Monster Cables (1 Viewer)

[AndrewLevine]

I was looking at Monster Cable's XP Speaker Wire and the only thing I noticed different about ath versus any other wire I've seen is that the wire itself is wrapped around a little plastic 'wire' that runs down the center.

Monster cable described this as "Magnetic Flux Tube construction and special cable windings for natural music reproduction. Impressive clarity, bass response and dynamic range in a compact design."

Is there any merit at all to this flux tube design, or is this just a marketing ploy?

(The reason I ask is because I'm looking for some speaker wire for a pair of Athena F2.2's hooked up to a Harman Kardon AVR 235)

Thanks for your time,
Andrew

 

[Phil A]

You'll find lots of marketing hype over various brands. The best way to try something is in your set-up with a money back guarantee. If you're talking mainly for home theater use (e.g. using a DVD player hooked into the digital input of a receiver which has its DACs piggybacked off the DSP) vs. high end 2-channel, I'm not sure how much difference if any you'll hear. With a brand name (not picking on any particular one) and multiple mark-ups to get to retail (vs. something like Blue Jeans Cables), you're also paying a premium. Sometimes for local dealer support the premiums can be convient for equipment. I've heard that Monster's stuff is made for them by Belden (www.belden.com). They (Belden) have lots of info at their website too. For basic FAQ on some things that are important, you may wish to look at a website of a cable manuf. like www.jenving.se

 

[ScottCHI]

I don't think that the little plastic "wire" has anything to do with the "magnetic flux tube construction"; at least not functionally.

Then, again.....................

If you're wondering, MonsterXP is decent speaker wire and the price is still usually within what is considered the reasonable range for most, but you can probably get comparable performance for less.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

I believe that plastic wire is for pull-strength.

In truth - the copper strands in a speaker wire should be twisted/braded. I believe it solves problems in the signal transmission over a long run when frequencies suddenly change...but my memory over what "Q" means is a bit dim.

Monster makes decent enough wires, but they are often short on real technical information and heavy on Marketing buzz. Any speaker wire could be called a "flux tube", but monster is using techno-buzz and implying they have some exclusive/secret technology. Dont get fooled.

 

[Chu Gai]

By winding the wires around the plastic tube, the skin effect is slightly reduced which in turn means there's less attenuation of the high frequencies. However this must be placed in perspective since the effect is on the order of a small fractional dB @ 20 kHz. IOW, yes it does something, but no, it's not audible.