Anyone else think Monster is the Bose of cables? (1 Viewer)

[Ronnie Schildha]

In the past year I have changed out all my cables to Acoustic Research. I have saved a ton of money and have noticed no loss in performance from the higher priced Monster Cables. As far as higher end (kimber, Viper ect.)

go, if you have high end equipment they may be worth the money. I have midrange equipment, so Acoustic Research cables are just fine.

 

[Luis Esp]

I've experienced nothing but nightmares with Monster cable. When I first purchased my ht equipment, I bought all Monster Cable, and after a year, my s video and toslink cables died on me ( that's over $120 down the toilet). I too switched to AR and have had no problems since.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Bob_L,
Most audiophiles I know do IN FACT run from Monster Cable!
Now I have had great luck with their video cable, particularly the better models, but for audio you can do much better for less money.
Noel Lee has done a great job marketing the daylights our of the line and treating salespeople to Ferrari rides (yes, if you meet your quota, so keep that in mind the next time a salesperson at a chain store approaches..) but one can do much better...Try Kimber, Audioquest, Cardas, Nordost, any number of high end brands and go with the entry level models. You will find they sound better. Oh yes, Audio Research makes great cable for $200 as somewhat of a loss leader in value terms.

Lee

 

[Brandon B]

I've go a set of RS gold component cables that, while they perform fine, require a about 60 seconds of careful turning and pulling to disconnect or they will RIP the jacks right out of the back of my TV or DVD player. I have stopped using them and am making my own with Belden/Canare stuff.

I have one pair of their IC's that are not nearly as tight.

Won't be buying anything of theirs again.

BB

 

[Stephen Houdek]

For $200 that had better be one H*&# of a cable. Sorry boys, but I certainly don't see spending $200 on any amount of copper less than a Ton.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Stephen,
Sonically it is one hell of a cable. Great, tight bass that sounds like the real thing and a nice liquid midrange. This is well worth it if you have a high resolution system.
Lee

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

What bothers me is how many quality dealers carry nothing but Monster cables.

I wonder if this is because Monster provides kickbacks to dealers that agree to exclude other brands? Sort of like the potato chip aisle at the grocery store which is almost exclusively filled by Frito Lay brands.

 

[KeithH]

Wayne, could very well be. I have heard stories to that effect before. As I said in an earlier post in this thread, a salesman at Harvey Electronics, a higher-end chain in New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut, told me that "We are practically in bed with Monster". I had asked him flat out why they only carry Monster cables. They sell quality gear by Marantz, Krell, Adcom, McIntosh, Sony (ES), NAD, and others and only offer Monster cables. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest for a customer to walk out of a Harvey store with a Krell CD player and no cables.

 

[Randy_M]

Isn't there some kind of law against this sort of anti-competitive practice?

Seems like Microsoft was just sued for similar shenanigans!

 

[Tom Hall]

I have the Panny 47" WS & the audio/video equip. rack is about 20ft from it. I have a Denon 4800 DVD player, & Denon 3802 receiver, & I'm using the Monster Video-3 Component Cables, along with other Monster Cables for the other interconnects..I have had no problems with them..Could things look even better with others?..Don't know. Any ideas guys?...Tom

 

[Elbert Lee]

I agree that it would be premature to label Monster as the "BOSE" in the cable market. Monster is the biggest, and most high profile cable manufacturer because it's perceived to be the best by J6P.

I agree that most of Monster's lower line (especially INTERLINK), is similar in build and performance to brands that cost much less (AR, RCA's high performance, etc.) Was anyone aware the MONSTER made their cables, too? Therefore, the answer to some bitter Monster buyers is YES - you can get equal performance for a cheaper brand. However, to be fair, it must be understood that as a BRAND, Monster must price their "similar" cables higher to maintain consumer market perception of the product. If they reduced the price of their interlink line, the Monster image would be cheapened as well.

For HT enthusiasts, I believe that the "Z" and "M" series of cables are the only ones to really consider as well as compare to other "smarter buy" brands like Better Cables. Sure, they are priced slightly to drastically higher than the INTERLINK line of cables, but they are a significant step up in performance and design and are not marketed to J6P like Interlink. In fact, some of the lower M series can be purchased for just a few bucks more than the Interlink so I don't think getting the TRUE higher end cables from Monster will break the bank for most people.

I have a profound respect for Better Cables and what they were able to bring to the market and target the HT Enthusiasts with a goal geared toward the best price/performance ratio. Monster is much larger and their business/marketing model is much more diverse so it is up to us as HT enthusiasts to recognize the cables that we SHOULD consider and not the ones that Monster markets at the big chain electronic stores.

I believe that Monster has to do a better job of product line awareness on their "M" series so that they can reestablish some respectibility from those entry level consumers who are becoming hardcore enthusiasts.

Elbert

 

[Barry_B_B]

All of my A/V interconnects are Monster with the exception of Home Depot 12ga. speaker cable; good sharp picture with clear sound. Maybe one day I'll experiment with higher end stuff, but would most definitely not lump them with Bose.

 

[Brian P]

Monster has a wide range of products and from what I can tell you guys seem to be judging them by their mid to lower end products. It seems like if a product isnt a labled as being a "super value" people act like everything they make sucks and I disagree. They try a mid-end product (that has a lifetime warranty I might add) and label all their stuff bad? Sure they're overpriced due to marketing but they still have some quality stuff imo. I use M1000i's for my HT so quit making me feel bad!

