I bought some $60 Monster Audio cables....

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CoolCat

CoolCat

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I heard absolutely no difference.

My son said a guitarist he knows had paid big bucks for a guitar cable and it failed on him. I guess they have a good warranty? But so does the average budget brand.

anyway, just another "home test" data point.

I found these in a junk pile sale, Monster gold plugs....looked them up on line they sell at $60. I paid $2.

Marketing hype? Brand Name gobbledygook.... another outlet for people with money to have something to spend it on? Fashion Fad product?

maybe its just me, maybe I dont have the Golden Ears to hear the difference?

but then again? I bought these because they said "MONSTER" on the label?

I guess I suffer "logo" disease too...:eek:
 
I pulled as many HD logos off my bike as I could. :-)

Monster... Yes, they (some audiophile dudes) A/B'd Monster's best speaker cable against two bent wire hangers (and found no difference whatsoever).

Not that they're "bad" -- But much of the "MIT" grade stuff out there isn't any better than the "Home Depot" grade stuff. Monster's power conditioners are actually a helluva deal...

And although I'm not a big "logo" guy - I do walk on the wild side with companies that have a tendency to sue everyone that uses a name with any similarity to theirs... http://www.monstermastering.com

Heh heh...

Anyway - Sounds like you scored a great deal on what I'm sure are very nice cables - but not too many people will be surprised that you didn't hear a difference.
 
Back the car over them, cut them in half, use them as a tow line for your car; Monster will replace them.
 
I have a monster cable, a little patch one. It's broken. I have yet to call them to get my replacement... nothing is physically wrong with the cable too.
 
You pay money for things musical in the hope not just that they sound good, but that they'll last a long time. I don't even think Monster sell over where I am and I'm certainly aware of the issues around them and their name, but at least part of what you're paying is for the guarantee of longevity and lifetime replacement warranty.

You're not going to get much difference in an electric guitar cable anyway, but you want something that won't fuck up when you can least afford it.

I'm over paying for cheap rubbish, so I'll only buy quality items of any sort these days... they're not always expensive, but they're usually not the cheapest things on offer either.
 
Monster is an example of the triumph of marketing, image and threats of lawsuits over engineering and performance.

All the kiddies working at Guitar Center shill Monster cables like their granny's oxygen supply would be cut off if they didn't sell a certain number of 'em each week. I don't know this for a fact, but I figure Monster must be providing somebody a kick-back- and if it isn't the kiddies selling their souls to the devil, one cable at a time, that somebody should burn in hell.

Monster is infamous for having their lawywers send sabre-rattling letters to anyone who uses the "M-word" in their name, even if there is zero chance of anybody confusing the two companies. I understand the drag racing team "The Green Monster" got one, for instance.

So they offer a life-time warranty- big fucking deal. Almost EVERYBODY else has as good a warranty. I have never bought a Monster cable- I have a few, that were left behind in either a recording session or at the summer camps I provide gear and live sound for- seems the kiddies who's parents bought that crap for them have little or no respect for the junk mommie laid good money down for- but that does not surprise me. If they didn't have to work for it, it means nothing to them.

Monster Cable is about as sleazy a company as a company can get. They suck.
 
On a side issue, I think the best thing anyone into home recording can do is teach themselves some very basic soldering skills and build their own cables. Things like XLR and TRS are some of the easiest things there are to solder and, if you can make your own, a hundred metre reel of mic cable and a handful of good connectors will mean you always have the cables you need and never pay Monster Cable prices.

On cables themselves, I'm a believer that it's usually worth spending money on good cable (for the handling quality when you're coiling it) and good connectors (for the reliability). It's never worth spending money for a "name" or supposed sound quality based on snake oil claims rather than physics.

Bob
 
I have whirlwind cables that are 30+ years old and they still work!
 
CoolCat said:
I heard absolutely no difference.

My son said a guitarist he knows had paid big bucks for a guitar cable and it failed on him. I guess they have a good warranty? But so does the average budget brand.

anyway, just another "home test" data point.

I found these in a junk pile sale, Monster gold plugs....looked them up on line they sell at $60. I paid $2.

Marketing hype? Brand Name gobbledygook.... another outlet for people with money to have something to spend it on? Fashion Fad product?

maybe its just me, maybe I dont have the Golden Ears to hear the difference?

but then again? I bought these because they said "MONSTER" on the label?

I guess I suffer "logo" disease too...:eek:
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Monster cable = lifetime warranty.

