avhed

johnnyabnormal

Alucard

I think that's part of the problem with high-end audio. The crap is often hyped and promoted and some of the better companies led by true engineers (VAC, Cary Audio, DK Design, etc.) are often lost in the shuffle.

Sounds like you already have the best seat in the house in the audio area covered though. It's gotta get through you to get to us... lol

PynkFloydd

My ears ring at somewhere near the hum of an old TV/monitor power supply. You know that squeal when people shut off a video source, but not the tv/monitor and it whines? Yeah, that's what I hear all the time when it's too quiet.

Listening to music/movies/white noise is the only way to drown it out so that I don't feel like I'm going slowly insane.

Xavoc

johnnyabnormal

I can hear a difference in gear up to a certain point, after that it's lost on me. I was looking to buy some high-end speakers a few years back, and a friend offered me a great deal for a 5 speaker surround set of Fosgate Audionics (basically non-self powered Haflers) and 15" sub. I think I paid $560 total including shipping.

Xavoc

johnnyabnormal

johnnyabnormal

There's even a company named "BAT". Balanced Audio Technology.

Most high end audio is sold direct to consumer or through small boutiques. Most consumers aren't aware of the option.

PynkFloydd

*snickers*

johnnyabnormal

JimK

If practically everything is recorded with balanced cables ([en.wikipedia.org]), then why isn't it used much by the audiophile end users?

johnnyabnormal

johnnyabnormal

Worf

BigViper

gibson042

The high end audio market has more flavors than Baskin Robbins. That's just in the speaker cable design. Just an example, I have some Audio Physics Steps SLE (which have an impedance of 4 Ohms) that require biwiring to the speaker yet I'm only running a single tube amplifier. I wanted the cleanest path possible so I went with bare wire. That just told me the minimum gauge I can use (need), the termination, ideal material composition, wire configuration, etc.

For the average person going out and buying a Best Buy system, they don't have the enthusiasm to spend time deciding if they need biwire/single, spade connectors, banana connectors, copper, silver, gauge, etc. They probably just need a standard cable.

Actually, the cheaper wires of the high-end companies, you buy by the foot and you terminate them yourself. The high end, you always custom order to length and specify termination (brand, type, quality).

That's just the speaker wire. You add in the millions of combinations of gear and the high-end audio market is no place for a non-obsessed, mass-market invididual. Most people want something in a pretty box that they plug in and forget about... They're not worried about using a sound meter for exact speaker placement, sound room design, tube compliments, component pairing, sound stage reproduction, or signal path to reproduce the most realistic (and closest to live as possible) sound experience.

It's not "just" a cable if you just spent $$$$$$$$ on your audio system...

PynkFloydd

Monster-branded cables? Overpriced, period. Do I own any? Yes. Why? They really are built better than the cheapies found elsewhere. For digital stuff that won't get mucked around a bunch, go cheap and upgrade if you need to. For anything analog, go with something of decent quality, but there's no need to blow a wad over one set of cables (of any type).

Lastly - believe in your own senses. If it looks/sounds/feels/tastes/smells good to you, then you're happy. There's no sense in thinking that a simple cable will be so much better when your own senses are really the weakest link in the chain at some point. Really, if you can tell the difference, then go ahead and buy the better cables. Just don't try to convince the rest of us that it'll make things that much better based on your sensory inputs. Mine are different from yours and everybody else's. Deal with it.

racermd

dcartist

What kind of physics is that?

Electricity travels THROUGH wires. That's why the cross sectional area of a wire is a factor in resistance.

And peegee, you're missing the point and you're not "raining" on anybody's parade. People were just joking about using coat hangers in the future. The point of the article was that the special machining and design & materials of the super-expensive monster cables did not improve audio quality enough to differentiate it from soldered, non-exacting quality, coathangers.

dcartist

TrikeKid

Littlebitsofpaper

I have used the near equivalent of coathangers which would be the Radio Shack 18 guage project wire - not bad really.

Littlebitsofpaper

James

Kingteddybear

doctorSpoc

johnnyabnormal

@peegee: we actually sanded the lacquer off the ends and crimped connectors onto them.

