terminator911

Would any of you be so kind as to explain what is the difference betweent monster & regular cables that come w/the DVD players?

Thanks

dodobird

'Monster' is a company that makes cables

monster cables are high-quality cables... uh. someone give a more technical explanation please, the inquiring minds need to know

electronix_kid

Monster cables are Usually much higher quality cables, much thicker, but gives very little noticeable difference to say, RadioShack cables. If you're a very avid HT'er, or just very insecure about needing/having the best, then you'd probably want Monster Cables. But for the recreational HT'ers, Regular stuff at Radioshack, or HomeDepot is good enough, after all, all you have to do is pass electrical signals through, and regular speaker cables do just that.

Topgun94

The regular cables that come with you DVD player are usually fine. For short runs of cable (3-6 feet) you will probably notice no difference with Monster cables. The biggest waste of money is the Monster digital cables. Any normal coax or optical cable will sound exactly the same.

BEC

Monster cable is probably the best known (i.e. best marketed) alternative to supplied-cable. It's associated w/mid-fi to hi-fi gear.

You will get better materials (better conducting copper/silver ), isolation (more shielding), and overall design.

Personally, I find there is a large perfomance increase from supplied cable to nearly any other upgrade choice (Radio Shack, Monster, Kimber, Audio Quest, Synergy, MIT, Phoenix, good DIY, ...). Less noise, more clarity for video and speakers.
No difference for digital cables.

Among those upgrade choices, however, there is considerable disagreement about how much improvement you see/hear: anywhere from NONE to "I'm glad I spent as much money on my cables as on my speakers/receiver/..."

Two things:

Keep in mind Monster is not the only "higher-end" cable company. There is room for comparison shopping, if you want to look around.

Great cable on mediocre/budget equipment may not be wisest allocation of resources. A cable budgeted to the rest of the system may make more sense, especially if the money could otherwise go to a speaker/amplifier upgrade.

bfrank

monster cable is a cash cow!

JaxComet

High priced and overrated....

exm

Actually, Monster Cable is big in the USA but not that big outside the US.

I've been using Monster Cable for all my components (speaker cable, analogue interlink, digital interlink and video interlink) and here are my findings:
- speaker cable: what a difference! Tighter bass, better dynamic
- analogue interlink: cleaner sound, more difficult to note though
- digital interlink: useful for PCM (also 'cleaner' sound), less useful for DD/DTS (no noticeable difference)
- video interlink: brighter colors, although only visable after upgrading my Philips Widescreen from 32" to 55"

Conclusion: if you have a good system, cables is worth the investment. Otherwise, stick with standard cables.

Btw: cables really DO make a difference!

dek

BTW, Monkey Wards is having a 50% off sale on all Monster Cables as Monkey Wards is no longer carrying them. They may not be marked it, but when brought to the register, the discount is applied. Found this in the DVD Bargains yesterday.