Monster is actually one brand I'd spend the money on. SQ is often hardly effected by the cable (people are going to hate me for saying that) Before I got into recording I had already been an audiophile: The other hardware is generally more important. The reason I used the word "hardly" is because there are crap cables that sound bad and there are some cables that are somewhat better sounding but Monster, and the cheapo brand at GC usually sound pretty close in SQ but monster will always replace it when the SQ will decentigrate on the cheapo cable
 
Bobbsy said:
On a side issue, I think the best thing anyone into home recording can do is teach themselves some very basic soldering skills and build their own cables. Things like XLR and TRS are some of the easiest things there are to solder and, if you can make your own, a hundred metre reel of mic cable and a handful of good connectors will mean you always have the cables you need and never pay Monster Cable prices.

On cables themselves, I'm a believer that it's usually worth spending money on good cable (for the handling quality when you're coiling it) and good connectors (for the reliability). It's never worth spending money for a "name" or supposed sound quality based on snake oil claims rather than physics.

Bob
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+1 This is true too and something I didn't mention. Quality cables will have much less interferance from other electronic devices and other cables. Very very good point
 
The cable that I've had the most problems with is canare and they are ranked right up there with the best.
 
stevieb said:
Monster is an example of the triumph of marketing, image and threats of lawsuits over engineering and performance.

All the kiddies working at Guitar Center shill Monster cables like their granny's oxygen supply would be cut off if they didn't sell a certain number of 'em each week. I don't know this for a fact, but I figure Monster must be providing somebody a kick-back- and if it isn't the kiddies selling their souls to the devil, one cable at a time, that somebody should burn in hell.
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They're not, at least not at Guitar Center. I usually tell people to get Mogami, but most people don't want to spend that much money, so Monster hits a nice in between price point. Honestly, though, if I worked guitars, I probably wouldn't sell much Monster just because they are sold in such stupid lengths. You either go too short or you get signal loss. Every other brand sells 18' cables. If it's for live use, I tell them not to waste their money on anything expensive, but don't get the cheapest ones, either, cuz they break really easily. Personally, I use Mogami for recording and for the longer cables in my guitar rig (ie not the patch cords on my board) both for longevity and cuz I don't want anything making mixing any harder than it already is. Are they worth 3x the Livewire cables? Probably not, but fortunately, that's not what I have to pay for them.
 
stevieb said:
Monster Cable is about as sleazy a company as a company can get. They suck.
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Agree 100% (more if possible). I will NEVER do business with Monster cable company. They are about as low as you can go in the business. Friends don't let friends buy Monster product. Do a bit of research and you will find that they make a profit out of suing anyone else using the name "Monster", including mini golf, or anyone else building a good (better) cable as they build. http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/blue-jeans-strikes-back anyone else.
 
I did a little experiment today in an attempt to validate my opinion of Mogami by comparing it to a Livewire cable of the same length. Not only did the Mogami not sound any better, it seemed to me that there was actually a little more detail from the Livewire. I'm not even talking about the expensive Livewire Elite cable, just the regular one. Wow. Now I feel pretty dumb for spending all that money on Mogami cables. Has anyone noticed more of a difference with microphone cables?
 
metal wire wrapped in rubber -

cables are probably the most basic piece of technology used in recording - there isn't too much that can go wrong. Who cares about lifetime replacement when every guitar store has a million guitar cables and they average around $12 - cables are cables...
 
Look.. if your home studio is cheap.. (and I am not accusing anyone of this..haha) I mean you are using a cheap mike, cheap board if any at all, and all your plugs are connected to the same extension cord that your TV and vacuum cleaner plug into.. you are not going to see a big difference in high quality cables.. Where the difference comes in is the line level noise that they cut, especially if they are over 10 feet in length.. Gold is better that copper and thick, well shielded cables will produce more professional results than the one you bought for 5 bucks at the local WalMart.
 
I don't think anyone will hear a difference between cables. Some benefits though are softer easier to roll cables, probably can take more abuse as well. On a similar note, I bought an HDMI no-name cable for $5 instead of the $60 cable they tried to sell me. Works perfectly fine, and this one gets plugged in and will never move.
 
I just bought another Monster cable. I love them because of the lifetime warranty. No questions asked and takes 2 minutes. Walk in, tell them this cable doesn't work, they went and got a replacement, marked it in the computer and I walked out. I never buy anything besides their standard 100s but I pay extra so I don't have to worry about buying more cables.
 
IK Obi said:
I just bought another Monster cable. I love them because of the lifetime warranty. No questions asked and takes 2 minutes. Walk in, tell them this cable doesn't work, they went and got a replacement, marked it in the computer and I walked out. I never buy anything besides their standard 100s but I pay extra so I don't have to worry about buying more cables.
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How much do the Monsters cost versus a regular brand?
 
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