Edward J M
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2002
- Messages
- 2,031
Intro
I upgraded my component video cables from Monster Cable MV2CV with the Signal Cable brand.
The Signal Cable product is based on the Canare L-5CFB cable, and is hand-terminated with true 75 ohm RCA connectors. For more information, go here:
http://signalcable.com/component.html
I have no affiliation with Signal Cable - I personally use them because they do very high quality work, and I like to support businesses in my own state whenever I can. As an alternative, this cable can be done DIY (if you are confident in your termination abilities), or purchased from other cable vendors.
Equipment Used:
Denon DVD-2900
Hitachi 53” Ultravision 16x9 (calibrated with Avia)
Picture Resolution:
The improvement in fine detail and resolution was quite significant. The Monster product always seemed slightly out of focus in comparison.
In the opener of “Below”, every metal rivet on the airplane chassis was clearly resolved with the Signal Cable. The rivets were blurry and indistinct with the Monster. Other DVDs showed similar resolution improvements every time.
Background shots on most DVDs took on an almost liquid quality with the Signal Cable, with fine details visible everywhere and less video noise/grain.
Color:
Low light scenes showed the most improvement with the Signal Cable, with subtle blues and reds colors coming through with perfect hue. In comparison, the Monster Cable washed out colors during the dark scenes.
In addition, the Monster overemphasized greens during dark scenes, whereas the Signal Cable brought a more balanced and natural looking tan/green.
Without question though, the biggest color improvement was blue. Blues went from ho-hum to simply stunning in pureness and hue. The improvement in blues was frankly almost beyond belief for what could be expected with a cable change alone. Tough tests included Underworld (shot almost exclusively at night) - the lightning strikes, the vampire eyes, the irradiated bullets, neon lighting, the subway walls – everything blue was simply a huge improvement.
Summary:
If you can’t tell, I’m VERY excited about this cable upgrade. By any HT standard, I had a very good PQ with the Monster. But the PQ with the Signal Cable is just stunning. I honestly was not expecting such an obvious improvement in PQ and I’m generally a skeptic when it comes to these things. But I have to say, the Signal Cable (Canare L-5CFB) is truly a reference quality interconnect - it blew away the Monster Cable MV2 in every respect for about the same price. Highly recommended.
Regards,
Ed
I upgraded my component video cables from Monster Cable MV2CV with the Signal Cable brand.
The Signal Cable product is based on the Canare L-5CFB cable, and is hand-terminated with true 75 ohm RCA connectors. For more information, go here:
http://signalcable.com/component.html
I have no affiliation with Signal Cable - I personally use them because they do very high quality work, and I like to support businesses in my own state whenever I can. As an alternative, this cable can be done DIY (if you are confident in your termination abilities), or purchased from other cable vendors.
Equipment Used:
Denon DVD-2900
Hitachi 53” Ultravision 16x9 (calibrated with Avia)
Picture Resolution:
The improvement in fine detail and resolution was quite significant. The Monster product always seemed slightly out of focus in comparison.
In the opener of “Below”, every metal rivet on the airplane chassis was clearly resolved with the Signal Cable. The rivets were blurry and indistinct with the Monster. Other DVDs showed similar resolution improvements every time.
Background shots on most DVDs took on an almost liquid quality with the Signal Cable, with fine details visible everywhere and less video noise/grain.
Color:
Low light scenes showed the most improvement with the Signal Cable, with subtle blues and reds colors coming through with perfect hue. In comparison, the Monster Cable washed out colors during the dark scenes.
In addition, the Monster overemphasized greens during dark scenes, whereas the Signal Cable brought a more balanced and natural looking tan/green.
Without question though, the biggest color improvement was blue. Blues went from ho-hum to simply stunning in pureness and hue. The improvement in blues was frankly almost beyond belief for what could be expected with a cable change alone. Tough tests included Underworld (shot almost exclusively at night) - the lightning strikes, the vampire eyes, the irradiated bullets, neon lighting, the subway walls – everything blue was simply a huge improvement.
Summary:
If you can’t tell, I’m VERY excited about this cable upgrade. By any HT standard, I had a very good PQ with the Monster. But the PQ with the Signal Cable is just stunning. I honestly was not expecting such an obvious improvement in PQ and I’m generally a skeptic when it comes to these things. But I have to say, the Signal Cable (Canare L-5CFB) is truly a reference quality interconnect - it blew away the Monster Cable MV2 in every respect for about the same price. Highly recommended.
Regards,
Ed