great build quality, cool blue meter, works well with non high current equipment.

current limiting for amplifiers.

I was interested in the psaudio300 but was able to pick up the hts5000mkii for an incredible price. i have a nice 2 channel system, and so far the differences are very little at best. one thing i would not do with this line conditioner is plug your amp in to it. the current limitations provided by the heavy filteration will suck the dynamic range right out. source compents so far do not seem to be affected. i use the hts 5000mkii for my preamp, dac, and cd. the detail is slightly better and the over all presentation in the highs frequencies are crisper. i am still interested in the psaudio 300. my system revel studio loudspeakers krell kav 250a amp krell krc-3 preamp sony scd1 cd musical feldelity a3 24 dac monster avs2000 monster hts 5000mkii harmonictech proway silway interconects harmonictech pro plus 9 bi-wire cardas golden reference interconects kimber illumiations a60 digital cable

Better sound out of my existing stereo.

None (except cost).

I actually bought the new 2002 model (5100), but there was no place to enter a review for that model. I thought these line conditioners were a lot of hype, but I got a great price on it so I tried it, not expecting to hear any difference. Boy, was I surprised. I switched back and forth a few times, plugging my integrated amp and CD player into the MonterPower unit and then into a cheap surge protector. There was no question that the sound was significantly better with the MonsterPower unit. Listening to a remastered Billy Joel CD, there was much more punch with the MonsterPower unit, with a crisper cymbals and a deeper bass. I'll definitely keep it.

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Cheap surge protector.

Lower noise floor, clearer highs, individual instruments more in focus, wider soundstage

Highs are slightly exaggerated in mixes where I am not convinced they should

One point of clarification - I have the Mark II version of the 5000 with the analog meter, so have not yet experienced the buzzing others are familiar with. I find it interesting that there was such a difference of experience with this piece of equipment. I can state confidently that my own experience has been positive. The unit was one Good Guys was trying to get rid of, so I splurged. I had been looking at it for a while. I conducted several A/B tests with my regular $30 Monster power strip. I really did hear a significant difference. All the things that higher end line conditioners are supposed to happened for me. The only comment I would make is that on the SACD version of Billy Joel's 52nd Street, the highs were ever-so-slightly harsher than without the 5000 in the system. It is a difficult recording to begin with, even in SACD mode, but found that it was the only disc that was more fatiguing after I put the 5000 in the system. I'll check back later. Kenster Creek 5350SE Integrated AMP Kestrel Meadowlark Speakers Tara Labs PRISM speaker cable Van Den Hul CS122 Hybrid interconnects Sony DVP900 DVD/SACD player Rotel 991 Audiophile Edition CD player

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Your run-of-the-mill power strip

Lower noise floor, clearer highs, individual instruments more in focus, wider soundstage

Highs are slightly exaggerated in mixes where I am not convinced they should

One point of clarification - I have the Mark II version of the 5000 with the analog meter, so have not yet experienced the buzzing others are familiar with. I find it interesting that there was such a difference of experience with this piece of equipment. I can state confidently that my own experience has been positive. The unit was one Good Guys was trying to get rid of, so I splurged. I had been looking at it for a while. I conducted several A/B tests with my regular $30 Monster power strip. I really did hear a significant difference. All the things that higher end line conditioners are supposed to happened for me. The only comment I would make is that on the SACD version of Billy Joel's 52nd Street, the highs were ever-so-slightly harsher than without the 5000 in the system. It is a difficult recording to begin with, even in SACD mode, but found that it was the only disc that was more fatiguing after I put the 5000 in the system. I'll check back later. Kenster Creek 5350SE Integrated AMP Kestrel Meadowlark Speakers Tara Labs PRISM speaker cable Van Den Hul CS122 Hybrid interconnects Sony DVP900 DVD/SACD player Rotel 991 Audiophile Edition CD player

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Your run-of-the-mill power strip

Build Quality, Features, Cool Meter.

Current Attenuator....................

I recently plugged my tube amp to this line conditioner and found out that this conditioner does affect the current that is going to your system for the worst. Before I used this conditioner with my amp I biased the tubes with the amp plugged directly to the wall outlet. I biased the tubes at 35ua. Then I plugged the amp to the line conditioner and the sound was not what I was used to hearing that is it was subdued. So I left the amp plugged to the conditioner. Pulled out my bias meter to check the current to the tubes and found out that the reading had dropped down to 30ua. I wanted to like this line conditioner but it does me no justice to have it drain the current from my amp. I thought "Line Conditioner" means just that. Maybe they should call this unit a "Current Attenuator."

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Panamax...........

Smooth sounds. Does not suck the life out of my Bryston 14B ST power amp like some of you have experienced. I connect the unit to my Bryston amp and all my Definitive Technology bp3000tl speakers setup (4000 watts in total), and the unit can handled them fine. The most recent version of the Monster 5000 fixed the buzzing problem.

The lights in the metre is useless; remote operation could be better. Too many digital inputs and only 2 anolog inputs. Quality problem is an issue, so take advantage of their exchange policy.

