::Chuckles:: Monster Cables vs. Metal Coat Hangers

I bought an hdmi from monster on amazon and it was only 1080i; there was absolutely no spec anywhere to indicate it.

Never again.:mad:

I do have some monster RCA from a few years ago, and it is a solid feeling product, as described above. If I had to buy again though, it would probably be monoprice or bjc.
 
As far as I know, wire gauge is probably the most important feature of a cable. You might be able to hear a difference between "regular" cabling and Monster cabling if the two have different gauges... (I remember reading an article that pointed out the tactics used by Monster Cables to show the "superiority" of their cables. One of their trick was to use smaller cable for the "regular" cable in their AB comparison in store booths. So it wasn't really an apple-to-apple comparison).

From what I recall, a lower gauge (thicker cable) has a lower impedance, which affects your signal less. Someone else would probably be better placed to explain this anyway.
 
trust_no1 said:
From what I recall, a lower gauge (thicker cable) has a lower impedance, which affects your signal less. Someone else would probably be better placed to explain this anyway.
Click to expand...

Only matters with low impedance speaker systems (like 1 ohm or less, usually for large subwoofers only), long runs and/or tiny cable (like 22 gauge)
 
why is the term "audiophile" starting to sound derogatory? D:
Honestly, I do believe cables make a difference, it's just that if you have crappy RCA's connected to a crappy cable upgrading only the cable won't make much of a difference, you have to upgrade everything in path. Of course I really do think Monster Cable is all hype and inflated prices, but that doesn't mean all brands are.

At least with my K81DJ's I heard a huge difference when I recabled with silver plated copper. It was too different to be a placebo.
 
dandragonrage said:
Only matters with low impedance speaker systems (like 1 ohm or less, usually for large subwoofers only), long runs and/or tiny cable (like 22 gauge)
Click to expand...

No, it can matter with any speaker. All speakers are pretty low impedance. 8 ohms nominal is quite normal. You also have to be careful because though the nominal rating is supposed to be the lowest the impedance drops, not all speakers are rated correctly. You'll find 8 ohm speakers that will be lower than that at certain frequencies. Gauge of wire determines maximum length of the run. For example if you have 8 ohm speakers, using 18 gauge wire about 32 feet is the max run. So if you want to go farther than that, you need to get larger wire.

This is something that you do have to pay attention to in things like home theatre setups. While front speakers are usually pretty close to the amp, the rear ones can be a good distance away. It isn't too hard to have a 20-50 foot run of wire to them. As such you need to make sure you are using a wire of sufficient gauge for it.

I generally recommend people go a little heavy on wire gauge because it just makes sure that it won't be a problem. That way even if your speakers aren't rated right, or you replace them with lower impedance speakers in the future, the wire still works just fine. 12 gauge line cord isn't expensive, so why not?
 
eetoi said:
At least with my K81DJ's I heard a huge difference when I recabled with silver plated copper. It was too different to be a placebo.
Click to expand...

You should do some research in to testing that has gone on with the placebo effect (specificly involving pain and morphine) before you say something is too much to be placebo.

I would also question as to what you think silver plated copper is supposed to do. You have to remember that at audio frequencies, the skin effect is minimal. Yes, when you talk high frequencies the signal travels on the outside of the wire, not so for the audio range. With a small gauge cable, like you have in interconnects, you are talking 100% skin depth in the audio range. 19 gauge and smaller will have 100% skin depth for frequencies above 21kHz. Even if you are using larger wire, you are still talking about most of the conduction happening below the surface. You don't see heavy skin effect until real high frequencies.

I can't prove anything with regards to your system, all I can say is that if you haven't done an A/B or ABX test in a blind situation (where you don't know which is which), then you do not know that there was a real difference, and that you weren't just thinking you heard it. I also can say that there just doesn't seem to be objective measurements to back this sort of thing up.
 
I personally go for the midgrade area, so I know that there's at least -some- kind of quality in the cable itself. I went on dirt-cheap RCA ones to hook up a VCR to a TV once and one of the connectors slid right off the wire. :eek: never doing that again.

But more importantly, I try to step up one over the recommended gauge in thickness so I know that using too thin of a cable will not be the cause of the problem. Probably not the best idea, but thus far I can say everything sounds good to me, which is the most important part.
 
