Monster Cables

Re: Monster Cables

Well, first of all "RCA" is a type of cable (and they don't really call them that anymore). Monster Cables are NOT worth the money, in my opinion.

They are too shielded so their very stiff and not easy to work with; also the cost is extortionally high. There are other "quality cables" out there that are easily half the cost (actually, RCA does make some, so maybe I was mistaken above). ALR(?) makes some that are pretty nice, as do others.

Monster is really for guys who think they can only get the best by spending the most. Period.

In fact, I was in the market for a TOS-link cable (fiber optic) and Monster had 2 versions, I asked what the difference was (besides one being 2x the cost of the other, which was too high itself) and he said "extra shielding"

OK, I'm no physic fan, but isn't a TOS cable only carrying LIGHT? If I recall correctly, few things interfere with light (like black holes). I mean, as long as it's "dark" inside the cable, you're good to go! Now Monster could say the expensive one is "bullet proof" so daylight will not enter in and "maybe" interfer, but come on.

If you didn't spend $20,000+ for your A/V setup, don't buy monster. It's a good rule of thumb.

-myrkat

I agree

I have at least a grand in wiring in my home theater and I don't own a single monster cable. I have never seen any quality problems and I do this for a living. Go away MONSTER.

Yeah, I started to realize that when I was listing alternate brands... to some of us "old timers" the phrase "RCA cables" means the type of cable... as in "Monster brand RCA cables" (the round ones, who's 'new name' eludes me).

-myrkat

well i work at best buy, and i used to work in the home theater dept, so i know alot about monster cable, and i have tested it compared to other cables and yes, when comparing it to, lets say the cheapest cables (Rectkon) they are definitly better, you can hear the difference. Depending on what you are hooking up, monster cables are definitly a good option. especially the speaker wire. I bought a pair of huge ass sony tower speakers and using the standard 24 gauge monster wire, sure they sounded fine, but man, when i got the monstercable 10 gauge wire, the difference was like night and day. Now if you're hooking up crappy speakers to a crappy dvd player to a crappy tv, crappy cables all around. But if you have nice stuff, at least get decent cables, ecpecially for the audio, (video doesnt really matter at all unless you have a really nice hdtv) otherwise it defeats the purpose of having nice components if they are hooked up crappy

My brother plays guitar and all he buys, in terms of cables, are monster because at the place he buys from, guitar center, they offer a lifetime garantee. If one breaks he just brings it in a nd they give him a new one. No mailing it or anything. My brother says monster makes good cable though. We haven't used any s-video or composite cables from them yet so I can't specifically vouge for there quality.

Common Video Cables

Composite - This is your standard cable TV wire with the pin like wire in the middle. The best resolution for the is 420i - interlaced

S-Video - This is a standard video only transfer used on most computer video cards and is a higher quality than the Composite cable. I believe the best resolution for these are 420p - progressive

Component - This is a 3 wire video cable that looks kinda of like an audio plugs. If you hook this up to a HD receiver and a HDTV you will notice a much higher resolution than S-Video. Note: Your TV needs to be a better one. I have a 420p and a 720p setting on mine and 720p is a heck of a lot better when watching HDHBO from Dish Network. The really expensive plasmas will let you go to a 1080p - progressive resolution. About 15 grand though for a 60 inch.

Monster cables are good cables and they have great quality. I am just saying above that there are a lot of companies who make quality products for a lot less money. I have a really expensive home theater system and I cannot tell the difference in my cables versus the monster cables. Note: Really Cheap Cables are just that - cheap. Average price and Monster are unnoticably different. Have fun setting up your systems. I love doing that stuff. Be sure to get something to hide your wires, or build them into the walls if possible. Friends frown on a 12 in bundle of wire lying around the wall edge. I did fix that though.

Brandon

I don't think anyone here is saying Monster makes "BAD" cables, however, most agree that they are overpriced and not much better than other good-quality cables (yeah, the recoton's are cheap, but they're chapter 11 right now, so...)

I also agree with the Source and Destination theory. Cheap components = cheap cables. Good components = good cables. However, even Best Buy carries RCA and AR brands which are at least as good as monsters.

It's all subjective anyway... hey, why don't you look in back of the display TV's and such at your local A/V store (or Best Buy, if you don't want the high-end stuff) and see how they connect them.

-myrkat