Tom Hicks said:
Because it works fine.
Griff,I'm glad you got good results with the monster cable.Maybe its the top end gear that you mention using with it.In college,I worked for an audiophile speaker mfg. here in Ft Worth called Toby Corp. and Toby (the boss and designer) specified 18 guage zip cord for wiring all the speakers in our showroom.
I also have a monster cable I bought because of its percieved reputation and have tried it in comparison both with my live guitar rig and at home in the studio.Perhaps my ears aren't as golden,but I just don't hear the amazing difference you claim.It could be due to me having a lessor grade of gear.I have a Hafler P1200 amp going to Kenwood Hi Fi speakers.The live rig is a twin-type tube amp into an EV12L.
But,as they say,YMMV.
It's not a higher grade of gear that's at issue here - it's one gauge of wire vs. another.
What I just upgraded wire on was an Onkyo M-5000 discrete power amp to a pair of Infinity RS-2 bookshelf speakers - and it was like night and day. All other aspects of the system remained exactly the same, and I was stunned by how much headroom I gained by upgrading the wire. I didn't change the amplifier volume setting before I fired up the CD player to see how much of a difference it had made - I had to
quickly turn it down as soon as the first notes started to play, because it was hurting my ears.
I'm curious to know what gauge Monster cable you used. I don't think it's the brand as much as it is the gauge.
As far as manufacturer recommendations are concerned, I don't put any stock in that at all. I sell home theater equipment at my day job - the surround packages I sell - every single one of them packages chintzy little 22gauge wires with the systems, and every one of my customers who bought the heavier cable to go with it say it's an incredible difference.
Like I said - go get the industrial 14-2 electrical wire (14gauge, 2-conductor) - it'll still be a huge difference.
Or, as a friend of mine that does use $8,000 D/A converters and $5,000 studio monitors said to me a bit ago, continue using low-strand, small-gauge lamp cord, and find yourself replacing speakers every two or three years because you're introducing square-wave distortion to your speakers from that thick-strand wire.