Monster Cable has a product called PowerCenter. What is it for?

Question

I'm planning to buy a new custom surround sound system for my house.

Monster Cable has a product at best buy called a PowerCenter and it claims to filter out "dirty power" and it will guarantee to protect my system.

Right now, I have a 1300 watt stereo system and it is fine. I plug it into a power strip that has surge protection.

Do I need this thing called the PowerCenter from Monster Cable?

If you recommend it, what does it really do??

Answer 1

Davis's answer was spot on (great definition David)  I have installed many many HT systems and agree that some protection is always good.  But David mentioned many companies to choose that are just as good as Monster but cheaper.  I like Tripplite products, they can be bought at Staples or OfficeMax.  Tripplite Isobars do the same thing that the Monster does, only difference, Monster costs 500.00, Tripplite cost 70.00

Answer 2

It is really a surge protector that has the ability to some how increase power which a lower power surge which means dirty power really it is just a overly expensive surge protector with a cable hook-up

Answer 3

Power conditioners help filter dirty power on the line to deliver a clean sine wave to your components. This has almost no effect on high end audio equipment for sound quality because the power supplies they have already do that. Cheaper equipment may benefit however.

If the power center has battery backup as well then it will correct large sags in voltage as well as brown outs and short blackouts. Often times when the power comes back on after a brown/black out there is a huge spike that accompanies it. A voltage regulator will protect against that.

Another benefit is its surge suppression capabilities. The components inside the PowerCenter will react faster than the cheap power strips on the market that only have MOV (Metal Oxide Varistor) protection.

Most of all though it just looks impressive and provides a central place to plug everything into. I have a similar item from a different manufacturer (Belkin) and I like it. It may also provide a trigger out connection so that when you power off your receiver some of the outlets will power off. Very handy if you have amps or you want to leave your sub on instead of having in auto mode (with auto mode there is sometimes a momentary lag before it kicks in and it may shut off if no LFE are sent for a while during a movie).

They also sometimes provide a front outlet so if you bring down a game system or camcorder you can plug it into the front rather than pulling stuff out from the wall.

One thing to consider though is that retailers make a killing off Monster stuff. There is a lot of markup on it. You should shop around for better prices and different manufacturers. Some other manufacturers are Panamax, Furman, Belkin and APC.

EDIT: As per Big Q's answer, only some (non battery ones) can increase the line voltage and only for very short periods of time (milliseconds), most do not.

Answer 4

you can get any old surge protection power strip that will do the same thing, just with monsters power center you will get $1,300 of equipment protection, that you want get with a regular surge protector.

Answer 5

It may filter the power some but will mostly do nothing that will benefit you.  Basically it is not worth the money like everything Monster sells.