Monster Cables

[Byron Trantham]

Any audio/visual nuts out there? My question concerns Monster brand cabling. How on earth do they justify their costs? Are these cables really 4-times better than their competitors? I've looked at the stranded cable and it surely does have more, finer strands than say zip cord of a similar gage. It just seems to me that the end result would not be noticeable but maybe I am wrong. Any advice out there?:confused:

[Jamie Buxton]

Snake oil. There's a lot of snake oil in audio, and Monster is just about the world leader. They've made their name selling "features" that make no perceptible difference in the sound.

[Chris Padilla]

Save your $$$s. Here is how I look at Monster Cable's prices:

Some guy just dumped 30k into a home theater room, complete with nice seating, lighting, sound-proofing, not to mention all the A/V equipment. You think you could sell him "cheap" cabling to hook it all up? Probably not, he'll want to spend $$$s on that, too.

I'd say that unless you are a serious A/V fella or a true Audiophile, save your $$$s and use your brain. Metal is metal...the key is the connection point to the equipment and to the cable. The cable itself is just, well, isulated metal. I'd go somewhere between Monster Cable and the cheapest stuff. You should be able to see a difference in the connectors there.

Clear as mud??!! ;)

[Lee DeRaud]

Metal is metal...the key is the connection point to the equipment and to the cable. The cable itself is just, well, isulated metal.Certainly true for the audio side, but I would expect some differences in signal quality due to the actual cable construction for things like component video, given the much higher frequencies.

[Rob Russell]

As one of those "audiophiles", I'll make this comment - try a pair and see if you hear a difference between the MonsterCable and Radio Shack speaker wire.

If you do hear a difference and the difference is enough for you to spend the $ on the Monster Cables - buy them.
If you don't hear a difference or the difference isn't worth the cost - don't buy them.

Years ago I decided that the difference between Radio Shack and Monster Cable speaker wire was worth the difference to me. 20 years from now, I probably won't be able to hear the difference and that's running off of some pretty high end electronics.

Rob

[Chris Padilla]

Certainly true for the audio side, but I would expect some differences in signal quality due to the actual cable construction for things like component video, given the much higher frequencies.

Agreed and I'll admit I wasn't thinking of the V side of the A/V question when I posted above.

Cable construction includes things like the dielectric used (unforminty is the key and loss is second to that), the style of the shielding which is needed for good return path as well as providing immunity to exterior noise sources. However, all that could be great but if the connectors aren't designed, attached well, forget about that fancy cable construction.

[Chris Padilla]

As one of those "audiophiles", I'll make this comment - try a pair and see if you hear a difference between the MonsterCable and Radio Shack speaker wire.

If you do hear a difference and the difference is enough for you to spend the $ on the Monster Cables - buy them.
If you don't hear a difference or the difference isn't worth the cost - don't buy them.

Years ago I decided that the difference between Radio Shack and Monster Cable speaker wire was worth the difference to me. 20 years from now, I probably won't be able to hear the difference and that's running off of some pretty high end electronics.

Rob

Good points, Rob. As we get older, the ability to hear high-frequeny diminishes. The human ear is purported to hear from 20 to 20,000 Hz. Hearing clear/distortion free sound at 20 kHz may need good cables and connectors but as you age, you won't be able to pick up that 20 kHz any longer.

[JayStPeter]

Audiophiles consider Monster stuff junk and buy more expensive cables.
The thing I like about the Monster speaker wire is the flexibility of the wire. If you are running it along baseboards and into corners to keep it out of site, it doesn't kink and doesn't try as hard to hold the shape of the spool it was on. I don't buy it for sonic properties, but do use it in more visible applications for its physical properties. It actually lays flat on the floor.

Jay

[Michael Gibbons]

Byron, Individual listening tastes vary quite a bit as well as the quality of the equipment that you are attempting to connect. I use Monster cable for my speakers and Esoteric Audio cables for my connections between components. I've heard the difference when changing cables. One of my friends, ( now deceased) used the exact same cable on his $ 30,000 system. Buy the heavy cable. It has something to do with the purity of the copper and the diameter of the cable. Just like electrical wire, the electricity, in this case, amplified signal, flows more easily through larger wire.

[Kyle Kraft]

I was on a rebuild job of some machinery and we pulled out thousands of feet of 14ga. THHN wire. A certain quantity of that wire found its way to my house. When you take two lengths of it, chuck it up in a drill motor, anchor the other end in a bench vise and pull the trigger it makes some awesome low $$ speaker wire. And its gasoline and oil resistant!!

Kyle in K'zoo (the cheapskate capitol of Michigan)

[John Scarpa]

This site provides some interesting reading on the subject when you explore it. I do obtain my cabling through them but I have no affilation. They are excellent to work with. They have pulled products out of a box before shipping for me and also added things in (after packaging). Now that's service!

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

[tod evans]

byron, it all depends on what you want to hear, if a bose surround sound system is acceptable to you then no the good cables aren`t necessary( monster is not high end cable). be careful if you start checking out high end audio gear it`s real easy to spend big bucks especially if you`re just starting.
fyi after several decades of loud rock-n-roll and power tools i can still hear the difference between good and cheap equipment and even missmatched equipment....02 tod

[Tyler Howell]

Pulled a lot of cable in my day. Made up a lot of snakes, jumpers, test leads and speaker wire.

Interesting how this stuff tests on the bench.
Monster is good. There's better out there.

Granted you are not listening on a test bench. Very few can here the difference but if you want to do one thing to improve your audio and video.
Upgrade your cables:cool:

[Ken Garlock]

When I had our house wired during building. I just bought 12 ga speaker cable/wire from the borg to wire the rear, in-wall, Paradigm speakers for my TV viewing area.

It is interesting that all these self-proclaimed experts (no one on this forum) will not submit themselves to a double blind test of speaker cables.:confused: A copper wire is a passive component of the audio system, hence it cannot perform modification of the signals passing through it other than minor attenuation. The name of the game in speaker wires is to assist the amplifier output transistors to put the speaker cone where you want it when you want. The best way to do that is to use large, low gauge, wire because it has less resistance. Ideally, you would want to mount the amplifier on the back of the speaker itself thus removing the cable as a factor, but then you run the risk of introducing microphonics in the amplifier.

The people who buy the $500 speaker wires are probably the same people who buy $20,000+ tube amplifiers because 'they sound better.' :rolleyes: