Best Buy and Monster Cables

[William Wallace]

Does Best Buy have some kind of partnership with Monster Cables INC? I felt compelled to ask this question after a few BB employees have tried to rip me off. This is a serious question.

[djones6746]

I doubt it.....

How have they tried to rip you off?

[William Wallace]

They keep telling me how much "better" monster cables are than everything else out there. They try to sell me these expensive $70 ones, telling me that they make a "world's difference" compared to the Radio Shack Gold Series ones.

[djones6746]

Originally posted by William Wallace
They keep telling me how much "better" monster cables are than everything else out there. They try to sell me these expensive $70 ones, telling me that they make a "world's difference" compared to the Radio Shack Gold Series ones.

IMO....the monster cables are better but I am sure you will be happy with the Radio Shack cables. Onecall.com was trying to sell me audioquest component cables for $100.00....I chose the Monster component cables for $40.00 which I felt was more than reasonable. What type of cables were they trying to sell for $70.00??? Component...S-Video...??? :)

[discostu1337]

audioquest walks all over monster cable...hence the price jump.

[William Wallace]

monster video component cables for $70

[DVD_O_Rama]

Originally posted by discostu1337
audioquest walks all over monster cable...hence the price jump.

That's a pretty bold statement to say the least. And since I'm sure you wouldn't make such a statement without comparing the two for yourself, how about sharing the particulars and how you came about your opinion. Thanks.

[djones6746]

Originally posted by discostu1337
audioquest walks all over monster cable...hence the price jump.

I seriously doubt it....any differences in quality would most likely only be measurable with equipment.

[djones6746]

Originally posted by discostu1337
audioquest walks all over monster cable...hence the price jump.

There are monster cables in the $70.00-$100.00 price range....

[Kman1011]

There are monster cables in the 1k price range as well. They make cables for every budget. Is there a noticeable differnce in cale quality to some yes, if your not one of those people just don't buy them.

[Movie_Man]

Originally posted by William Wallace
Does Best Buy have some kind of partnership with Monster Cables INC?

Partnership? I doubt it. However, it is very likely a salesrep from Monster visits the stores and hypes the product to the salesguys while dishing out pizza. It's all hype.


And if there's one thing you should learn from this forum, it's "don't believe anything the Best Buy sales drone tells you without verifying it yourself"

[0ne]

speaking as a former employee, yes Best Buy and Monster have a partnership, they send out employees to special monster cable training sessions, stores that sell more monster cables than other stores get incentives, managers get bonuses, vacations, employees get free cables.
As to the quality, their cables are of a good build, but for almost all cases you wont notice any difference in the quality of a monster cable over a cheaper, shielded gold plated cable (RShack or AcouReasearch are good ones). Their power centers are outstanding if you your home theater is large enough to merit one though.

[hypeiv]

Originally posted by 0ne
speaking as a former employee, yes Best Buy and Monster have a partnership, they send out employees to special monster cable training sessions, stores that sell more monster cables than other stores get incentives, managers get bonuses, vacations, employees get free cables.
As to the quality, their cables are of a good build, but for almost all cases you wont notice any difference in the quality of a monster cable over a cheaper, shielded gold plated cable (RShack or AcouReasearch are good ones). Their power centers are outstanding if you your home theater is large enough to merit one though.

I am not a big fan of monster cables... a few years back I knew some anime fansubbers and the only cables that ever broke on them where moster cables... how the hell does a cable break? (I am not talking about optical)

[gcribbs]

Originally posted by hypeiv
I am not a big fan of monster cables... a few years back I knew some anime fansubbers and the only cables that ever broke on them where moster cables... how the hell does a cable break? (I am not talking about optical)

every try and pull a monster cable off of the back of a receiever :(

some of them seem to stick like crazy glue. I once just gave a cable away to a friend when i was giving them a receiver I had since I thoguht i was either going to pull out the actual connection out of the back of the receiver or pull the wire out of the cable -eek-

[jumbojp]

Originally posted by gcribbs
every try and pull a monster cable off of the back of a receiever :(

some of them seem to stick like crazy glue. I once just gave a cable away to a friend when i was giving them a receiver I had since I thoguht i was either going to pull out the actual connection out of the back of the receiver or pull the wire out of the cable -eek-


I wish I had that problem!

The Monster S-Video cable I stupidly bought about 3 years ago is so damn heavy and the connections are so bad that it falls out or loosens up and I need to constantly check it:(

I did have a problem with my Kimber PBJ though, pulled the metal cap right off the back of my vcr connetion, that sucked but it still works.

The best cables I have right now are from www.cobaltcable.com Well sheilded, well made, resonably priced and they look and sound great. Once I get the funds up I am replacing all my cables with them:)

[Brian Shannon]

Originally posted by 0ne
speaking as a former employee, yes Best Buy and Monster have a partnership, they send out employees to special monster cable training sessions, stores that sell more monster cables than other stores get incentives, managers get bonuses, vacations, employees get free cables.


Every Monster cable retailer gets this from Monster, nothing special about BB for sure.

To remove a turbine cut connector you need to twist it. They are designed so they do not pull straight out.

[bfrank]

Originally posted by Brian Shannon
Every Monster cable retailer gets this from Monster, nothing special about BB for sure.

To remove a turbine cut connector you need to twist it. They are designed so they do not pull straight out.

Yeap, plus they might have better margin for teh dealers.

[Mole177]

they advertise to make the cash.

[shetaan819]

Speaking also as a former employee, monster cable also has the highest markup - this is true in all the major electronic chains, though everyone at Best Buy is non-comissioned they do have pressure for the dept. to make numbers at the end of the month...hence the push for sale of monster cable.....

[BernieStolar]

They tried to sell me a surge protector that "cleans the power so your picture quality is better." What a load of s***. As long as my TV doesn't blow up, I'm happy. Monster designs their surge protectors to look all high tech with fancy colors and futuristic design, but I sincerely doubt power can be "cleaned," let alone affect the performance of my components.

[DVD_O_Rama]

Originally posted by BernieStolar
They tried to sell me a surge protector that "cleans the power so your picture quality is better." What a load of s***. As long as my TV doesn't blow up, I'm happy. Monster designs their surge protectors to look all high tech with fancy colors and futuristic design, but I sincerely doubt power can be "cleaned," let alone affect the performance of my components.

Bernie, there's nothing wrong with opinions, we all got 'em, but please do some research (or at least take a passing glance at some literature) on the subject before totally denouncing it. It'll give you a tad more credibility and not look so much like someone talking out of their arse about something they know absolutely nothing about. :)
Cheers.

[William Wallace]

Bernie, there's nothing wrong with opinions, we all got 'em, but please do some research (or at least take a passing glance at some literature) on the subject before totally denouncing it. It'll give you a tad more credibility and not look so much like someone talking out of their arse about something they know absolutely nothing about.

And maybe you could actually be helpful and explain why he knows "absolutely nothing" about it?

[renaldow]

Originally posted by William Wallace
And maybe you could actually be helpful and explain why is knows "absolutely nothing" about it?

Maybe these will be of help:
http://www.pq.goeke.net/20000206_2stray.html
http://www.toxicelectricity.com/Pages/Electrical.htm
http://www.strayvoltage.org/stories/

A longer than 5 minute search like mine will likely yield more and better results.

[BernieStolar]

Originally posted by DVD_O_Rama
Bernie, there's nothing wrong with opinions, we all got 'em, but please do some research (or at least take a passing glance at some literature) on the subject before totally denouncing it. It'll give you a tad more credibility and not look so much like someone talking out of their arse about something they know absolutely nothing about. :)
Cheers.

I suppose clean power is an issue. I just don't think it's worth the money for a modest system like mine. And thank you William Wallace for making sure dvd-o-rama has to back up his comments too.

[edclem]

Originally posted by BernieStolar
I suppose clean power is an issue. I just don't think it's worth the money for a modest system like mine. And thank you William Wallace for making sure dvd-o-rama has to back up his comments too.

You'd be surprised. I added an inexpensive ($80) line conditioner to my mid-low line system over the weekend. It made a world of difference in the background noise floor. I had been noticing a bit of EM and RF interference through my center channel in 5 channel listening modes. Put in the line conditioner, and voila: the noise is gone.

I was a little skeptical before, but now, I'm sold.

When it's time to upgrade systems, I'll definitely be upgrading the power filtering components as well.

[BernieStolar]

edclem,
did you buy a monster brand surge protector? What kind of tv and speakers do you have? I have an energy take 5.2 speaker package and a 27 " jvc tv. I dont experience notice any problems with non filtered surge protection, are the differences night and day? I can't justify a surge protector that costs half as much as my dvd player.

[DVD_O_Rama]

Originally posted by BernieStolar
I suppose clean power is an issue. I just don't think it's worth the money for a modest system like mine. And thank you William Wallace for making sure dvd-o-rama has to back up his comments too.

Ah... from "<i>what a load of ***</i>" to "<i>I suppose clean power is an issue</i>".
Isn't it amazing what a little reading can do? ;)

Forgive me for not laying out the links like William Wallace did, I just take offense to those who choose to have a <b>strong</b> opinion on a subject that they don't know anything about.
Do we all have to agree on everything? Absolutely not. Debate is a good thing, as long as everyone involved is informed and makes their case based on personal experiences instead of jumping on the bandwagon (Monster Cable/Power bashing is a good example).
And Bernie, I back up all my opinions with years of real-world personal experience.
I don't need anybody to do that for me.
Cheers.

[BernieStolar]

color me owned.

[edclem]

Originally posted by BernieStolar
edclem,
did you buy a monster brand surge protector? What kind of tv and speakers do you have? I have an energy take 5.2 speaker package and a 27 " jvc tv. I dont experience notice any problems with non filtered surge protection, are the differences night and day? I can't justify a surge protector that costs half as much as my dvd player.

Bernie:
Yeah, it's a Monster Power unit (HT-800, specifically). I'm running a 27" Sony Wega TV, an Onkyo receiver, Infinity speakers, Panasonic DVD, a JVC VCR, and a Marantz cd player through the surge protector/line conditioner. I also run my sub through its own surge protector on a separate circuit to avoid potential ground loop issues.

What prompted my purchase is that I was hearing what sounded like a radio station faintly through my center channel during multi channel source playback. I localized the problem to the power line by unhooking individual sources one by one and testing them. I figured, on a whim, I could try the unit knowing that I could take it back to the shop if it didn't help the problem.

The RF noise I was experiencing is absolutely gone, so I'd say that their product works. Picture quality doesn't really appear to have changed much, except that contrast is a little better (without changing any of the settings). Audio isn't drastically different (except for the fact that the noise is gone (which is enough in and of itself))

[matome]

I just saw a $150 Monster surge suppressor/line conditioner with coax and phone jacks at Best Buy. The thing weighed a TON. I'm gonna read up on those links posted here and I may pick it up if it's indeed helpful to my system.

[Kman1011]

The power center I ownn is the monster hts 3600m, it retails for 499, I do see a difference, not as noticeable as it was on my projector as it is now on a 36 inch tv with other equipment, but definetly worth it. I will probably upgrade that as well in the future.