He threw a bunch of us out of his house and has not spoken to me in the six years since.

JimK

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

ripfire4

A common coat hanger is soft steel or what would be called baling wire. Its closest industrial (proper name) is Mechanic's Wire (Soft Annealed Mechanic's Wire , 18 AWG.)

10-ga steel wire measures,0.00684,(Resistance in Ohms/ft), and measures 11.8,(Resistivity
10-6 ohm-cm).

10-ga copper wire measures,0.000999,(Resistance in Ohms/ft), and measures 1.724,(Resistivity
10-6 ohm-cm)respectively.

(see [www.stealth316.com])

I suppose that a coat hanger might be coated to prevent rust with a zinc coating but most likely that would be a lacquer or plastic finish. At any rate, I wonder as a conductor, steel or iron wouldn't conduct quite as well as copper, unless it were perhaps copper coated steel.

That wouldn't seem quite right simply because of the economics of production of coat hangers would be based on the lowest possible unit cost.

I agree that if you used common 18 gauge copper zip-cord I doubt you'd hear any difference,(provided there were limitations on length, and I'm assuming this would be about 1 meter in length based on an average length of a coat hanger).

But, let's just say, if your talking about a coat hanger right out of the closet, I think perhaps is telling a "creatively enhanced version of the truth..."

At the very least, they would have to strip-off the paint or lacquer...

So much for the little details...

peegee

Just sayin'....

Mondoz

When you bond two different metals together, you create resistance, resistance in communication gear equals static, which is bad.

This is a concept understod in basic electrical theory.

paulca82

dantaylor08

mikecoscia

I like Mogami for my home studio setup, but I'd never take 'em on the road with me. Too expensive to lose without Monster's more convenient warranty policy.

JustThisGuy

Fixed that for you.

Xavoc

electrikecho

BentCardan

Xavoc

mcdj

I have seen the difference on my own equipment between a cheap s-video cable, and a higher end one. In this case the Monster cable got rid of some ghosting in the picture.

I've had simple things like static electricity from carpet cause issues in the line between my receiver and sub.

In the end, what matters is whether the end user is happy with the results, and agrees to pay the price. Oh, and at least some of Monster's cable is manufactured in the US.

Xavoc

matt buchanan

steven0r

Cheap unshielded cable WILL result in EM issues in most setup's.

Epaminondas

your analogy is fail, sir.

nutbastard

As I always tell my boss after giving small discounts like that "good hustle, go team".

tketch

There are plenty of audiophile companies that provide quality stuff at good prices (Kimber Kable, Cary Aduio, etc.). Superb audio requires planning and research and is definitely not a mass-market thing.

From my years of experience in closing high dollar sales, the people that pay the most are the happiest. The people that save the most, complain the most. The people that paid the most in bloated profit also referred you their friends, their family and everyone under the sun. Oh...and they will defend their purchase to the death with unlimited amounts of justifications.

PynkFloydd

However, most audiophiles do not think much of Monster Cable...so the test may have been flawed from the start. Making cable bigger is not itself a virtue. I have heard obvious differences listening through cables like Kimber, MIT, and Transparency. In fact, those last two add time-align circuits to fix the fact that low and high frequencies travel down wires at different rates, smearing detail. All cables in this echelon use special metallurgy and extrusion techniques to make electrons act as if they are traveling through much shorter lengths, preventing such smearing and preserving bass below 40Hz. This is important if you need to run cables 20 feet or more. If your amp and speakers are sufficiently revealing, a matching high-quality cable does indeed contribute audibly. Thats why studios use them. I can say amplifiers from Spectral and Bryston really shine through a matched cable system feeding speakers like Dynaudio Evidence or even Quad E3's.

I'm one of those weird audiophiles that loves both home and pro equipment. My studio speakers are the modest self-powered Dynaudio BMA5's...and they improved noticeably when I replaced 20 yr. old balanced mic cables with new line-level wires from Mogami. So even the pre-amp wire can, on occasion, improve the sound.

