Monster Power S Series Power Amp

[dillweed]

I recently listened to Monster’s five channel amp at a local Ultimate Electronics. Sounded clean and plentiful on the Infinity Preludes at high volume. I searched around for any reviews or discussions about any of the Monster Power Amps and found none. Does anyone know anything (reliability, tested power rating, etc) about the these Amps, besides that fact that they are over priced? Thanks

 

[gregz]

That's news to me; I didn't even know Monster was in the power amp business! This must be a very new development indeed.

Let me take a peek...

...Looking at their specs, those amps look like they could melt a Sherman tank while still outputting music! Their two channel amp alone weighs 75 pounds and delivers up to 32A per channel. What a brute!

Even if I didn't hate Monster for their recently BAD business practices, I'd have to say their amps are overkill for any mere mortal speakers. Way overkill. The main four reasons you would buy such a bulletproof amplifier would be:

1.) A Status Symbol

2.) You have Electrostatic speakers the size of large doors that are hard to drive

3.) A Status Symbol

4.) You anticipate the need to melt a Sherman tank using audio frequencies

 

[warnerwh]

There are other amps that are as good or better. I suspect if you ever wanted to sell an amp from Monster you'd lose alot of money. You want a well built and powerful amp then Rotel, Parasound, B&K and others make them and they will hold their resale value much better. At this point many people won't buy anything from Monster Cable for good reason. Do some research and look over at audiogon.com where lots of used gear that is of high quality is sold. Also it is usually better, unless money's no object, to buy a used piece of electronics like a power amp that's only a couple of years old. You can get it for half or so of what retail was, it's well made and you can sell it for about what you paid for it if you decide to change or upgrade your system. Cheers

 

[woodman]

Doesn't the fact that it's grossly overpriced run up some sort of "red flag" for you? If it doesn't, it should. If ever there was a product that lacks a logical reason for it to exist in the first place, this is certainly it.

I have no concrete facts to back up my suspicions, but I'd be very surprised that the Monster company had any part in the design and development of this product. Smells very much to me like something conceived and designed elsewhere and "sold" to Monster for them to market as something they built themselves. It happens more often than many people realize.

 

[plhart]

My understanding is that Richard Marsh, a man fairly highly regarded in amplifier circles did most of the design on the Monster amps. Perhaps Damian Martin, Monster's Chief Engineer has also put his signature on many aspect's of the amp. I've neither read nor seen any review's on the Monster amp as your's is the first instance I've heard of them actually being available for sale.

 

[MDS]

I did see one review of the Monster amps a few months ago when people started talking about them and yes, Richard Marsh is the designer. Naturallly, the review was extremely positive - reviewers rarely bash Monster. Of course, it may actually be a fine amp, albeit over priced relative to the competition.