Overall, I'm very satisfy with this purchase. The electricity/power lines where I live apparently is contaminated with impurities. This unit really does a good job cleaning them out. My Sony cdp XA-7ES were practically unlistenable before having this unit given the huge power supply that comes within the cd player. The problem was that the huge power supply also sucks out some of the impurities that embedded in the powerline, these impurities made their ways into my amp and onto the speakers. As a result, the high frequencies were noticeably harsh. I got really irritated listening to my cds and thought there were something wrong with the recordings. After having the Monster HTS5000, the high frequencies smooth out considerably, the cd almost sounded like an LP. I can crank up the volume and will not hear any harshness. By the way, this unit used to have some buzz. The good news is that after many complains from users all over the world, Monster had put in a newer version of the v.2.0 filter circuitry last month (its still call the Monster HTS5000). This revised monster 5000 is absolutely dead silence (even with the metre lights on). This newer version is also better than the units that came out of the production line earlier in the year. However, I notice that the video filter is slightly less clear when compared to the previous units. Monsters has a 6 months exchange policy, so I suggest that some of you might want to exchange your for this newer power unit.

I hope it''s a good power surge protector. It will work well with TV.

I would prefer to have components connected directly to the wall insted of running them through this power conditioner.

I borrowed HTS-3500 from friend of mine for quite a while. My system consists of Energy veritas v2.8 speakers Adcom components such as: 5500 power amp, 450 pre-amp, 700 cd player and 515 power conditioner, monster cable m2.4 speaker wire and z200 interconnect cables. I''ve lot''s of things about how bad the sound can be if you use power conditioner with your power amp. In my system every component is connected through the adcom''s ac enhancer which improves overall perdormance. Much bigger soundstage, I can easily define the location of the music instruments and their groups. Crisper highs, more details, some boost in volume. There is a small boost of upper midrange as well though which some may won''t like(simple solution to a problem connect source, or power amp directly to the wall outlet). When I connected my power amp in outlets of the hts-3500 I notice a huge change, low frequencies dissapered and soundstage wasn''t defined anymore(no 3d effect). I lost the bass. I thought it''s not powerful enough to supply sufficient amount of current to my power amp(max power consumptrion is 1440W). Then I connected it back to my power amp and tried to connect cd player through it and I lost the bass again! I''ve got seriously dissapointed by this unit. Know I know why my boddies system is missing the bass response nevertheless his components have a huge potential.

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adcom ece-515

See above.

See above.

A very well-built unit with a nice power cable. Convenient with good flexibility. I hoped I would see/hear an improvement but in my system, the difference is practically undetectable. I live in NY City and assumed that, like everything else, the power supply would be dirty. Apparently not dirty enough to justify what I spent on this thing. It may be going up for auction. In any case, I highly recommend a try before you buy.

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None

great video and great sound.

not really a weakness, but i would like to be able to have the on sequence delay translate to the same delay for off sequence

I wanted to use the Panamax unit onmy Subwoofer and TV which are in a different location.... and get a new and better unit for my main components... SONY V444ES amp, SONY DVP S7700 DVD Player, JVC CD player and JVC VCR. At first i thought i was going to suffer from buyers remorse, because the sound was obviously affected compared to the DBS 500 from Panamax..... I could have sworn that i lost some punchie-ness to the lows and definition all around. my surrond 5.1 levels which i had just calibrated with a digital sound meter were actually now very different. Surprisingly, the new levels are very close to the default levels from the AMP. I let the unit burn-in for a few days.
I was still not convinced until i ploped-in the new T2 release on DVD and played in back on DTS.... Oh my god, way better definition than it was before with the Panamax (which i still like very much) and overall the sound-stage has a much better presence and definition throughout the audible (and felt) range. I will keep listening to other sources like audio CDs and Videos... but i think i'm gonna keep it. BTW my subwoofer is a Boston Acoustics PV800 and it is solid and rocks! i use monster cable through-out the system.

The video was excellent via S-Video and Coax (no component inputs on my monitor :-( ...) although i would say only slightly better than the Panamax unit, but noticeable.

My own ears and meters tell me that at least comparing the no-use, panamax dbs 500, and the HTS5000, that we are talking major and different effects on sound. Power conditioning is very far from snake-oil.... If it is hard for you to hear the difference of with and without i would suggest listening to any amp with or without the very high end units from Tice or Chang to get a more black-and-white example. the HTS 5000 ain't a Tice or Chang but it sure is close!

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Panamax DBS500

Control center. Variable delays, and switched or unswitched options for all AC inputs.

Still questionable whether it can handle high current power amp.

As stated above I like turning all my gear on and off with one push of my remote. The video improvement was subtle but noticeable enough that I had to recalibrate my TV to video essentials. Audio improvement or dedradation? The argument for either are so complicated and subjective that each person must decide for them self. I had a problem with my first units AC meter it read too high. Returned it and checked the new one out at the store it was fine. The only other problem was that originally when powering up my ADCOM 7500 power amp the warning lights would come on for a second or two, then go out. The amp protection cicuitry was acting like it sensed a short circuit, I am not sure why, but after about three months it didn't happen much anymore if at all. Is it because the amp was drawing to much current for the monster? (See the info in Widesceen Review about power conditioners and current limiting for indepth info) Anyway all in all it performs adequately and protects from AC fluctuations. Will the 3500 do for you? The reason I went with the 5000 was its (supposed) capability not to limt cirrent for a high powered amp. Price to performance ratio is good. I would give it a 5 for value and a 4 overall if I knew for sure that it was not current limiting my amp; still uncertain about that.

Equipment: Toshiba TW56, Mirage OM6, OMC3, OM10, Sony TA9000ES, Velodyne FSR18, audioquest indigo, Transperent plus interconnects.