Introduction Energy is a hot topic these days. From record oil prices to hybrid cars, it seems to be on everyone’s mind these days. What sometimes is forgotten is how antiquated and archaic the American power grid is. From corrupt companies like Enron ripping off California consumers to the frequent “brown-outs” that plague grids all over the nation, our AC power really isn’t that consistent when you get down to it. Some critics say it doesn’t affect your home theater system. They are crazy. Voltage dips, brown-outs and other AC maladies can cook top performing home theater gear in the worst cases. In better but fully unacceptable circumstances, bad AC power simply robs you of the measured performance you paid for in your TV, electronics and beyond. Enter Monster Cable, which has been making cables and power correction systems for more than ...

Introduction The subject of power correction products has come a long way in a very short time. Just a few years back, consumers didn’t want to hear about AC-related issues, as these were perceived as snake oil, just another way for an already overly esoteric industry to bilk us out of more dough with fears of otherwise reduced performance. However, a select core of enthusiasts recognized that the performance of audio systems was improved in the late evening as the demand on local power decreased. It was discovered that the power products from a select few manufacturers could indeed provide this late evening nirvana at any time during the day. More recently, this product class has hit the mainstream, as consumers soon realized that these products would also improve video quality. With the massive increase in popularity of home theaters over the last few years, everyone from movie enthusiasts to gaming nuts is in the ...

Introduction Power conditioning products have been getting a lot of attention over the last few years from audiophiles and video freaks alike. If you didn’t know better, you might think that AC power components were a bit more snake oil remedy than real-world solution to AV problems. Make no mistake, most places in the U.S. and Canada have lousy power that robs your high-performance gear of vast amounts of its potential. Although power conditioning and surge protection products have been around in the professional audio industry and scientific communities for quite some time, these solutions are fairly new to the AV enthusiast who in the last five years has been hearing all about “conditioning,” “regulation,” “regeneration” and much more. This education came with the home theater juggernaut and information about how adulterated power can affect the video signal. This was a ...

Introduction While many consumers will spend tens upon tens of thousands of dollars on a home theater, power quality and reliability are frequently final thoughts in the budgeting and planning of a significant system. Most people never realize that voltage irregularities and “dirty” power robs their precision engineered gear of the lifeblood they need to perform at full potential. Worse yet, many consumers learn the hard way, when after months or years of feeding their system low-quality power, the ultimate results are expensive and unnecessary repairs. High-quality power is the foundation of any home theater system, much like the concrete foundation upon which your home is built. Ask yourself how often you might put 87-octane gasoline in your new Mercedes E55 AMG. Probably never. So why run your expensive entertainment system on low-quality power? Power issues originate from both outside and inside ...

Introduction I have long dreamed of having a custom A/V room, designed from the ground up in order to obtain optimum performance from my audio/video system. The design would address everything from room acoustics to EMI noise isolation. When it comes to AC power, if cost was no object, I would have separate dedicated transformers on the power pole for each electronic component. Although totally impractical, this would be the best way to keep noise generated by other electronic devices, such as computers, water heaters, refrigerators and even other audio components, from infiltrating my beloved sound system. A more practical approach would be to use power filters like the new Transparent PowerIsolator IV, which provides both noise filtering and surge protection. On the surface, this may not sound so impressive, since you can purchase a device at your local hardware store ...