This is perhaps one of the most interesting and lengthy reviews I have ever had the opportunity to write. Not only is the review itself rather long, but it all started nearly two years ago when I received review samples of the (then) new Monster Signature Series Home Theatre PowerSource HTPS 7000 and Automatic Voltage Stabilizer AVS 2000. Since that time, I have received the Monster Home Theatre Music Reference two- and three-channel amplifiers and finally the newest of the Monster creations, the M•Design Eleganza Speakers.

Signature Series Automatic Voltage Stabilizer AVS 2000
The Signature Series automatic voltage stabilizer is the first part of what Monster calls their "Backbone" system. In a world where we can never be quite sure just how pure the current that comes out of the wall is, no matter how hard we try, this product can be invaluable. It can take some of the worst power changes and render them almost invisible to even some of the most exacting equipment.

Unique Features
The AVS 2000 was designed to take power that comes out of your wall and stabilize it in order to make sure that the equipment connected to it performs to its maximum potential. This is actually far more important than you might imagine since even "little" things, like an air conditioner running or turning on a hair blower, can alter the voltage enough that you can hear it when you are watching or listening to your system. In fact, all you need to do is turn one of these things on and watch the big blue readouts on the unit and you will see just how much the voltage can change.

That leads me to the next unique feature the AVS 2000 has -- its digital readout. Okay, I will admit that perhaps it isn't all that important to know what the incoming, outgoing and actual voltage corrections are, as long as it works, but it's really cool to watch. These constantly changing displays coupled with more traditional indicators for proper grounding, normal voltage input, surge protection, and correct line and neutral make it pretty simple to see what is going on at any given time.

Installation/Setup/Ease of Use
Setting up the AVS is as simple as plugging it into the wall socket. Unless you find that there is something wrong with the actual wall plug, once it's connected you are good to go. Even if there is a problem, the indicators mentioned earlier will allow you to correct the issue or at least make it easier to have someone come out and correct it for you.

Once the unit is connected and functioning properly, there is really little else you need to worry about. There are six power sockets on the back of the unit to plug in your equipment, or if you are using the Monster "Backbone," then just the HTPS 7000 needs to be connected. For those who just want to use the AVS 2000, four of the six power sockets are switched and can be set to come on sequentially, while two of them are unswitched.

Final Take
There is absolutely nothing subtle about this unit. In fact, from the moment that I started using it in my reference system, I knew that it was something that I couldn't live without. It really does more for a system than virtually anything else I have used, and, without a doubt, if you are looking for something that will increase the performance of your existing system, you need look no further than the AVS 2000. I have recommended it both to friends and colleagues and will continue to do so.

Signature Series Home Theatre PowerSource HTPS 7000
The HTPS 7000 is a very well designed power conditioner and the second component of Monster's "Backbone." Like its sibling the AVS 2000, I have had this piece of equipment in my system for some time and have had a chance to test all the different features. In fact, I have had it in my system longer then some of my other reference components at this point.

Unique Features
The HTPS is full of unique features. Its fairly impressive front panel will likely tell you everything you could possibly want to know about the power your system is receiving, and then some. It has LED readouts of the incoming voltage as well as a display of the amount of amps your system is currently utilizing. If that isn't enough, it also has indicators which give you information about the wiring issues and if the power you are receiving is clean.

In addition to the indicators for the incoming power, it also has indicators for each of the six banks of power outlets. These different banks are designed to handle different power and filtering requirements. It has two for digital components, one for audio components, one for video components, and finally, two for high power components.

As if this isn't enough, the HTPS 7000 has a menu which will allow you to tailor the different settings to your unique requirements. These settings include being able to actually set up a power-on sequence that will enable a system to turn on in a specific order. Additionally, you are able to change the intensity of the display to use the unit even in the darkest areas.

Installation/Setup/Ease of Use
The HTPS 7000 is fairly simple to set up once you figure out what requirements you have of the components. The best way to do this is to figure out if you will need to use the unit's ability to turn on components in a specific order and then program it that way before starting. At least, this was the best way I found to get it configured correctly. Additionally, you need to be careful that you plug the components into the correct electrical sockets.
As mentioned earlier, the HTPS 7000 has several different types of outlets which are designed to correct and filter different types of problems. While plugging a satellite receiver into the digital outlet might indeed make a difference in its performance, it could impact any other component that has also been plugged into that outlet. Therefore, you need to be sure that you plug components into it correctly.
Other than that, setting the unit up is pretty much a breeze. Once it's all set up, it will stay that way, and you won't have to worry about having to make any other changes. About the only thing you might have to do is turn the unit back on should a power outage occur.

Final Take
The HTPS 7000 is definitely a well implemented power conditioner. You would be very hard pressed to find a comparable unit in its price range, especially if you add in all its features. Although it doesn't make as major an improvement initially to your system, the longer you use it the more you will find that the little changes add up to a major improvement.

