Does power conditioning really matter?

if the salesman has any integrity, he'll let your friend take it home and try it out with no obligation.

Power conditioner and surge protector is necessary, just that you need to get one that will really work.

For the best bang for the buck, get the PS Audio's Duet or Quintet and they are on sales right now for even better deal to make them a NO BRAINER.

he needs one that incorporates surge and hi-lo voltage problems just to protect his investment....it will also improve his picture....salesman should let him try at home....PS Audio has many good ones and they give an automatic 30 day home trial, their stuff works.

Monster is a big profit producer for stores...that's why they push it so much. Avoid their gear unless it's about 50% off.....not that it's bad stuff, it's just way way overpriced.

It is wise to get a surge protector for all the gear....and then to connect EVERY wire thru that protector. It does not good at all if you put the tv power thru it, but not the antenna/cable input.

Unless your friend has some reason to believe that his power is terrible (and there are very few people who really have terrible power), he does NOT need a power conditioner. That's markeing hype and it will make absolutley no difference in the sound or picture quality.

Tell your friend to go to Home Depot and pick up a surge protector....and plug everything in. Don't waste money on the monster stuff....don't even waste money on the monster speaker cable...buy speaker cable at home depot as well...he will never tell the difference.

Note: If you have a very high end audio system, then maybe you could benefit from power conditioning, but then you'd be buying $1000 interconnect cables and speaker cables.