Plugged In with Monster Power

Power. I would guess that a surprising amount of audio professionals take it for granted. We plug into our surge-protected floor or rack strips and we’re good to go, right? Wrong. Long known for their high-quality line of cabling and audio connectors, Monster Cable also makes quite an extensive selection of PowerCenters – built to seriously protect your equipment. These audiophile grade components are aimed at our market – studio owners, musicians, installers and live engineers, who critically rely on clean power for pure sound. Let’s take a look at a few of their offerings and examine what sets them apart from the pack.

Above: Monster Power Pro 2500, with optional lamp attached.

PRO 2500 Aside of simply protecting against AC surges, this single spaced rack unit utilizes a Monster patented technology called Clean Power filter circuitry. It essentially separates digital and analog components that are plugged into the unit, and filters them accordingly to reduce or eliminate inherent noise. Not only does it filter any noise directly off the AC line itself, but also it adds additional filtering between the various components in the system. When plugging into the 2500, there are 8 switched outlets on the back, and two unswitched on the front for easy access. The terms ‘switched’ and ‘unswitched’ come from the fact that the 2500 sequentially turns on its outlets upon power up. First to come on are the 2 Digital Filtered Outlets and the 4 Analog Filtered Outlets. Then after 6 seconds, the High Power Filter Outlets switch on. Each set out outlets are designed with special filter circuitry specifically for the connected components – Digital Filter is for effects, computers, CD players, etc; Analog Audio Filter is for gear like mixers, etc; and the High Current Filter section is for such things as power amplifiers. Note that you can plug any gear into any outlets and it will work fine, however, you would not be realizing the full performance of the unit. When powering down, the outlets switch off on the reverse order, which helped me eliminate my speakers from thumping (thank you!). There are other nice touches on the Pro 2500 such as a Gold-Plated Ground Post, a Thermal Circuit Braker, Ultra-High Current AC Power Cable, 12V XLR socket with dimmer for an optional light, and Ground, Warning Fault, Abnormal Voltage and Protection on LED indicators. I especially like the Numerical Display on the front showing the AC voltage the unit is receiving from the wall – as I found out after hooking up the 2400 that my home outputs 120 volts during the day and 124 volts at night….oh boy. That’s where the next piece of gear comes in.

Above: the AVS 2000, offering stable power to everyone.

AVS 2000 RACK MOUNTABLE AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE STABILIZER This monster (pun intended) is designed specifically to stabilizer power line fluctuations for your components. When I discovered my room fluctuated, I then plugged my gear into the AVS 2000, which provided me constant voltage at 120V AC. Ah, much better…. On the front are three easy-to-read digital meters, monitoring the incoming voltage to the unit, amperage draw, and then the actual voltage correction. Beyond the 2500, there are also visual indicators of such things as ground, line, surge protection, neutral, normal/abnormal voltage and switched outlet status. On the back, there are color coded high current outlets (as mentioned above). Its got 4 programmable, sequentially switched outlets and 2 unswitched. There’s also a heavy duty, extra-long 8 ft. Monster PowerLine 300 cord for power delivery, as well as 24k gold plated contacts on the plug and a heavy duty chassis with rack mounts and handles. Also, the AVS 2000 accepts 3 to 30 volt DC turn-on capacity for remote operation and custom installation. I can’t honestly say I heard a difference in my gear when hooking up the AVS 2000 (it was very quiet to begin with). However, I can tell you my AC current is a guaranteed 120V, and I truly have a psychological confidence that it’s as protected and filtered as it can get.

Above: Behold the Pro 7000.

PRO 7000 Kicking the Power situation up a few notches, the Pro 7000 is one serious piece of gear. It’s a rack mountable Power Center with 12 outlets on the back: 2 Analog Filter, 4 Digital Filter, 2 Computer Filter and 4 High Power Filter. All the Power Source outlet pairs are programmable, offering UNSWITCHED, SWITCHED ON, or SWITCHED ON AFTER DELAY. Also on the back, there’s a Remote AC Control Hookup, a Remote DC Control Hookup and an XLR Lamp hookup, as well as Phone Line I/O’s! This unit has what’s called Clean Power Stage 5 V2.0 circuitry. With Monster gear, the higher the Clean Power stage number, the more advanced the filtration and isolation between connected components. In other words, the Pro 7000 features five advanced isolation filters, plus analog, computer and high-current filters for maximum AC power line noise rejection. You can even program this unit (via switches on the back) for two different Noise Reduction Modes. Normal (Isolated) Mode disconnects the neutral from the ground, while filtering the noise with the aforementioned Stage 5 filters. Balanced Mode will actually activate a center tap on the unit’s transformer output – which means that it outputs a perfectly balanced +60 to –60VAC (volts, AC) current. What this provides is an incredibly clean, quiet and balanced power source to your gear. Many studio owners I know swear by balanced power and now I understand why. Finally, right out of the Terminator, the PRO 7000 features T2 Technology, which actively monitors the line, neutral and ground lines. In the event of a long duration high or low voltage swing, T2 will actually disconnect the Power Center from the AC line for 15 seconds – and automatically check the AC level to make sure it’s safe to reconnect. So if Arnold comes and wreaks havoc on your studio, you know that your gear will be safely disconnected! MORE: See the Monster Power product spotlight on gcpro.com!