Monster Regret!!

Ain't nuthin' wrong with owning and using a Monster AVS 2000. If I see one at the right price I will grab it.

Exactly how it will be used and what system I might put it in (AV system, maybe) is to be determined. But owing one is not a backward step.

This is an oft told, and rarely justified statement. Most quality amplifiers use inductive and other filtering means on the input to smooth out the rectified power peaks which happen only for brief periods of time on a linear power supply 100 or 120 times per second. Direct to the wall give you more top end, but it does not provide anything else in the way of sonic improvement and may be a detriment as usually the most critical thing is all your equipment sharing the exact same ground.

Older power conditioners or glorified surge protectors may help things sound "cleaner," but they also usually mute dynamics, imaging, air, depth, and decay because they ruin the low-impedance-output-to-high impedance-input relationship you want as the signal moves along it’s path.

Little is worse than having equipment connected to different outlets, dedicated or not. That's called a ground loop, and to that you can add ground level pumping (from your power amp). Yes XLR can eliminate much of that, but why cause a problem that needs to be fixed?
The AVS 2000 was a well rated product. Odds are you are better with it than without it, even for your amplifier. Don't go in with preconceived notions that you will lose dynamics, etc.   Just listen.

Whatever you may think of Noel Lee’s engineering and/or or marketing genius, He did delegate the Monster Power design project to Richard Marsh...author of the 1980 Audio Magazine article that announced to the world that the design and composition of capacitors matter to the sound quality of electronic components, an idea that utterly transformed the audio landscape, heralding the modern high end as we know it.  Richard, in return for lending his expertise and credentials to Monster Power, got funding to launch his own company that produced some great sounding electronics based on his capacitor work. Long gone. 

Monster made decent equipment. nothing wrong with it.  There are better equipment out there and also worse.

A point of clarification, Ground Loops are not caused by connecting to different outlets.  Ground loops are caused (mostly) by poorly designed/constructed equipment that do no incorporate proper grounding techniques.  Lack of proper cable shielding, etc.  If outlets are connected properly and to code, then the home grounding schemes are correct.  Sometimes outlets and boxes are not grounded properly.  That is a different issue.

In my family room where the TV/home theater system is located, I still use my trusty Monster Signature HTPS-7000 unit.

for my 2 channel listening room, I ran four separate dedicated lines.  each dedicated line has it's own hot, neutral and ground that is not shared with any other circuit and is run all the way back to the service panel.  

My amps are plugged directly into their own dedicate wall outlets.  The low level equipment (pre-amp, tuner, DAC, Turntable power supply, Electronic Crossover, Music Server, CD Transport) are all plugged into a Transparent Audio Power Conditioner, which is in turn plugged into it's own dedicated line.

I have done direct comparisons with and without the power conditioner and also before and after with the dedicated lines, and my noise floor dropped substantially. it is extremely silent.  

In any case, for the money, Monster projects are just fine.  Also, all manufacturers have some form or another of hype in marketing their products.  Monster is no different.

enjoy

Actually connecting to different outlets is a text-book definition of the cause of a ground loop, and much of what you described is not or at least cannot be called specifically a ground loop.

A ground loop is by definition having multiple paths for ground currents to flow such that the reference ground voltage is not the same between pieces of equipment and when that ground is used for a signal reference, that can lead to line-frequency hum, or signal injection due to ground injection from power supply transients, etc.

There are always multiple points of ground connection, i.e. interconnects, and where the AC grounds connect together. It is better to have those ground connect together as close as possible for all equipment, not back at the junction box 50 feet away.

A point of clarification, Ground Loops are not caused by connecting to different outlets. Ground loops are caused (mostly) by poorly designed/constructed equipment that do no incorporate proper grounding techniques. Lack of proper cable shielding, etc. If outlets are connected properly and to code, then the home grounding schemes are correct. Sometimes outlets and boxes are not grounded properly. That is a different issue.