Monster Cables USA Today

[Mindy]

USA Today ran an article yesterday on Monster Cable.....it discussed the
various inputs of reputed HT magazines on how good the wires were and the
consensus was there was no difference between Home Depot and Monster speaker
wires....Yet USA ran a blind independent challenge using Monster and plain
old wire from Home Depot....Monster won out....the wires were connected to
Bose speakers.....

[Severian]

Would love to see how they ran their "blind" test. Properly performed
double-blind tests have never shown a difference in cables or speaker wires
unless the wires were deliberately designed to have very non-linear
performance (magic boxes) or were woefully inadequate (22 gauge speaker wire
vs. Monster type stuff).

You can tell where the advertising dollar goes.

Not that you could tell that much using Bose speakers.

"Mindy" <savagebrave@att.net> wrote in message
news:og7Hd.42111$w62.599@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> USA Today ran an article yesterday on Monster Cable.....it discussed the
> various inputs of reputed HT magazines on how good the wires were and the
> consensus was there was no difference between Home Depot and Monster
speaker
> wires....Yet USA ran a blind independent challenge using Monster and plain
> old wire from Home Depot....Monster won out....the wires were connected to
> Bose speakers.....
>
>

[David B.]

Nousaine wrote:
> "Mindy" savagebrave@att.net wrote:
>
>>USA Today ran an article yesterday on Monster Cable.....it discussed the
>>various inputs of reputed HT magazines on how good the wires were and the
>>consensus was there was no difference between Home Depot and Monster speaker
>>wires....Yet USA ran a blind independent challenge using Monster and plain
>>old wire from Home Depot....Monster won out....the wires were connected to
>>Bose speakers.....
>
>
> Nothing in the article even suggests a blind comparison.


> http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?p=41313#post41313

[Nousaine]

"Mindy" savagebrave@att.net wrote:




>USA Today ran an article yesterday on Monster Cable.....it discussed the
>various inputs of reputed HT magazines on how good the wires were and the
>consensus was there was no difference between Home Depot and Monster speaker
>wires....Yet USA ran a blind independent challenge using Monster and plain
>old wire from Home Depot....Monster won out....the wires were connected to
>Bose speakers.....

Nothing in the article even suggests a blind comparison.

[dg]

"eudoralawson" <eudoralawson@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:z5gHd.11543$4I2.8206@attbi_s01...
> Though there is a big diffence between a good after market
> cable and the crap that comes with stereo or HT components.

I agree.

You reminded me, a friend of mine was getting into his car stereo setup. He
always consulted with me on the electrical issues. He had bought a new amp
(I think 800watts x 2 channels, crazy but it thats your thing...) for his
subs and wanted to know what gauge of wire to use. Im not going to do the
math right now, but with speakers of 4 ohm impedance, there is LOTS of
current running through the wires to result in 800watts of output. I looked
in my handy blue book at the copper wire current chart and to really match
the cable to the amp it needed to be like 8 gauge wire or maybe something
even larger. Wow. So, it does make sense to me that if you are running a
high power HT system, you are going to need some serious wire. None of the
26 ga. crap they sell at radio shack, as you would actually be losing power
and also changing the load your amp expects to see-which could definately
change the operating specs with respect to frequency response and such.
When I say that, I just mean that it could open doors to poorer sound, not
just reduced output.

Yes, I understand probably nobody runs dual 800w subs in their HT, just an
example.

--Dan

[Severian]

"eudoralawson" <eudoralawson@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:z5gHd.11543$4I2.8206@attbi_s01...
> It's a big urban legend that $100/pair cables are better sounding then
> $20/pair cables. Though there is a big diffence between a good after
market
> cable and the crap that comes with stereo or HT components.
>

Well, in most cases, there isn't any difference sonically. Cheap throw-in's
usually are not as robust, meaning they will fail mechanically or loosen
over time and with wear, making intermittant connections more likely. Some
cheapies can have more susceptibility to hum, but then some "high end"
cables are simply twisted conductors with no shielding, and they are
definitely prone to pick up hum and all manner of other electromagnetic
weirdness.

I remember when better cables first came out, I was working at a stereo
shop, and the nice thing was, once we upgraded, I didn't have to climb
behind the wall of amps and receivers almost daily to wiggle connectors to
stop ground hum and intermittant connections. That was a chore no one in the
shop wanted to do.

Plus, we shouldn't discount the jewelry aspect. Granted, even $20 cables
look far nicer than the dreck that comes with most gear, and if you're
spending a fair amount on gear and like to look at it, why not? Your car
doesn't work any better cleaned and waxed, but it looks better!

> --
> Jeremy Lawson
>
> "Mindy" <savagebrave@att.net> wrote in message
> news:og7Hd.42111$w62.599@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> > USA Today ran an article yesterday on Monster Cable.....it discussed the
> > various inputs of reputed HT magazines on how good the wires were and
the
> > consensus was there was no difference between Home Depot and Monster
> speaker
> > wires....Yet USA ran a blind independent challenge using Monster and
plain
> > old wire from Home Depot....Monster won out....the wires were connected
to
> > Bose speakers.....
> >
> >
>
>

[eudoralawson]

It's a big urban legend that $100/pair cables are better sounding then
$20/pair cables. Though there is a big diffence between a good after market
cable and the crap that comes with stereo or HT components.

--
Jeremy Lawson

"Mindy" <savagebrave@att.net> wrote in message
news:og7Hd.42111$w62.599@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> USA Today ran an article yesterday on Monster Cable.....it discussed the
> various inputs of reputed HT magazines on how good the wires were and the
> consensus was there was no difference between Home Depot and Monster
speaker
> wires....Yet USA ran a blind independent challenge using Monster and plain
> old wire from Home Depot....Monster won out....the wires were connected to
> Bose speakers.....
>
>