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I just saw an ad in my weekend paper's flyers for Monster's "Home Theatre Power Centre", which has a golden badge stating "Clean Power®", "Stage 1", and "Noise Filtration".

Are those claims simply marketing gimmicks or do those Monster power strips actually "clean" the power? What the heck is "clean" power, anyway? It seems kind of bogus to me.

So, how would the Monster power strip be any different from the $10 ones you can get at the hardware store? Brand and warranty aside - is there physically more than just plain old surge protection in these devices?

I do use a consumer-grade UPS (uninterruptible power supply) devices for my important home theatre components: HTPC, and PVR/DVR cable box, as well as my computers. Is the power I'm getting from the UPS sufficiently "clean"?

flag	asked Feb 6 at 15:20 Chris W. Rea 1,703●1●2●11

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Related: home4film.com/questions/44/… – Brad Gilbert Feb 8 at 23:59

Stefan Mai · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-11 02:22:31Z UTC

The cheap inverters in some UPS's (the other side from the battery back to AC) approximate a sinewave (an AC signal) by using a series of step functions. This will occasionally cause noise in the audio signals, as the AC to DC circuitry must rectify and filter this poorly approximated signal: a more difficult task than a "clean" AC signal. These products generally are trying to fill that gap. That said, very few systems would actually get any use out of them.

jschoen · Answer 2 · 2010-02-08 18:46:10Z UTC

Most of Monster's claims are just marketing. Although for high end systems it is supposed to be helpful, since it would provide a consistent level of voltage to the system and remove other electrical noise.

Since your a running them through a UPS I wouldn't think you would need them.

Colin Pickard · Answer 3 · 2010-02-09 16:57:31Z UTC

You do want surge protection for any expensive equipment. But you are already using an UPS, which will provide you with superior voltage regulation and a guaranteed supply, so there is no benefit in adding anything else.

"Clean Power" is essentially just a transformer, converting AC -> DC -> AC. Your UPS has to do this anyway, and you will lose some power in the transformation, so by adding one of those devices you would actually cost yourself a small amount in electricity each year.