Monster Cables... at DVinfo.net

Dante Waters · February 23rd, 2006, 01:09 AM

Has anyone ever used monster cables...
Is it all hype or are they worth every penny??

link:
http://tinyurl.com/ht8se

Andrew Khalil · February 23rd, 2006, 01:20 AM

I've used them and they're good, but not better than regular professional grade cables which are a lot cheaper - if Monsters were better, you'd see them being used by everyone and that's not the case.

Dante Waters · February 23rd, 2006, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Khalil

I've used them and they're good, but not better than regular professional grade cables which are a lot cheaper - if Monsters were better, you'd see them being used by everyone and that's not the case.

Which brand are you referring to?

Andrew Khalil · February 23rd, 2006, 02:00 AM

No brand in particular, but say Canaire or Hosa or other brands marketed to the pro market which are much more reasonable priced and can be bought at custom lengths.

Glenn Davidson · February 23rd, 2006, 02:14 AM

I like Monster Cables. I have a couple of the THX series cables that are awesome. I also picked up a couple of Monster speaker terminals from Radio Shack. I was happy to see that the Shack was not just selling low quality products. I also like Canare cable. I make a lot of my own cable out of it. Their 'quad' comes in multiple colors and is the best quality cable I have seen.

Glenn Chan · February 23rd, 2006, 03:17 AM

Some hard data and good commentary:
http://sound.westhost.com/cables.htm

Quote:

are they worth every penny??

They probably cost pennies to make. The rest is markup.

Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but almost all of the cost is retail markup.

Steve House · February 23rd, 2006, 05:51 AM

Wire is wire is wire. Monster makes good quality cables but all the hype about them being special is just that - hype and as others have said professional grade cables from other manufacturers are available at a fraction of the price that are just as good. I wouldn't use super cheap stuff from your grocery store's hardware section but that's because the real cheap blister pac stuff are made with cheap metal in the connectors so they lose their springiness resulting in intermittent connections and poor quality control on the assembly leading to things like cold solder joints etc. Cheap shielded cable used for audio interconnects and video cables may have inadequate shielding, that sort of thing. But manufacturers like Canare and Belden make cable that's perfectly fine.

To the best of my knowledge no one in a truly blind test has ever been able to hear any difference between, for example, expensive Monster cable speaker cable and plain old hardware store 14-gauge zip cord. A strand of copper is a strand of copper.

Douglas Spotted Eagle · February 23rd, 2006, 06:55 AM

A strand of copper is a strand of copper.

I wouldn't go *that* far. Monster and cable companies like that mostly sell snake oil, no doubt. But...get good cable, cable rated for the job. High end Belden, Mogami, Canare are all good choices. If you're mobile, don't get the quad-strand cables, as the copper is so thin even though it's braided into quad conductors, it breaks down very quickly. You're better off with heavier 2 conducter than thinner 3 conducter cable.
Also, various kinds of copper are not made for audio; the resistance is higher. But, it's not enough to worry about if you've got cables from within the music or audio industry. It's the guys that make their own cables out of lamp cord or antenna wire that need to worry. :-)

Boyd Ostroff · February 23rd, 2006, 08:05 AM

Funny anecdote: I never buy those overpriced cables either, but I needed a set of component video cables a couple years ago and decided it'd spring for some of the expensive ones. Less than a year later I had a video problem and traced it down to a failure in one of the component cables. Now these had just been sitting there, connected between my DVD recorder and LCD screen ever since I bought them. All my cheapo cables were still working fine. So this convinced me not to waste money on the high priced stuff in the future.

Dante Waters · February 23rd, 2006, 08:51 AM

All good points... can't seem to find the following at b&h:

headphone connector (miniplug I believe)
to rca/phono

Also coax-al to rca dvd player to an old TV

I know this last one probably doesn't exist but DVI to coax-al, trying to connect my tv to this editing system (powerbook/fcp)

Dante Waters · February 23rd, 2006, 08:53 AM

Well to tell you guys the truth I was asking if the shielding was any better than what others sell... because I notice how quickly some of my wires break and I get shorts when I want to record something.

out of these:

http://tinyurl.com/km4tl

Which would you choose?

I need to record sometimes from a sound system, or even play back to a sound system...

Mike Teutsch · February 23rd, 2006, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dante Waters

Has anyone ever used monster cables...
Is it all hype or are they worth every penny??

I have one point to add to this. Just a couple of weeks ago, I upgraded my DirecTV from a standard Tivo, to an HD Tivo. The service man who came to do the installation, was the owner of the company.

After mounting the new dish, he came in to hook up the Tivo, and the first thing he did was disconnect the Monster component, and Monster HDMI cables I was using, and he replaced them with a lighter less expensive.

The reason he gave made perfect sense to me. He said that the quality of the picture etc. is no different and that he has seen many units damaged or destroyed by the use of the big Monster cables. Why, because the cables are too stiff and tend to damage the recepticals on the VCRs, DVD players, TIVOs, and TVs, etc.. And, this is from a professional who sells and installs all types of video and stereo equipment for a living, 6 days a week.

I now have a couple of great cables sitting in a box, the HDMI cable alone was $100.00 at Circut City.

