So, I purchased the Monster HST2000, and have mixed feelings. For certain items, such as my cd and dvd players,the background noise floor seemed to drop, which by itself gives the illusion of heightened detail and better soundstage (but I do feel that it is an illusion brought about by the blacker background). My amp, however, still benefited from going straight into the wall, as the unit simply didn't draw enough current to keep up, especially since I have the 1200 watt Sunfire Subwoofer also hooked up to it.

I found a bit of 'hazing' going on with certain highly detailed HDCD recordings, and was concerned. However, I have only had the unit with high draws going into it for about 60 hours, so I will give it another 50 hours or so of break in time before I start unplugging components from it to find the problem (my guess is the pre-amp).

For anyone looking to get a good surge suppressor/entry level filter, this is a nice purchase. If your stereo costs more than 10k, I would go with the Richard Gray power unit instead.


Very sweet audiophile power conditioning on a budget   October 25, 2000
EARACHE DARNBIG (Seattle Washington)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

If you are serious about sound quality, one of the shocks that A/B listening tests will reveal is that the purity your A.C. power possesses makes such an enormous difference.All A.C. cables sound different,especially the one used to connect the current hungry power amp in a stereo or home theatre system.Many audiopheliacs have settled on plugging things directly into the wall because many passive A.C. filters do more damage to the sound than they fix. I still do this with my final playback amplifier in any situation.However after many hours of listening to commercial units at all price ranges, I'm quite pleased with using my MONSTER CABLE HTS-2000 for the other components in my system.Its an immediatly noticable differents to any video monitor which was what it was designed for by the former hotshot A.C. power expert from MIT Z-systems. And for audio at its price point I doubt anything else comes close.The bottom end is just slightly soft when compared to no conditioning at all, but the amount of apparent bass is increased, the top end is smooth with digital sources, and the sound stage is enhanced by a very black background. Try using one step less filtering than is recomended for each catagory of device.If your system is small or used at a moderate volume, try plugging a lamp or other A.C. load to reach the recommended current draw.It Has a very long break in period; wait at least a month to listen critically(a freezer is a good burn in load).Monster Cables cables have never floated my boat, but this is worth a serious audition.