Let's Talk About Power Conditioners

Monster Power is one of those love or hate brands amongst audiophiles. I happen to love them. I’d recommend getting your hands on an AVS-2000. It’s rather large and very heavy, because it’s essentially a variac. They don’t make them anymore and you can find plenty for sale on eBay. It’s a voltage stabilizer and your power center plugs into it. I have one in each of my systems and did notice a positive change when I got each one.

"I've been conditioned my brother, even my conditioning has been conditioned"

I have a Furman Elite 15PFI, bought right here on this forum. Used marked can be had under 4 hundie easily.

However, used ones have risk. Unless you trust the seller, which is implicit here on CP, you may be getting one with issues, or worse. So be cautious.

jflail2 wrote: »

nooshinjohn wrote: »

I would steer well clear of Monster anything.... Bad experience with one of their better conditioners and complete lack of support from them when it failed due to the backup battery being defective.

Well that doesn't sound good. What did you replace it with?

Right now, just a power strip, but I am looking at PS Audio...

I picked up a used Hydra8 from @DSkip and yes it did make a difference. I was using a older Monster power/surge strip. I however never plugged in my amps to the Monster but have on the Hydra8. Now if @erniejade would mail the paperwork that went with it I forgot to grab from him at Axpona I might know more about it.

I received an emi measuring device earlier today and I've been having fun measuring all my power conditioners and my circuits as well. My findings thus far...... my monster 3500 is getting listed on craigslist tomorrow and won't be going to anyone I know, PS audio noise harvesters do actually work to some extent. Belkin conditioners do surprisingly well and my new 83lb Furman 20I reference conditioner all but completely stops emi.
My advice for a conditioner for $400 would be to keep saving unless you get a smoking deal on an excellent quality used one.

Depends on your gear. Better gear deserves better conditioning.

Also depends on what you want to protect. A subwoofer or two, I would use this:

https://www.amazon.com/SurgeX-SA-20-Standalone-Surge-Eliminator/dp/B00ZPQQMZQ

Might use it for an amp if I were in an area prone to lightning strikes.

Currently using a Panamax m4300, because I never had one in my system before, and didn’t know if there would be a benefit. Cleaned up noise that I didn’t know was there. There were a few times that it went into protection mode before the clocks even had time to start flashing. Live close to the end of service on this particular transmission grid, so it works.

When I bought it, I only had about 1500 worth of gear, counting TV, plugged into it. Have considerably more expensive gear now, and the Panamax is 7 years old, so probably time to research and upgrade in the near future.

Shunyata. No contest.

BlueFox wrote: »

Shunyata. No contest.

Always loved the Denali's! A tad bit over budget, however!

So I won’t flame anything, I’ll just give my experience with the last few.

I started a home theater build out about 14 years ago and picked up a Monster HTS2600 MKii (that consequently went to someone on here in a Karma). When I purchased it (for full retail) it was the best for the $$ known to my dealer (Hifibuys) at that time. It served me well for multiple reasons- it could handle all the components I had, had surge protection for said components and lastly (supposedly) it filtered the sound and video. Placebo (maybe that’s harsh but keep reading ) is powerful.
I had this piece in my main system for the last 13 years. It served that time well. When I joined this forum a while back, I started getting interested back into the upgrades to make the music sound better. Started with some LSiM705’s and then some Linn amps. Was starting a journey I have been on solidly for the last 18+ months. I then started reading about the new Audioquest power pieces. The more I read and the more I spoke to folks who had them or sold them, the more I felt I had to try it.
I purchased a Niagara 1000 along with a Thunder 1m power cable to connect it. I am not kidding that when I tell you it was a bigger upgrade than the Linn amps as far as what it did to the sound. I really was blown away. I could unplug all and run to the wall with a power strip and the difference was night and day. All of the positive effects we talk about on this forum were elevated and accentuated. I was sold.
Recently I was given an opportunity to bypass my next upgrade (which was going to be the 1200 so I could get two hi current outlets for the mono’s) and go straight to the 5000. It was hard for me to pass this deal up although I had never spent $4700 on any single piece (cable and unit) ever. The Hurricane power cable at 2m was the cable.
This time the effects that changed were as follows. More resolution on my music overall. The imaging was given more personalization. Meaning the recordings if they were good, they sounded glorious but if they were bad, it was evident. It has shown me that although I love Tidal, the streaming 44.1 falls very shy of vinyl and SACD. Before the 5000, they were slightly more equal. The biggest change I had was an effect I have not ever had in any system before. Front to back imaging. Meaning decay would now move away from me in some songs. What??! So cool.
So all in all I think I have my endgame power conditioner as I have seen folks with $100k systems with this same unit.
The last test is going to be when I finally plug in the SVS to this unit (which I have purposely waited to do). The Niagara has up to 90amps ready inside for transients and with that 1500rms amp on the sub, it can pull some current. I just need to decide which power cable to purchase to connect it.
One last thing. Before the 5000, I had my Marantz (I have a 5.1 with HT bypass to shut off and listen to 2ch) plugged into the wall. Now when we watch movies, surround has more depth and power too. It’s like I’m running audyssey but I’m not.

Thanks for the well written review Joe and it sounds like you've got a great unit and you're hooked on quality power conditioning to. I can also echo your sentiments about spending that much on power conditioning as I was apprehensive in my situation as well to say the least.
I see you like your Linn mono's running through it. I'm wondering how much current they draw? Reason I ask is twice I've tried running my Mac mono's though my 80amp reserve current Furman and I found I prefer them on their own 20 amp circuits from the wall both times. Perhaps the 3rd time will be a charm? I'm also thinking I'm somewhat prejudiced in thinking the pc may inhibit dynamics even though that's more than likely not the case with so much reserve current.

That’s right scuba! Forgot it was you
Yes the surges for our connected equipment is probably paramount to this whole conversation. Lord knows I don’t want to have an insurance claim for my rig. They would hang up on me.

Congrats Bro!!!

What considerations prompted you to choose the AQ Monsoon over Amazon Basics?