Product Description

8 AC Outlets / 1 Pair Coaxial / 1 Pair Phone Jack / Surge Protection

Product Details

• Brand: Monster
• Model: MP HTS 800 HP
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 16.00" h x 4.00" w x 10.00" l, 3.60 pounds

Features

• Monster Clean Power Stage 1 v2.0 filter to provide noise-free power to your sensitive electronic components.
• 8 ft. Monster AC power cable with FlatProfile right angle plug provides flexibility for installations.
• Color-coded, labeled outlets and matching cord labels for easy hookup.
• Eight outlets total, including three spaced for use with AC adapter transformers.
• Audible and visual indicators for damage, protection, and ground status monitoring.

Amazon.com Product Description
The fact is, analog audio equipment is sensitive to a different type of noise than video, just as video is sensitive to a different type of noise than digital, and so on. In the past, manufacturers have used filters to combat the problem of noise introduced via power sources. Unfortunately, the filters were not optimized to attenuate at the different frequencies that are unique to digital, analog audio, and video realms. Products that managed to deliver truly cleaner AC power were thousands of dollars in price, out of reach for most people. Enter Head Monster Noel Lee. An uncompromising audiophile, Lee joined forces with Richard Marsh, the world’s foremost expert on AC power, to develop affordable solutions to AC power problems. The result? Monster Clean Power.

Internal view showing the various filters and advanced circuitry. Pictured is the HTS5100.

Rear view showing the component-assigned outlets. Pictured is the HTS5100.

More Than Just Surge! -Monster Clean Power
The following overviews of Monster’s isolated, specially tuned Clean Power filters demonstrate the methodology behind Clean Power’s development. The higher the Clean Power stage, the more advanced the noise filtration. The more advanced the noise filtration, the higher the level of component-to-component isolation.

Reference Home Theater Power
Monster PowerCenters also offer the most comprehensive home theater system protection available, featuring higher joule ratings for faster acting, full capacity surge protection. Monster’s Multiple SurgeGuard and Tri-Mode Circuitry instantly detects any voltage surge or spike and immediately suppresses it before it can reach your components. And, for your total peace of mind, the latest generation of Monster Home Theatre Reference PowerCenters come with higher Connected Equipment Guarantees (CEGs).

Unlike other surge protectors, the PowerCenters’ ultra low-loss RF circuitry provides maximum protection with virtually no signal loss, especially important with the advent of HDTV. In addition, all PowerCenters display current draw and voltage.

Monster recognizes that convenience is vital, too. The PowerCenters feature component-assigned color coding with matching power cord labels for easy identification, and all are rack mountable, for easy integration into custom installed rack mount systems.

Get All The Performance You Paid For
With Monster Power’s Home Theatre Reference PowerCenters, you’ll get the best possible audio and video performance from your home theater system.

From the Manufacturer
Monster's SurgeGuard protects components from harmful surges and spikes. Harmful power surges and voltage spikes can travel up the AC power line and damage connected equipment. Lightning, automatic garage doors, power tools, refrigerators and fluorescent lights all cause power surges and voltage spikes that affect phone lines and coax cables. Monster's Surge-Guard detects harmful power surges and voltage spikes before they reach components. This HTS800 features special surge protection for coax cables used for satellite and cable TV connections. Other surge protectors Coax surge protection can result in as much as 20 to 30 dB of signal loss, which ultimately affects the output performance of coax connections. Monster's ultra-low loss RF circuitry provides virtually no signal loss to maintain peak performance. Best of all, an audible surge alarm and visual surge indicator warn you of harmful surges and let you know you're getting the most advanced protection available. "Polluted" AC power can degrade the performance you expect from your home theatre components. Unless you live directly behind Hoover Dam, your AC power is most likely "polluted" by appliances sharing the same power line with your home theatre components. Electrical power tools, refrigerators, air conditioners, radio transmitters, cellular phones, microwave ovens - even your neighbor's freezer - all can generate electromagnetic interference and radio frequency noise which pollutes the AC power and degrades both audio and video performance. Plus, even your home theatre components can generate noise interference, adding more "pollution" to your AC power. As a result, you'll hear a loss of dynamic range and resolution with a compressed soundstage and imprecise imaging. You'll see a lack of sharpness and color detail lessening the home theatre experience. And you'll never know how much of the essential drama is gone in the high performance picture and sound your system was originally designed to deliver. Monster's Clean Power Circuitry filters out power pollution for more natural sound and better TV picture. Designed by world renown AC power expert Richard Marsh, Monster's Clean Power Circuitry uses special filters to dramatically reduce electronic noise on your AC power line to give you the best possible sound and picture from your components. You'll see a more vivid picture and hear more natural sound with increased dynamic range and less noise - especially if your AC power is severely polluted. You'll get back the performance you never knew you lost. Monster PowerCenters make life easier. Monster's FlatProfile plug lets you push your furniture flush against the wall. And, with color-coded outlets and cord labels, you can avoid unplugging your VCR by mistake, causing it to blink "12:00." Finally, a generous eight-foot Monster power cord, which is the optimum length to reach most electrical outlets, is included. Maximize your system's protection. Now you can get protection from harmful surges, voltage spikes and inconvenience! Monster's PowerCenters offer high performance solutions for today's technology challenges.

