Do I REALLY need a $350 Monster "surge protection" powerbar? (1 Viewer)

[Rolando]

I know this may come as a shock but while I was negotiating a price for my RPTV, the salesman insisted I needed to get this $350 Monster "surge protection" powerbar.

Funny thing was he was also selling me on an extended warranty. Guess what one of the covered contingencies was... Power surges

Seriously though, I have about a $40 "power bar" with surge protection but he told me it was not enough.

What do you guys say?

 

[matt-f]

For high-end HT equipment I definately will consider oned. The monsters have AC line filters which deliver clean power to the equipment.


You can look here for their line of power centers.
You can also at other power products which they have as well.

A few HT people have recommend me to get the Home Theatre Reference PowerCenter™ HTS 3600 with Clean Power™ Stage 3 v2.0. I haven't gotten one yet but I will in the future but it's a pretty good idea if you want very good protection to your equipment since a surge bar is pretty limited.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Rolando, you do need a good surge protected power center, but $350 is ridiculous. He definitely works on commision. There are many brands out there with noise filters and great warranties.

 

[LaMarcus]

I've never bought one, and for the 4+ years I've had a HT I've never saw the need to get one. Other than a power surge (unlikely), what else will one of these things do that will justify the purchase?

 

[Shane Martin]

There is an interesting post at another forum regarding an individual whom purchased a Monster power bar along with her gear at a local electronics store. When a lightning strike blew up all of her stuff, Monster sent her a check for $700+ along with another power bar(the $100-$200 variety).

To me they are worth it. Panamax is good too. I wouldn't buy one for surge protection alone though.

 

[Mike LS]

You need some kind of protection over a $10 powerstrip/surge protector for your gear, but $350 is ridiculous. Monster products, for the most part, are highly overpriced.

I would 2nd the vote for Panamax. You can get great surge protection for less than $100 and get a ridiculous connected equipment guarantee (usually over a million dollars) so if anything gets fried while connected to it, they'll replace it.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Moved to Accessories

 

[Mike Boniferro]

I would suggest that you find a store with a good return policy. Try one of these 'clean power' units in your system and decide for yourself whether it makes a difference. it seems that in some houses they do (apparent differences to sound, and in some instances I have seen differences to video quality - specifically blacks), and in some houses they don't. In my room I've got flourescent lighting (which is almost always turned off while watching a movie, but sometimes on while I'm watching TV) which caused some lines in the screen, and also a bar fridge that whenever it turns on I would get a burst of lines through the screen.
I picked up one of their 1100 power bars and everything is fixed now (also, I like being able to mount it on the wall and keep everything clean). I have also seen some people try them and not notice any difference.

If you don't notice a difference, just get a basic power bar from panamax or monster. I have heard very good things about Monsters C.E.G. since they back it themselves, and don't use 3rd party insurers as do most surge protection companies.

 

[matt-f]

I partially agree with Monster products being high. However if it's that monster that I was looking for it's about 700 CDN right off.

Luckily I can get special pricing so I only need to pay 40% of the MSRP for Monster products.

 

[elMalloc]

then will u buy me one at ur special rate and charge me only $1-5 for shipping it to Ohio? Thanks!!! :star:

 

[matt-f]

Yup but then I'll be abusing that policy and it's a big no no!!