Monster HTS2000 MkII Power Center My Latest Store Return!

[hershon]

I don't know if this is the normal "trial and error" process that one goes through to achieve greatness, LOL, but just want to share with you guys my latest "return to store" item, if it might save you some time and trouble in the future. If any of you have gotten the $250 Monster HTS2000 MKII Power Center (Cleaner/Surge Protector) and have gotten positive results feel free to contradict my results.

Anyway, I went into another high end stereo place today (There ought to be a Cable TV series about Stereo/home Theater Stuff, if there is, please tell me), and the salesman who was a nice guy and seemed to like the same music I do, suggested that I buy the Monster HTS2000MKII Power Center which is a huge power cleaner and surge protector which he said would make a difference in the sound quality of my unit as he has one in his home and it does. I told him I was skeptical but he said the magic words, I can return it to the store if I'm not satisfied for a full refund. I told him, I still suspect I would be returning this and I really didn't feel good doing this if that would be the case, but he said no problem, so I went ahead and bought it. As an aside, I probably could have saved I'm guessing $50 or so if I bought it new online.

Anyway, I brought it home and luckily, so you guys don't think this is all coming from my own prejudices/idiosyncracies/preconceptions, my 23 year old nephew gave me a ride and wanted to hear this as well, as he too was skeptical. He has totally different tastes in music then I do. I honestly thought I would not notice a difference and if there was a difference it would be a slight minor improvement, not worth the money. I played my favorite test tune "Norwegian Wood" first under my present set up (Monster Power Center HT 800 which I got for $48 but retails for $79) and then under the HTS2000 Power Center Set Up. I did this back to back for the same tune 3 times (6 playings altogether). The result was, and my nephew said the exact same thing, that under my old set up the lead vocal sounded like it was being sung & performed live in my room and had presense but under the new $250 HTS2000 set up the lead vocal sounded like it was being spoken into a mike in a recording studio with no presense! Thus for both of our ears, the new $250 Monster Power Center Set up which is suppose to clean sound, actually made the sound noticeably worse. Can somebody please explain why that is. Tommorow I return it to the store. This is getting to be a vicious cycle.

I should also mention, that this store also had this power plug cord as well that you use for your receiver, again for $250 that is suppose to improve sound as well. I held up on this. One interesting thing the store has is something that measures and lets you hear the actual electrical power noise generated by a receiver/amp etc. which the store manager claims affects sound. I was shocked when I heard one such receiver. Whether again this noise affects audio sound, maybe you guys know and can comment on, frankly I'm getting skeptical of the whole process.

[edtyct]

Against my better judgment, I'll rush in, briefly. I hope that you are having a blast in all of your adventures, though it doesn't seem so. There are people out there whose ability to detect nuances in recorded/reproduced music is so acute that they find themselves driven to buy the best components that they can to keep up with it. They have a definite sense of how various frequency ranges play out in audio, by voice and by instrument. They also tend to appreciate the soundstages that various components, and recordings, can create--not just speakers. Preamps and and power amps can have a huge influence on imaging. Bring in the variables of analog and digital, tube and solid state, etc., and the issues become more much complicated. In many cases, the biggest determinant of how a system will sound is the room where it is located. Sir T will you about that.

This skill in evaluating audio components and recordings goes hand in hand with a love of live music and the mysterious beauty of composed sound in general, as well as a broad familiarity with what audio can offer. This is a long, arduous and thoroughly enjoyable journey for many people. Ancillary equipment is not the stuff of which the baby steps in this process are made. The incremental advances in audio are hard-won, heuristc, affairs. Assuming that you have some idea of what to listen for at the outset, you often start blindly with a front end, a preamp/amp section, and speakers, and as time passes, if you're lucky and dedicated, your work will pay dividends sooner rather than later; you'll find that sometimes even components regarded as good individually don't sound all that good together. How can you even tell? You never stop learning how recordings are made and how audio equipment is best manufactured and configured to reproduce them. Not every audiophile will have the same values, and it's the rare piece of equipment that doesn't have to make compromises to achieve one goal at the expense of another.

