Just wanted to added a new point to the old line conditioner debate. I just got a Monster Power HTS3500 and I can firmly say that incrementaly it was a very good investment. My power situation before was shakey at best. When I moved into my apartment the power was ok, no hum or anything. Then we started to get these random outages and a hum from the speakers began to grow. It got to the point where the hum could be heard from outside the room, pretty bad, huh? After hookin up this good looking baby yesterday, I can say that the hum is just about gone and sound quality overall is well improved. My bass seems tighter and the highs clearer. Can I 100% say that this is totall objective? No. But I am pretty sure there is a noticable improvement well worth the $270.

My choice came down to The Monster HTS3500 and the Panamax 5100 which I am sure many of you all have pondered at some time or another. They both looked like great products with many happy people using them but for me it came down to the fact that the Monster had a trigger for both a 12 volt jack (which I dont have) and a 110v jack for the swithed plug on the back of my old receiver (which I know i will have for a while yet). Plus it comes with both kinds of trigger cables. I though this was a pretty good feature and ultimately tipped the scales for me.

The real point of my posting is to say that that for those of us who are looking to improve our systems but dont want to shell out the big bucks for a new receiver/pre-pro or higher end disc player etc. might want to look into a mid-priced line conditioner as that next incremental improvement. The advantages are increased peace of mind with all the protection you get (I can only imagine it will do a better job that the $5 Home Depot surge protector) and the sonic improvemnt you will hopelly hear.

IF you have unclean power, yes it would make a small difference, IF you don't then it is a total waste.

i can think of a few things to do with $270 that would improve my experience in home theater. it would buy a lot of beer and also some food to go with it. :-)

After doing some looking into this subject I purchased a Brick Wall PW2RAUD 20A. It has 20amp guts but plugs into a 15amp wall plug & has 15amp recepticles, made for high current audio equipment. It provides the best surge protection, and great power conditioning. The cost was about $100 cheaper, but it does lack switching, and only has 2 oulets. Therefore I use a cheap MOV based strip downstream of it for low current equipment, and only plug the multi amp directly to it. BW also offers a PW8RAUD 15A with switched outlets, but I wanted a higher current protector. I believe the Monster 3500 is limited to 1800 watts, and that may not be enough for some to power everything. Also isn't it MOV based for surge protection? I think monster makes some good stuff, but I was only looking at the best protection and most (conditioned) current, for the very least dollars. I'm no expert, but I can vouch for the BW making a noticable difference by providing good clean power.

I have several Brickwalls, one of them being the model you have, and swear by them. Well worth the $$

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Play it LoUd!!

There's an ad for some esoteric power conditioner in the current "The Absolute Sound" that sarcastically posits that only $299 for a conditioner in an expensive system doesn't make sense. I for one, as a true Outlaw am not interested in the price tag per se. I'm interested in the sound I hear and the video I see. My Brickwall made a substantial difference in providing a black, silent background from which pure sound emerges. I think it's a unique product.

Jay

I couldn't agree more. There are some reviews out there that pit the Brickwalls against some very pricey units, and they could either could not tell a difference, or the brickwall surpassed their 2,000.00 units.

I will recommend them to anyone without hesitation



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Play it LoUd!!