Blue Jeans vs Monster THX cables (1 Viewer)

[Jim Lyles]

I'm beginning to get a tad more into my HT lately and have decided to start upgrading my cables first to get the most out of what I have now and future upgrades; starting with my most bottom end (aka in worst shape) and working upwards. I am looking for some decent cables that wont break the bank, but still be better than the crap from Walmart. I have seen Monster Cable's THX line on Ebay reasonably priced, but Blue Jeans Cable is very closely priced. Which would give me the best bang for the buck and why? Thanks for helping a consumer grade become a audiophile grade HT owner.

 

[chuckg]

Add up the price of those fancy cables, and instead buy a better DVD player with a better decoder chip. Or buy a better receiver with better audio decoders. Or buy a better TV. Or maybe better speakers.

The best bang for the buck is not in wiring! And those Monster cables are stupid expensive. I think many would agree that wire plays *almost* no part in sound/image quality.

The greatest bang for the buck is in speakers. Ten bucks spent on speakers is worth $100 or more in amplifier upgrades.

 

[Jim Lyles]

The main thing I'm after right now is a good sub cable. I recently moved and somehow have misplaced mine!!:frowning: I thought about just remaking one like I had; coax RG-6 cable with the f to rca ends from Radio Shack. As far as speakers, right now I have some older JBL N series ;n38 fronts, n28 rears, N-center, and the trusty ol' Sony SAW40 for sub (slightly modified). Thinking of building my own sub and then do the rest as $$$ allows.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

I strongly suggest you separate audio and video cables in your search. Some have a much greater impact than others.

Video: Go with BlueJeans. They sell stuff that is normally only sold to broadcast studios and production houses. It has the technical specs that engineers look for.

Monster - wont give out technical information. They seem to think you are too stupid to understand numbers. Instead, they list "Number of slots in the RCA plug" as a feature. This alone makes me not want to buy any more of their product.

(Yes, I have some Monster cables. But my video cables are made with Canare coax and plugs identical to what you get from BlueJeans.)

Audio: Stick with good 12 ga speaker wire. Make sure you leave a foot or so of slack and plan on trimming off the exposed copper every 18 months or so. Buy a spool and use it everywhere.

Subwoofer: Subwoofer frequencies are trivial for any coax cable. The only issue I feel makes a difference are tight-fitting RCA plugs. Monster has a reputation of having "turbine-grip-of-death" plugs and I think they feel subwoofers like a strong fit as well. This is the one good thing about Monster.

But the BlueJeans cables tend to have lots of good surface area which subwoofers also like.

When in doubt - follow the 10% guideline:

Budget 10% of the cost of the devices you are hooking up for the wires/cables

Since your Sony SAW40 runs about $150 - This gives you a budget of $15 for the cable - or you are over-spending.

(Ok, add part of the reciever cost and you can push the price to $20-30)

Buy whichever cable keeps you close to this price.

My subwoofer? I am using an old 6 ft Monster video cable. I was using some RG6 with the "F-to-RCA" adaptors when the subwoofer was across the room, but now its a lot closer so I grabbed a 6 ft cable I had lying around.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ted Lee]

i get what chuck is trying to say and i agree with him, but pay attention to how he worded this. he says it "almost" makes no differene ... but good wire *does* make a difference.

you don't have to shoot the moon, but getting some decent quality cabling will absolutely help.

personally, i use monster stuff, but only because i get it at employee discount prices. if i was shopping retail, i'd buy the budget AR cables and call it a day.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

Whatever you do, don't buy crap.

Worst case, I would rather someone OVERspend on cables and waste some money (sorta) than buy some junk from the Wal*Mart and have issues with noise, broken cables, etc.

You can get a good subwoofer cable for $15, like:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=181-642

or

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=181-644

(12' and 25')

 

[Jim Lyles]

I ended up looking through my old cable box and found some Stinger Dream Series car audio RCA cables about 25' long and used it. Works great!!! Thanks for all the advice!!