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Hands On: Monster AVL300 Remote Control

For all of you hordes of Harmony remote users, watch out for a Monster.  A Monster remote, that is!  Today, I get to take a look at a Monster Home Theater and Lighting Controller AVL300.  Whereas Logitech currently markets 5 remotes, Monster markets just 2.  The basic AV100 remote and the do-all-everything AVL300.

The Company

Who is Monster?  The story:

The Monster Story

Monster Cable Products, Inc. was founded in 1979 by Noel Lee, who was then a laser-fusion design engineer at Lawrence-Livermore Laboratory, as well as an audiophile and professional drummer. Lee discovered that wires of different constructions produced varying degrees of audio performance when hooked up to loudspeakers. From this discovery, he developed a high performance speaker cable, named it Monster Cable, and literally created an industry. The invention of Monster Cable created a new product category that revolutionized the audio market. Prior to Monster Cable, most stereo systems were wired with ordinary “zip-cord,” the same cable used for electrical household and lamp wire. Their inferior construction and cheap materials restricts power, dynamic range and clarity in the lows, mids, and highs.

Lee chose the name “Monster” because it sounded strong and powerful. It became an immediate hit with consumers. In fact, the name Monster Cable is so synonymous with high quality and high performance, customers often assume that any cable they purchase in reputable stores would be Monster even though there are other cable brands.

Monster is now the world’s leading manufacturer of high performance cables that connect audio/video components for home, car and professional use as well as computers and computer games. Monster Cable is an indispensable component for music lovers, audiophiles, recording studios, sound professionals, musicians, custom-installers and home theatre enthusiasts. Monster’s audio cables increase the clarity, dynamics and power of the audio signals that travel through them. Monster video cables deliver the sharpest, clearest picture possible with naturally vivid color from traditional and digital television, projectors, home theatre and satellite systems. Monster Game products lets enthusiasts enjoy the ultimate gaming experience by maximizing sound and video quality of a gaming system. Monster Power, a division of Monster Cable, delivers cleaner AC power to A/V components and computer products and high joule surge protection for maximum performance.

Monster’s New Product Development division draws upon years of audio design and critical listening experience, to create the innovative, high performance cables and accessories that make Monster the leader in the industry. Already holding over 200 US and international patents, Monster is continually striving to discover and develop new, advanced technologies and designs to meet the needs of the ever-advancing consumer electronics industry. Monster offers over 4000 products and is sold in over 80 countries worldwide. Download: Key Monster Patents (7.84MB)

Monster is also a leader in the local community and prides itself in the work it does to help those who are in less than fortunate circumstances. See what Monster does to care for our community.

Find Monster on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube.

The Unboxing

First, we have the normal consumer-type packaging highlighting the remote itself and associated features.

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Inside, we have the

  • remote
  • rechargeable battery
  • charging station and cord
  • USB cable
  • Information on EU directive 96/2002
  • a package containing

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the user guide and software

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About Jim Clark

Hello. I’m from the heartland of the U.S. Lots of corn and beans, although Iowa is a lot more than just farmland. It also has a few computer enthusiasts (no, not me!). I’ve been around PCs since I got my 1st PC XT aloooong time ago. WGS is one of the first sites I found centered around WHS. And the best. Every once in awhile, I do get away from the KB and enjoy time with and my wife and our 4 kids. And I do have a day job.

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  • fasthair

    HI Jim,

    How many devices can this remote be programmed for? I will agree the Logitech is much more elegant to look at and my Harmony 700 "just feels right" in my hand. It costs a ton less too but only controls five devices. Granted I can't control any lighting with it but like you I have none of this in my house either.

    fasthair

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jim_Clark Jim_Clark

    Dang, I could have sworn I saw a number in the specs, but I must have been seeing things. I am sure I did see a number somewhere, but I cannot put my finger on it right now. iirc, the number was quite high. I have already uninstalled the software and repacked it shipment back, so I cannot recheck the software. I will email my contact and see if he can get me the numbers.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jim_Clark Jim_Clark

    According to my contact: "The AVL300 will support at least 15 devices."

  • http://missingremote.com Adidas4275

    i had a AVL300 but the newer logitech software is much better.

    i found the monster rebranding of the software much more diffucult to use.

    it is the only learning remote that is IR/RF and works as a secondary Z-wave controller.

    the Harmony 890 can only be the primary controller for a z-wave network and severely limits its use with z-wave…

  • Saitan

    surprised to see an article on a remote which was releases 4 years ago.. but Thank you. I was very close to buying a harmony 890 but all the different reviews of AVL300 have convinced me to try this out.. Hopefully this delivers.. and I read somewhere this controls upto 64 devices ( could be wrong )