It's funny how Monster and Bose are in the same league when it comes to internet notoriety, it truly is astonishing just how good these two companies are at mass marketing mediocre quality products.

If anything this should be a wake up call to someone at Monster, time will tell if the market wises up or not. Who knows maybe they will be forced to rethink their strategy, probably not.

I think a story like this should be put up on yahoo front page :)
 
eetoi said:
why is the term "audiophile" starting to sound derogatory? D:
Honestly, I do believe cables make a difference, it's just that if you have crappy RCA's connected to a crappy cable upgrading only the cable won't make much of a difference, you have to upgrade everything in path. Of course I really do think Monster Cable is all hype and inflated prices, but that doesn't mean all brands are.

At least with my K81DJ's I heard a huge difference when I recabled with silver plated copper. It was too different to be a placebo.
Click to expand...
that is why the term audiophile is derogatory.
 
If you think what you have now sounds decent then don't go on the path of the audiophile. Your wallet will thank you for it. I knew a guy way back in '79 who didn't earn all that much, he was just a security guard but he took the audiophile path and spent well over $20,000.00 on audio gear. That's over $20,000.00 in 1979 dollars. He was soon in debt trouble because of it too. Just buy decent bang for buck equipment and don't waste money on esoteric cables etc., unless you are rich and can afford to waste money.
 
Sycraft said:
I would also question as to what you think silver plated copper is supposed to do. You have to remember that at audio frequencies, the skin effect is minimal. Yes, when you talk high frequencies the signal travels on the outside of the wire, not so for the audio range. With a small gauge cable, like you have in interconnects, you are talking 100% skin depth in the audio range. 19 gauge and smaller will have 100% skin depth for frequencies above 21kHz. Even if you are using larger wire, you are still talking about most of the conduction happening below the surface. You don't see heavy skin effect until real high frequencies.
Click to expand...


Did you calculate this using the resistance formula with relation to frequency? I seem to recal even a 60hz power system having a skin effect on long distance transmission lines cross country. This is part of the reason DC power transmission is good in some applications. I am not saying you did not calc this, and perhaps the skin effect is just not important at these distances for audio transfers.
 
There is some truth to cable quality making a difference.

Not near as much as Monster or Bose or any other high dollar brand wants you to think though.

Sure they are better than super cheapy cables... but as long as you have well made, correctly shielded cables, you will be fine.

As for switch boxes, try hooking one up to your computer for switching in between two monitors. There are very few that will not cause horrible ghosting. Most of the manual ones have no shielding whatsoever inside them. The wire pairs aren't even twisted. Just a jumble of wires that is condusive to massive interference.

It would have been nice if the article showed what type of switchbox was used.
 
I keep my stereo inside a Faraday cage, so I don't have to worry about shielding low-power signals.
 
WinMan_x2000 said:
Did you calculate this using the resistance formula with relation to frequency? I seem to recal even a 60hz power system having a skin effect on long distance transmission lines cross country. This is part of the reason DC power transmission is good in some applications. I am not saying you did not calc this, and perhaps the skin effect is just not important at these distances for audio transfers.
Click to expand...

In the case of power transmission, you are dealing with lines of a massive size. You are right that no matter what the frequency, AC current will have a skin effect. Basically, the lower the frequency the greater the skin depth. Well with as large as the primary distribution lines are, you can take an aluminium cable with a steel reinforcing core and it works fine, the steel is essentially irrelevant. The line is so large that the conduction happens just in the aluminium.

However with audio interconnects, you are dealing with much smaller (and shorter) cables. As such you don't get a heavy skin effect, even at the high end of audio frequencies. So a silver plating really isn't going to do anything for you.

Now at high frequencies, like say MHZ range, sure. So it would possibly be useful for analogue HDTV interconnects, but not for audio cable.

Also the whole point of using silver for an audio connection would be because of it's superior electrical properties. Ok, fair enough, but over distances that short you think it really matters? That's always the issue with cable. Even if you claim there's a difference the question is how short does it have to be before the difference disappears? When you are talking 6 feet of interconnect, it just isn't going to matter as far as I can tell.
 
The maximum frequency you can transmit without skin effect can be calculated based on the gauge of the wire. IIRC it's around 12kHz for 16 gauge, but it's still not going to be noticible. It doesn't mean that everything above 12kHz is only using the outer layer of strands or anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top