Budgetary constraints enter into the picture for most of us, and some of the stops along the way will be longer than others. At this point, some people will take the opportunity to try new cables, power-line conditioners, and the like to improve certain deficiencies that they've noticed or just to experiment. However, it makes little sense to buy a $250 line conditioner/surge protector for a $250 receiver, $150 DVD player, etc., especially if you're motivated by nothing more than an abstract expection that it will make things sound "better." What does that mean? In many cases, an ancillary piece of equipment will make a system sound worse simply because it resolves deficiencies more accurately. There is much snake oil in audio, just as there is much off the beaten path that may legitimately affect the sound quality of your sytem's components within their context. This notion that there are things in stores that will automatically, and linearly, make the sound of your audio system better if you just buy and install them is deeply flawed. There is no shortcut to better sound, and there is no shortcut to building a strong perspective on what "better" might mean in the first place.

Ed

[hershon]

I'm in somewhat agreement with you. What ticks me off and this is probably more so from my inexperience with hifi stuff (though I consider myself to have great ears and for a few years produced in the studio a bunch of classic rock groups/musicians who's names you might recognize- I can't interpret things on a technical level, i.e., some people can tell from say a speakers & receiver's specs whether a receiver would be a good or bad match with the speakers- I can't), is alot of the sales people I've met so far from some high end places,
seem to be selling me on stuff, that to me is snake oil or even worse bad snake oil (it sounds worse than what I started with, as opposed to doing nothing but because I spent money on the product I psychologically think it makes the sound better). I can usually read people right, in these situations, based on my limited experiences buying high end product, I can't. I also have pretty accurately have described my set up/situation with these high end managers/sales people, so its not like they just misconstrued what I was looking for and hoping to achieve. As I implied earlier, when I'm in chain stores like Circuit City, Best Buy, Good Guys, etc., I essentally have preconceived distrust of the sales people to begin with. But when I'm at the high end places, if the sales staff describes their product with total confidence and seems personable, I'm doing the opposite and placing total faith in them. I've lost my gut instinct in that situation.



Against my better judgment, I'll rush in, briefly. I hope that you are having a blast in all of your adventures, though it doesn't seem so. There are people out there whose ability to detect nuances in recorded/reproduced music is so acute that they find themselves driven to buy the best components that they can to keep up with it. They have a definite sense of how various frequency ranges play out in audio, by voice and by instrument. They also tend to appreciate the soundstages that various components, and recordings, can create--not just speakers. Preamps and and power amps can have a huge influence on imaging. Bring in the variables of analog and digital, tube and solid state, etc., and the issues become more much complicated. In many cases, the biggest determinant of how a system will sound is the room where it is located. Sir T will you about that.

This skill in evaluating audio components and recordings goes hand in hand with a love of live music and the mysterious beauty of composed sound in general, as well as a broad familiarity with what audio can offer. This is a long, arduous and thoroughly enjoyable journey for many people. Ancillary equipment is not the stuff of which the baby steps in this process are made. The incremental advances in audio are hard-won, heuristc, affairs. Assuming that you have some idea of what to listen for at the outset, you often start blindly with a front end, a preamp/amp section, and speakers, and as time passes, if you're lucky and dedicated, your work will pay dividends sooner rather than later; you'll find that sometimes even components regarded as good individually don't sound all that good together. How can you even tell? You never stop learning how recordings are made and how audio equipment is best manufactured and configured to reproduce them. Not every audiophile will have the same values, and it's the rare piece of equipment that doesn't have to make compromises to achieve one goal at the expense of another.

Budgetary constraints enter into the picture for most of us, and some of the stops along the way will be longer than others. At this point, some people will take the opportunity to try new cables, power-line conditioners, and the like to improve certain deficiencies that they've noticed or just to experiment. However, it makes little sense to buy a $250 line conditioner/surge protector for a $250 receiver, $150 DVD player, etc., especially if you're motivated by nothing more than an abstract expection that it will make things sound "better." What does that mean? In many cases, an ancillary piece of equipment will make a system sound worse simply because it resolves deficiencies more accurately. There is much snake oil in audio, just as there is much off the beaten path that may legitimately affect the sound quality of your sytem's components within their context. This notion that there are things in stores that will automatically, and linearly, make the sound of your audio system better if you just buy and install them is deeply flawed. There is no shortcut to better sound, and there is no shortcut to building a strong perspective on what "better" might mean in the first place.

Ed