voltage and ampage readouts feature. When I turned on the vacuum cleaner in the same room, I can see the voltage drop from 123 to 118 instantly and yet there is no degradation to the picture quality at all.
With all this said, I must honestly confess there is no big noticeable differences in term of picture quality with or without the unit. The grainy look of non-digital channels still give the same grainy look and the digital and HD channels remain the same level of good quality. I think the buyers of this unit or any other high end AV surge protectors should not have false expectation of dramatic viewing improvement but rather think of it as a good solid protection for your AV equipments.
Another reason to consider buying HTS 2000 through Amazon is the price. It is cheaper than what they charge for HTS 1000 at CircuitCity or BestBuy.

I had been looking for a surge protector/power line conditioner for some time. After upgrading some components, I suffered from some mid-frequency hum in the speakers that I know was related to my cable tv coax and many ac plugs into two weak powerstrips. Well, I can tell you that this item solved my problems. No hum, and the filters I really think make a difference in audio performance. If I had an unlimited budget, I'd buy a high-end power conditioner, but for less than $200, this can't be beat. If you have a decent stereo and/or home theater, you need to get one of these.

Update on 2-9-2008 - The switch has broken so now only the unswitched outlets work. I no longer recommend this unit.

This item is larger and heavier than I expected. It appears to be very well made, however the first one I received started making very loud buzzing noises with occasionally clicking after the first day. The replacement has not had those problems.

I have not seen a noticeable difference in how my home theater system works before and after switching to this surge protector. The benefits seen so far are:

(a) it does look nice (and as expensive as it actually is),

(b) it makes me feel that my equipment is protected (even though I cannot prove it),

(c) the labelled sockets makes it easy to identify which plug I want to pull, and

(d) its display of current being drawn is useful (e.g. it helped me discover that one piece of gear was wrongly on an unswitched outlet).

One thing to be wary of is Monster support. I sent an email to them when I encountered the problems with the first unit and have never received anything from them (other than their automatic confirmation of a support request).

I purchased this product for my new plasma and I'm very happy with it. First off this thing is big, when I opened the box I looked at it and wondered what did I just buy, this thing is not called "PowerCenter" for nothing. It's well built and it'll definitely last longer then any TV you'll own. After the initial shock of the size of the unit. I opened it up and plugged my TV, STB, HTIB, VCR, and all play DVD player in. It has many sockets for additional products and the sockets are nicely labeled too. Before I got the unit I did experience interference on a lot of my TV channels but when I routed it through the unit and it cleaned that all up. I'm very happy with the unit, I was going to return it because of the size but since the HTS1000 doesn't support HDTV I'm keeping it. If you want a well built, solid unit that protects your equipment for up to $250K and provides a better TV feed, then I recommend this product.

First time, when I bought it, it did sound like an expensive surge protector, but after using it for about 2 months, I think it was worth buying it and paying the money.

You need it if you have:
- HDTV & watch HD channels.
- Phone & internet/wireless router are in same room as TV Center.
- Lots of connection cables for your entertainment center.

Likes:
- Color coded power sockets and matching labels.
- Cable & phone connection goes through the power center to remove any degradation of signal due to interference.
- Noticeable improve in the HD quality. The effect on analog channels is very low and not observable.

Dislike:
- Size. It is big & bulky. you need to place strategically to hide it.
- Price. Not easy to spend so much on a power center. But other options from Monster are expensive and other brands lack reliability & reputation.


I don't know, whether it improves the sound quality of the sound system, since I haven't got one yet.

Be sure to check the dimensions of this item before you purchase. Make sure you have enough room for it.

To say I was skeptical would be an understatement, but I was having such bad video interference, I had to try something. I live in a large condominium building and was getting all sorts of lines and hits on my 42 inch plasma, especially at times when others in the building would typically be using their own home entertainment systems (weekday evenings, for example). It got so bad a certain times, that the hits would actually cause the screen to go momentarily black--it was like watching the news in strobe. I knew the interference was from elsewhere in the building because it wasn't nearly as bad at times when building usage was low (say, a weekday afternoon or a sunny Saturday). After installing the PowerCenter and testing the screen display for about a week (to see it at different times), I have to say that I am completely bowled over. The display has never looked so good and it is completely devoid of interference. Great, great product and worth every penny.

To be very honest I'm not that sure there's that much improvement in the overall "Clean Power" aspect. However it was clearly demonstrated when my wife was vacuuming & there was no interference in the video signal. That alone proved to me that there was a diference. However the reason I bought this product is because it is one of only two that I know of in this price range that can take a surge & reset. Of all the power surge protectors I've researched in this price range, this & the MK 1000, also by Monster, are the only two I've found that I know of that do not become useless after one jolt. I have not found any cheaper products that provide protection after a single event. That includes some of the more expensive shelf products from this company & Panamax unless your willing to spend $400 plus. Please correct me if I'm wrong.