Hi Adwiegert - been away for awhile, so sorry for the delayed response. The Monster unit is what I purchased originally, as in my area we have severe thunder and lightning storms, so a surge protector is absolutely essential to protect the equipment. I chose this particular unit as it has no adverse effect on the sound quality- no different from plugging into the wall directly. It also has the beneficial effect of removing the RF noise, though I always turn off all lights, fans, etc. when listening anyway.
The power conditioners I have tried, on the other hand, have had very negative effects on the sound, as I have described before in other threads and won't repeat again here. One was a PS Audio product, the Quintet, I believe, that my brother owns, and in his area it does make a beneficial difference (he has solid state amplification, however). I have also tried another that a friend brought over, and it was even worse, I forget which one it was, exactly, I think one of the Furman ones. He didn't end up keeping it, either. Perhaps I am lucky to have good power in my area, or perhaps power conditioners just don't go very well with tube amplifiers and/or analog playback, things I have read many others assert here in these forums, and, judging from my own experiences and those of others I know, I have no reason to disagree. I'm not saying it couldn't work, just that it hasn't ever for me, and the effects were so negative that I don't feel the need to experiment with it any further.