 

[Elbert Lee]

Brian - I feel for you. I like Monster's M series myself and it's unfortunate that most people are only exposed to the M products sold at the big chain stores. However, when you are the biggest company, you have to market wisely and not cheapen the product by pricing them close to the cheap stuff.

Bose products have some merit - not a decent "sound/price" value, but a solid "discreet sound system/price value" That's it. You pay the price almost entirely for the purpose of hiding the sound system. Given the fact that most HT enthuiasts have HT set ups with a large display (something that almost immediately draws attention to itself in any room), trying to hide the sound system is a moot point. Therefore, there's little merit in considering BOSE at all, let alone paying such a high price for it for relatively inferior sound.

On the other hand, Monter Cables have a lot of merit and there are very sound design principals in their cables at most price levels. It's easy to knock the large company, but they didn't build this industry because they can't make a decent product. As HT enthusiasts, we have to be aware of the good stuff in their product line and not homogenize all of Monster products into their mass marketing products. It only makes sense from a market expansion standpoint, to offer the gamut of prodcuts, so it's up the us not to fall for the inferior product. Other specialized cable manufacturers can only concentrate on a particulal level of product because they simply don't have the marketing muscle, capital and market penetration to go after every cable market and, let's face it, they can base their pricing strategies off of the established leader/stnadard in the industry which is Monster. Good news for us since competition is healthy and we are able to choose from a variety of cables and at much lower prices.

Elbert

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Elbert - some very good points. It's foolish to knock an entire brand based on their cheapest product.
I have to say that I agree that "Monster is the Bose of cables" for the following reasons:

• Both companies produce technical products. But both companies hide/obfusciate their technical specs so they cannot be compared to their competition.
• Both companies spend much more of their budget on Marketing & sales than engineering/research/development. Based on their operating expenses, they should be called "Marketing Companies" rather than "Technological Companies".
• Both companies are routinly used as examples in MBA classes of successful Marketing - Like StarBucks: take a $0.25 cup of coffee and figure out how to charge $3.10 for it. (This is considered a great success story.)

 

[Elbert Lee]

Bob - you're right on the marketing aspect. However in relation to the products, most members on this form believe that the entire BOSE product line is way overpriced for what they offer and not worth nearly what is being paid for them. I believe that Monster does make some reasonably priced and solid performaing cables, therefore in regards to this comparison, I have to disagree. Let's face it, Monster set the reference standard for people to compare cables at various price levels.

I have yet to encounter a cable manufacturer that does not "hide/obfusciate their technical specs", but then again, I haven't had a chance to research all of the other cables manufacturer. Every time I come across information, advertising, etc, "BEST SOUND" and "Get more out of your equipment" are the only "specs" that they provide, including Monster. Speaker performance and specs are measurable and there is little reason to have to hide them. I think it's more difficult to quantify cable performance, especially since it depends on so many other factors.

Elbert

 

[Bob McElfresh]

You are correct that many of the "packaged" cables dont show frequency response charts. You CAN find these on the Canare and Belden web sites, but the "packaged" companies dont tell you if they are using Belden/Canare.

Speaker performance and specs are measurable and there is little reason to have to hide them

In the "Speakers and Subwoofers" fourm a few weeks ago someone tried really hard to get specifications/frequency response from Bose. He pasted a marketing-speak response he got that basically said that Bose never publishes these because they believe it is not useful to the consumer, but recommended he go visit a dealer for a demo to hear for himself.

There was another thread about a guy who visited the Bose Home Theater Demo at a local electronics store. By accident he got behind some of the partitions and found a rack of electronics (amps/equalizers) used to make the speakers sound good. (One of the amps appeared to have the Krell logo). A sales guy caught him and told him customers were never allowed behind the partitions.

Fraudlant - no. Deceptive (Estimated $5,000 worth of electronics to make the $1,200 speakers sound good) - Yes.

So Boes DOES hide it's technical specs, and "pushes the edge" of honesty during demos. This is enough to make me suspicious.

 

[Elbert Lee]

On BOSE, I most definitely agree. This incident with the awesome electronics behind the partitions doesn't surprise me in the least. BOSE is very careful on how they demonstrate their COMPLETE HOME THEATER packages. At the local FRYS electronics, they have a BOSE sales rep on site to demonstrate the system. The demo does not show the electronics, but highlights the speakers only. After exiting the demo, they show how the RF remote works with the head unit, but don't give a real sound demonstration.

I remember hearing the BOSE satellit system at a small B&M and it sounded terrible - spitty, artificial, and, unless the volume was turned all the way up, it was hard to hear dialogue from the center channel. They set it up in a small, average sized room and set it up the way most people would for a BOSE system. It never sounds that way in a BOSE store. I do feel that BOSE does have certain things to offer a small segment of consumers (not to most members on this forum), but the list of positives pale in comparison to the negatives.

Elbert

 

[Craig Robertson]

i also think that Monster is the Bose of cables. they are not BAD cables, just that better performance can be had for cheaper, imo.

 

[Kevin_Kr]

Is everyone aware that monster holds the most patents of cable companies and is one of the companies that actually proved cables do make a difference. Does anyone care? I love when everyone bashes products like Bose and Monster because they are "overpriced, and marketed well" to you a resourceful audiphiole, yes that is true. To the average consumer who desires convenience and ease of use it fits the bill perfectly. It is all in the eyes of the beholder and what you place your values in. Some people value their time and don't want to look high and low for other products to suit their needs. I guess what I am saying is these products may not fit your needs but they may more than satify another persons needs.