It's worth noting that ninety percent of the possible improvement to sound comes with cables costing up to $400. It follows the principle of diminishing returns above that price and takes a very sophisticated system to project the difference.

rustyd100

There is a reason why there is a recommended physical distance gap of 16" between power and HDMI cable jacks on your wall. Better shielding allows you to fudge this a little, sometimes even a lot.

What amuses me during these tests are not whether or not one cable is better than another. It is whether one is better under adverse conditions, such as if you live near a radio tower or high tension power lines. Things with a big EM footprint.

Xavoc

;-)

kekone

Ahahahahahaha!

MastaFalse

ninjashock

Not to mention that Mogami cables are probably 20 dollars more expensive but come with a LIFETIME warranty. You can rip them up with a lawnmower, put them down a garbage disposal, slice them with a hack-saw, circular saw, jigsaw, and they'll replace them.

That plus no noise = greatest guitar cables known to man.

dvicklund

Speaker wire is the easiest wire to deal with, I use lamp cord myself. However, the issues i've ALWAYS dealt with with cehap cables was crosstalk and interference. Up until HDMI took over everything, I had broadcast quality Canare/Beldin cabling for component video and digital audio (coaxial>optical). Just by swapping out wires I could eliminate ghosting at hi-res from my HTPC and eliminate a hum from my subwoofer.

Basic cabling has their place, but this site is constantly insisting anyone who spends more than peanuts is an idiot. It just simply is not true.

Lizard_King

If you think that they are any more durable than any other non-cheapo cable, you're fooling yourself.

ninjashock

shoelessone

dantaylor08

SinAmos

No pardon me while I return to listening to a mouse fart in the opposite room...

scarbrtj

Also saw a audio test with sound engineers to test wheter digital and analog was better, None of them could tell the difference even though each set of engineers were adamant about using digital or analog over the other..

If people want to spend hundreds of bucks on wires, I'll package them up nicely and you can send the money to me! :)

RG_Shrike

Anyway, I'm not surprised. But I bet (as I'm sure some other whitty reader of gizmodo has already said) you'd be able to tell the diference no problem if you were using Pear cables!

shoelessone

poisonfist

WallStSk8r

Dearhaw

McLucky

surfer88

SeattleTed

kipswitch

jbramfeld

BurstAneurysm

I had one monster cable already but I decided to buy 2 of those 99 cent ones on amazon along with the splitter for a grand total of $14 after shipping and I have to tell you it works great there is minimal loss in the signal. The only problem is if you bend the 99 cent cables too much they could crack since they ave almost no insulation.

pokebud

No wire hangers! Ever!

Maladjusted

keyser

The Monster cables are built like brick outhouses, and can be stomped on, ripped out, kinked and twisted and abused in any way you're likely to on stage, and still hold together. And, should they break down, you've got a lifetime guarantee.

None of that applies to a home stereo. You don't move it, reconnect it, or spill $1 beer on it while kicking your amp over at the end of the show. Without the abuses of stage performance, I don't see what high priced cables can offer.

t3knomanser

As much as people will pay for them!

If I worked at Monster and made a good salary off of those cables, I wouldn't care, and neither would you in the same situation.

Monster makes and is happy, Consumer buys and is Happy, Dealer sells and is Happy! Everybody's Happy!

No problem.

Fountainhead

"don't starch me bro"

discounteggroll

lvd

ph15h needs a nu job

SigmundTheSeaMonster

anfauglir

Pear Anjou II.

"Starting with only the finest high carbon steel, the coat hangers in these 'Ultimately Danceable' cables provide..."

av8thor

riflehunter

drewheyman

Aleung

fastm3driver

duranduran4ever

atomicafro

flyboy

BonoMan

To really make a point they should have done it with the cheapest cables they could find online.

car47

Having said that.. I bet the guys at Monster aren't going to be pleased with this...

Discofunk

johnnyabnormal

flyboy

Jack Loftus

Spyrojoe

And some fool will buy them.

albokay

CubFan81

MikeSWelch