Customer Reviews

I noticed an immediate difference, and it adds peace of mind.
The house I live in was built in 1939; they didn't have TVs back in 1939; the outlets aren't even three prong grounded except for one the landlord had to have put in with a higher capacity circuit to accomodate that new fangled gadget--the air conditioner.

So when I picked up my new Sharp Aquos, 1080p, 42" television I was very susceptible to the pitch that I should buy only the most expensive surge protector / line noise reducer possible, the more expensive the better--but I'm not a sucker so I didn't buy it right there and then.

Next store, Best Buy, the salesperson recommends the HTS800 as the minimum, and he recommends more expensive ones but not with as much zeal. The difference is that the Best Buy salesperson doesn't work for commission. The logic is of course that if you're going to spend $1500 for a TV, you might as well spend another $100 or so to protect it from electrical surges and clean up the picture static caused by line noise in both our ancient power supply and by our cable provider.

I find this on Amazon for no less than a 40 percent discount over what I can find it for anywhere else, and order it, but before I open the package I go to the Monster website to make absolutely sure this one is adaquate--and it is. The difference between this and higher end ones is the capacity and the ability for the unit to not only shut off and sound an alarm when there's a surge, but also turn everything back on safely.

This one will turn off everything that's hooked into it and sound an alarm, besides cleaning up the line noise, but that's as far as the description goes.

OK, so I open the package and hook it up. WOW. Absolutely huge difference in the picture on the set. I don't think a more expensive one would make a great difference or that it would be worth it for me--on my level of home entertainment--to pay more for a 'better' one.

And then, one day soon after, I hear an alarm warning me about a dangerous surge, but it doesn't shut down the system. Perhaps just to assure me, another day it does shut down the cable box only AND then came back on.

But the real prize is the picture. There is a huge difference between the quality of the picture on my HD television with this filtering the power and cable lines. I'm thinking of buying another one for my old TV--a Sony Trinitron--because I'm sure it must make a difference there as well.

BOTTOM LINE: If you live in a fairly new building, your electrical system is probably not as much of a hazard as mine, but might be just as noisy. And surges are always a big risk, even if you have all new appliances. For what you spend on items like televisions, stereos, and game systems, it's worth paying a bit more to protect them from the kind of damage that insurance wont cover--wear and tear--as well as allow them to perform as intended--better than they do while on display at your local electronics store in fact.

This item will not only protect your sensitive electronics, but make them better as well. Clearer images, clearer sound, and it's just plain smart design.

Now that I have this one, I definitely would pay for the next level up from this model but I'm also confident that this is all I need. A higher level one has more features, but for my home entertainment purposes I doubt it would really add anything. If one day I really go all out in terms of buying a full home theatre system, I'll spend a couple of hundred dollars on the best one, but this one was made for people like me now who don't have such high end needs but want better-than-expected performance.

Easy to install
The PowerCenter was easy to set up. Basically just plug in. Really did not notice in any change in picture quality after attaching the cable. The cable connections are in a slightly awkward spot, would recommend attaching them first, then plugging everything else in. Everything came on time.

You pay for a lot of features that you do not need
I bought this surge protector at a reduced price, which I thought was a good deal but actually wasn't in hindsight. After much evaluation, I feel that this product is worth at most $30.

Features that I found useful:
- The specification says it can withstand a power surge up to 1850 joules, which should be adequate for a thunderstorm.
- Spacing of the outlets is reasonable.
- The 8-foot power chord is long enough and is wrapped by plastic of good quality.
- It has phone line protection. It is a plus for me because my phone happens to be placed right next to my TV.
- It has power indicator light and grounding status light.

Features that I found useless:
- The colorful labels are not helpful because, if you really care, you should tag the cables instead of the outlets. Also, how often are you going to look at the colors once the whole thing is shuffled beneath the furniture?
- The so-called $27 bonus value is exaggerated. The coaxial cable is hardly needed, especially if you have cable TV. The phone cable can be bought for under $2.
- The audible alarm adds no value because, if you use the electronics, any power outage will be noticed immediately.
- The 24K gold plugs do not seem to perform better than regular plugs.
- The CleanPower Stage I functionality reduced the ghost shadows of my cable TV by only a little bit (like, two shadows instead of three). This product probably doesn't help much in new buildings where power supplies are already quite clean. After all, many factors may contribute to ghost shadows. Dirty power is only one of the many possible causes. (However, it does appear to stablize the power enough to allow my TV to turn on during a brown-out, which could not be done before. I don't know if it was only a coincidence.)
- I didn't have any hope for the $150,000 warranty offered by Monster Cable to begin with, because I think it will work just like all other too-good-to-be-true warranties on the market. Read other reviewers' comments to see for yourself whether you can count on it.

I probably could have bought what I really needed for about $15 if I bothered to spend many more hours to hunt for bargains. I feel that I paid mostly for convenience, vanity, and perhaps some false sense of assurance. This product can be a decent surge protector, but is definitely overpriced.