I hope that gives everyone some food for thought.

Mike

Boyd Ostroff · February 23rd, 2006, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Teutsch

he has seen many units damaged or destroyed by the use of the big Monster cables. Why, because the cables are too stiff and tend to damage the recepticals

That's very true also! The few times I have used the more expensive cables, I was concerned about the amount of strain being placed on the fragile female RCA connectors. I stopped using a heavy s-video cable on my video cameras because of this.

Dante Waters · February 23rd, 2006, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

That's very true also! The few times I have used the more expensive cables, I was concerned about the amount of strain being placed on the fragile female RCA connectors. I stopped using a heavy s-video cable on my video cameras because of this.

Funny because I'm looking at that now:

http://tinyurl.com/o6dc9

but I want to go from the computer to this older tv with the screw in connector I think it's coax-al or bnc, so I was looking at this cable too:

http://tinyurl.com/rserx

Boyd Ostroff · February 23rd, 2006, 09:30 AM

Of course we're happy when people buy from our sponsors, but in this case being able to touch and hold the actual cables might sway your decision one way or another. Have you looked at cables in any local stores?

February 23rd, 2006, 01:09 AM	#1
Dante Waters Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: NY, NY Posts: 217	Monster Cables... Has anyone ever used monster cables... Is it all hype or are they worth every penny?? link: http://tinyurl.com/ht8se

February 23rd, 2006, 05:51 AM	#7
Steve House Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Posts: 5,742	Wire is wire is wire. Monster makes good quality cables but all the hype about them being special is just that - hype and as others have said professional grade cables from other manufacturers are available at a fraction of the price that are just as good. I wouldn't use super cheap stuff from your grocery store's hardware section but that's because the real cheap blister pac stuff are made with cheap metal in the connectors so they lose their springiness resulting in intermittent connections and poor quality control on the assembly leading to things like cold solder joints etc. Cheap shielded cable used for audio interconnects and video cables may have inadequate shielding, that sort of thing. But manufacturers like Canare and Belden make cable that's perfectly fine. To the best of my knowledge no one in a truly blind test has ever been able to hear any difference between, for example, expensive Monster cable speaker cable and plain old hardware store 14-gauge zip cord. A strand of copper is a strand of copper. __________________ Good news, Cousins! This week's chocolate ration is 15 grams!

February 23rd, 2006, 06:55 AM	#8
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	A strand of copper is a strand of copper. I wouldn't go that far. Monster and cable companies like that mostly sell snake oil, no doubt. But...get good cable, cable rated for the job. High end Belden, Mogami, Canare are all good choices. If you're mobile, don't get the quad-strand cables, as the copper is so thin even though it's braided into quad conductors, it breaks down very quickly. You're better off with heavier 2 conducter than thinner 3 conducter cable. Also, various kinds of copper are not made for audio; the resistance is higher. But, it's not enough to worry about if you've got cables from within the music or audio industry. It's the guys that make their own cables out of lamp cord or antenna wire that need to worry. :-) __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

February 23rd, 2006, 08:51 AM	#10
Dante Waters Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: NY, NY Posts: 217	strenght All good points... can't seem to find the following at b&h: headphone connector (miniplug I believe) to rca/phono Also coax-al to rca dvd player to an old TV I know this last one probably doesn't exist but DVI to coax-al, trying to connect my tv to this editing system (powerbook/fcp)

February 23rd, 2006, 08:53 AM	#11
Dante Waters Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: NY, NY Posts: 217	strength Well to tell you guys the truth I was asking if the shielding was any better than what others sell... because I notice how quickly some of my wires break and I get shorts when I want to record something. out of these: http://tinyurl.com/km4tl Which would you choose? I need to record sometimes from a sound system, or even play back to a sound system...

February 23rd, 2006, 01:20 AM	#2
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	I've used them and they're good, but not better than regular professional grade cables which are a lot cheaper - if Monsters were better, you'd see them being used by everyone and that's not the case.

February 23rd, 2006, 02:00 AM	#4
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	No brand in particular, but say Canaire or Hosa or other brands marketed to the pro market which are much more reasonable priced and can be bought at custom lengths.

February 23rd, 2006, 02:14 AM	#5
Glenn Davidson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Nevada City, California Posts: 499	I like Monster Cables. I have a couple of the THX series cables that are awesome. I also picked up a couple of Monster speaker terminals from Radio Shack. I was happy to see that the Shack was not just selling low quality products. I also like Canare cable. I make a lot of my own cable out of it. Their 'quad' comes in multiple colors and is the best quality cable I have seen.

February 23rd, 2006, 08:05 AM	#9
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	Funny anecdote: I never buy those overpriced cables either, but I needed a set of component video cables a couple years ago and decided it'd spring for some of the expensive ones. Less than a year later I had a video problem and traced it down to a failure in one of the component cables. Now these had just been sitting there, connected between my DVD recorder and LCD screen ever since I bought them. All my cheapo cables were still working fine. So this convinced me not to waste money on the high priced stuff in the future.

February 23rd, 2006, 09:30 AM	#15
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	Of course we're happy when people buy from our sponsors, but in this case being able to touch and hold the actual cables might sway your decision one way or another. Have you looked at cables in any local stores?