Home Theatre Music Reference Amplifiers
The Monster amplifiers are one of the newer products for a company which has always endeavored to increase audio and video performance. They not only look different than probably any amplifier on the market today, they have their own unique feature set and functionality. They are also the final component in the Monster "Backbone" system.

Unique Features
Aside from being extremely heavy and fairly large, these amplifiers have just about every bell and whistle you could possibly hope for in an amplifier. First, they come in two different flavors: a two-channel and a three-channel version. Both deliver 250 watts per channel in 8 ohms without the least bit of distortion.

The one thing you will notice about these amplifiers from the start is three huge displays on the front of the units. They are actually really pretty interesting to watch as you begin to listen to your favorite music or movies. On the two-channel amplifier, the left and right displays show how much power is going to the individual channels while the center one shows how much total power is being used. On the three-channel version, each of the displays represents how much power is being supplied to the individual channels at any given time. However, regardless which version you are using, you will be absolutely surprised at how much difference musical passages can have in the amount of power they need to sound right.

Installation/Setup/Ease of Use
The amplifiers are extremely easy to set up. About the only real decisions you need to make are the types of connections that you want to use. They can be connected with either balanced or unbalanced interconnects, depending on your components and your preference. Once connected, there is a small switch that needs to be set in order for the amplifier to utilize the correct connection type.

Also, the amplifiers have fairly heavy five-way binding posts, so you can use just about any type of speaker cable connection you might wish. I would suggest you use either banana plugs or spade types because they will ultimately give the best performance. Additionally, over time bare wire tends to oxidize, which will lead to decreased performance.

About the only other thing you might want to consider regarding installation is using the two-channel amplifiers as monoblocks. This means you can use the amplifier to drive one speaker instead of two. To do this you must change the position of a switch on the back and you will notice that in so doing, only the center display remains illuminated, as the individual channel displays become meaningless.

Final Take
These are some of the most impressive amplifiers in their price range that I have heard in some time. Their reproduction of the most difficult of orchestral music was extremely lifelike and the imaging realistic. They were able to produce enough power to render the deep bass of some organ music tight and precise.

On movies, these amplifiers were as impressive, or even more so, than on music alone. They took a difficult soundtrack, Lord of the Rings, and made it seem lifelike and effortless in playback. You could literally watch the gauges go wild with the amount of power the amplifiers were producing from passage to passage. Yet the sound was so perfect, unless you watched the meter you would never know how much effort the amplifier went through to make it sound that way.

These would be on a short list of units I would recommend to anyone looking for one of the best solid state amplifiers on the market. Once you add the rest of the Monster "Backbone," I can honestly say I haven't heard many amplifiers that could hold a candle to these in any price range. In fact, when everything is put together, the "Backbone" has the sort of airy beauty that I have only found when using tubed amplifiers.

M•Design Eleganza Speakers
These are the newest products added to the impressive array of offerings from Monster. The speakers are designed to be a part of just about any setting, be it a home theater or music listening room. In fact, the speakers are impressive enough to be a piece of furniture if you weren't actually using them for speakers, and that is saying something.

Unique Features
The review system I had consisted of four 7-foot StreamLine Tower speakers, four StreamLine Bass Module 1000s, one pair of StreamLine Surround 3600s, one StreamLine Center Channel 3500, and two Bella 1200 subwoofers. Each of these speakers had their own unique features which set them apart from many on the market today. However, the most unique feature of the whole system was just how well they worked together.

Of course, I would be remiss to not mention one or two other unique features of the speakers. The first is that the tower speakers have a really cool blue lighting strip built into the side of them. This allows for a small amount of light to be given off, which not only adds to the sense of ambience in the room itself, but when used in a home theater environment makes watching movies much more enjoyable by giving just the right amount of light to take the strain of watching a movie off the eyes.

Additionally, the bass modules and subwoofers have their own settings so you are able to fine-tune the amount of bass from an individual speaker to nearly any conceivable level. This makes setting them up in a room pretty much a breeze, and in the case of the Bella, there is even a way of passing the line level signal through if you wish to connect more than one subwoofer to the same output on your preamplifier.

Installation/Setup/Ease of Use
Setting up the speaker system takes a little more time and effort than others I have worked with in the past. Although in the end things go together well, putting the bass modules on the tower speakers, connecting the right cables to the right places and getting things to line up correctly can be difficult. However, once it's all done, there is a sense of accomplishment.

Also, the speakers themselves need to be mounted and/or positioned correctly for optimal performance. This is made really easy by the speakers themselves having gauges to tell just how much you have toed them in or out so you can do the same on the opposite side. Once they are all set, you just have to set the amount of bass you wish from all of the subwoofers (the ones you might have purchased with the towers, as well as any other subwoofers, such as the Bella).

Final Take
Even with some slight difficulties in the setup of these speakers, they are far and away as impressive as they look. While they take a fair amount of break-in time, the longer you listen, the more you wonder why you never heard music quite the same way. On one passage of Aimee Mann's Lost in Space, which I had listened to on my reference system, I found myself discovering parts of the music I didn't even know existed. Even my electrostatic reference speakers didn't seem to be able to allow the music the breathing room that these speakers did.

Without making it sound as though these speakers were better at movies than they were at music, they made even more difference on theatrical material, if that is possible. Perhaps it was because of the synergy of the speakers, but on Lord of the Rings, I can honestly say that the movie was so lifelike, I actually screamed at a part in the movie!

Conclusion
All of the new Monster and M•Design components are extremely well designed. They each represent some of the best value and performance available on the market today. In addition, when you put them all together, I can't honestly say that I have ever heard a more impressive setup. There might be a few things that I would like changed, such as the binding posts on some of the speakers, but even these will be changed by the time you read this review, so I am told.
So, if you are in the market for a new system, or perhaps looking to upgrade and/or replace parts of your existing one, you should definitely go out and listen to some, if not all, of the Monster/M•Design products featured in this review. About the only words of warning I can give are that you may have the desire to upgrade or purchase it all at the same time, which might mean taking out a bank loan.

Monster
Signature Series
Automatic Voltage Stabilizer AVS 2000
Triple Shielded 8-foot Powerline 400 AC cord
Consistent 120V output when power
fluctuates between 80 - 140V
MSRP: $1,699

Monster
Signature Series
Home Theatre PowerSource HTPS 7000
$750,000 Connected Equipment Warranty
Triple Shielded 8-foot Powerline 400 AC cord
5-stage power filtering
MSRP: $1,499

Monster
Home Theatre Music Reference
Three-Channel Power Amplifier
250w/channel in 8 ohms
400w/channel in 4 ohms
750w/max
17"W x 7.75"H x 20.25"D
Weight: 92 lbs.
MSRP: $2,999

Monster
Home Theatre Music Reference
Two-Channel Power Amplifier
250w/channel in 8 ohms
400w/channel in 4 ohms
750w/max
Weight: 75 lbs.
MSRP: $2,499

Monster
Signature Series
Automatic Voltage Stabilizer AVS 2000
Triple Shielded 8-foot Powerline 400 AC cord
Consistent 120V output when power
fluctuates between 80 - 140V
MSRP: $1,699

Monster
Signature Series
Home Theatre PowerSource HTPS 7000
$750,000 Connected Equipment Warranty
Triple Shielded 8-foot Powerline 400 AC cord
5-stage power filtering
MSRP: $1,499

Monster
Home Theatre Music Reference
Three-Channel Power Amplifier
250w/channel in 8 ohms
400w/channel in 4 ohms
750w/max
17"W x 7.75"H x 20.25"D
Weight: 92 lbs.
MSRP: $2,999

Monster
Home Theatre Music Reference
Two-Channel Power Amplifier
250w/channel in 8 ohms
400w/channel in 4 ohms
750w/max
Weight: 75 lbs.
MSRP: $2,499

Monster
M•Design Eleganza
7-foot StreamLine Towers
Frequency Response: 65Hz - 20kHz
Recommended Power: 200w
Nominal Impedance: 4
(1) .75" Mocciso silk-dome Super Tweeter
(40) 1.5" Bambina titanium inverted dome
extended range transducers
(15) 3.5" Bambino aluminum inverted
dome woofers
84"H x 7.4"W x 4.6"D
Weight: 131 lbs. each
MSRP: $6,999/pair

Monster
M•Design Eleganza
StreamLine Bass Module 1000
250 watt amplifier
10" Side-firing Basso Driver
Adjustable Crossover 30Hz - 200Hz
Variable Phase Normal/Reverse
Frequency Response: 33Hz - 200Hz
Weight: 46 lbs. each
MSRP: $2,499/pair

Monster
M•Design Eleganza
StreamLine Surround 3600
Frequency Response 90Hz - 20kHz
Recommended Power: 80w
Nominal Impedance: 4
(1) .75" Mocciso silk-dome Super Tweeter
(8) 1.5" Bambina titanium inverted dome
extended range transducers
(4) 3.5" Bambino aluminum inverted
dome woofers
36"H x 7.4"W x 4.6"D
Weight: 24 lbs. each
MSRP: 3,499/pair

Monster
M•Design Eleganza
StreamLine Center Channel 3500
Frequency Response 90Hz -20kHz
Recommended Power: 80w
Nominal Impedance: 4 ohms
(1) .75" Mocciso silk-dome Super Tweeter
(8) 1.5" Bambina titanium inverted dome
extended range transducers
(4) 3.5" Bambino aluminum inverted
dome woofers
4.6"H x 36"W x 7.4"D
Weight: 24 lbs.
MSRP: $1,799

Monster
M•Design Eleganza
Bella 1200 Subwoofer
500 watt amplifier
12" Front-firing Basso Driver
Adjustable Crossover 30Hz - 200Hz
Variable Phase Normal/Reverse
Frequency Response: 22Hz - 200Hz
Weight: 113 lbs.
MSRP $3,499