brand names I'll never buy

[Hink]

I won't be buying Monster cables, but that's because I make my own cables instead. I don't have any problems with the cables I make, and I have some from 1980 which work just as well as when I created them. I think that's a fairly good indication that I constructed them adequately.


take care,
McLilith

well the truth is a grew up with a soldering iron in my hand and I have no doubt either one of us could make a cable that we could swing from. But, there is a difference, it's called time winding. That's something we can't do. Think about it, lower frequencies travel slower then higher frequencies. They are wound so they compensate for that...I can't do that.

Now I have said this before and I'll say it again. Before I went to their training I was like many here, I made my own cables (there's a company calley Mouser that sells electronics and electronic supplies that sells many types of cable) but I always used monster or similar gauge when it came to speaker cables (no connectors, stranded) because there the size does make a difference. But I didn't believe the cables were worth the extra money.

I brought the mixer, tape deck, I think I brought powered Mackies (could of been Eons, I dont recall) and the cables to the training session. I was shocked to see in an A/B test there was actually a stronger signal coming from the Monster cables, about 6db...I ate a lot of crow that day and the days after that back at the store.

I also won this power supply unit the sell HD 1000 or something like that (it sold for 150)...carries a 5k warranty on it, anything plugged into it damaged by a spike they will replace. One thing I can say about Monster is they are not Numark, they do not look for loopholes to void warranties like Numark does. Instead they just dont even question it, part of their intent is to make it comfortable to return their products and at training they preached that. I dont know about you, but when it comes to companies customer service is important to me.

One other difference that is not durability oreinted, maintaining signal strength. Are you aware that cables start losing signal strength after roughly 6'? 6' kinda sux...a catch 22...if you get too close to the amp you pick-up the transformer, too far away you lose signal. Like it or not over a 20'run monster cable will lose less signal. Of course changing your guitar to a low z output will help more.

I agree Mogami is pretty good cables, more so you can buy Mogami in spools..and for what it's worth, Mogami is MXL..I like my MXL...

[Hink]

Monster cables are the best cables you can buy ( that are already assembled ). So unless you can make your own cables, you have no choice but to get Monster cable, if you want the best for your music that is.

Pass me the crack pipe.

There are plently of high quality cables out there.

My favorite example of Monster cable ignorance resides at Best Buy, where the only DVI cable you can buy is Monster, which of course claims "superior digital transfer" for $100. Of course if you just dropped several thousand on some flat panel you think "I shouldnt skimp on the cable" and you (idiot customer) buy it.

I bought my DVI cable off ebay for 10 bucks.
There is no such thing as "superior digital transfer" in a cable, the digital signal is recieved or it isn't.

you're right, but that's marketing, I would not buy digital cables from them...I dont have any monster midi cables either...though I will buy them from now on because for some reason I go through midi cables faster then guitar cables...probably because there are more wires wrapped in there and they're a smaller gauge. So the warranty is a good investment...

[Meffy]

I refuse -- ABSOLUTELY AND CATEGORICALLY! -- ever to buy from Lamborghini, Playskool, Louis Vuitton, Boeing, Taser International, Garcia Magana, Frederick's of Dubuque, Rolls Royce, or Crazy Al's Bargain Audio Asylum...

... again.

[deleted]

DELETED

[Stupid American Pig]

I'll never buy a Mercedes.

Owning one rapidly turns the driver into a wannabe corrupt third world dictator.

Fact. All real third world dictators drive Mercedes. They were nice pleasant chaps before they drove one as a junior official. Soon it had corrupted them and turned them into machiavellian plotting schemers who planned to take over their nations.

So don't blame them, blame the car they were driven in.

I think you have a point- and that may even be correct

[Hink]

I'm sure I did this the other day...

Intel

nVidea

Creative

E-Mu

Hitachi

yeah you're right, but I didn't see it until it moved to OT...so go ahead give me a cyber slap...

[deleted]

DELETED

[flugel45]

Hink,
Well, I knew you would try and change the subject and throw Microsoft back at me. Bottom line, you've given exactly one link to an article that sounds suspiciously like the company owner was coerced into writing by Monster Cable. Despite all the other articles out there condemning Monster Cable you say this one proves your case. Sounds more like you're just trying to defend your own buying habits.

But we could back and forth on this forever, so if you feel comfortable buying from them, hey, keep telling yourself, it's a conspiracy. I will continue to boycott them.

....I agree Mogami is pretty good cables, more so you can buy Mogami in spools..and for what it's worth, Mogami is MXL..I like my MXL...

Ah, we agree on this, which is a good place to end this "debate".


JD

[androidlove]

Before I went to their training

they must do sumpin to yer brain there. i get the same line from my gf

[emdot_ambient]

Um . . . change in directions:

Anheuser-Busch
Coors
Miller

. . . and I've given up trying Guinness. If I ever travel to its source, I'll try it again but not until.

And I'll never rent movies from Blockbuster Video. Did my fellow Americans know they edit films to take the sexy parts out? That's criminal.

[pheeleep]

Pass me the crack pipe.

There are plently of high quality cables out there.

Can you list some brands?

[Hink]

Before I went to their training

they must do sumpin to yer brain there. i get the same line from my gf

I doubt they did anything to my brain...perhaps they're right...there are a lot of people who only use monster cable, more audiophiles then musicians I would imgine though. You hear 2 1/2 complaints...one complaint is the price, the half complaint is usually followed up with "I can't hear a difference"...and of course this whole lawsuit business...which for the sake of truth, there is no proof either way.

That leaves two issues left imo we should recognize.
1. Quality, you may not agree on them being worth the price, but their not Hosa either...so the quality is not an issue imo.
2. The customer service (that's always a big deal with me), they believe so much in their product they back it up with a no questions asked policy, no forms to fill out, nobody asking you how it broke. IMO that's about as good as you are going to get for customer service. FWIW I had to return one since using them (about ten years now) and that was a little instrument patch cable for between pedals. I have replaced some (when I worked retail) that I could look at and know they were abused. In fact I know aome people broke them when they got old on purpose.

So take away the lawsuits that may or may not be true, figure in the value if you have to replace them. Probably the next best cable is 20 bux, monster is 40...like I say break one and you break even, break two and you're ahead of the game. IMO they make a good product and have excellent customer service..those things matter most too me...

[Meffy]

I believe certain of the claims Monster Cable makes would, if they could prove them under controlled testing conditions according to a mutually agreed-upon protocol, qualify the company to win James Randi's $1,000,000 prize for demonstrating evidence of the paranormal. I wonder why they haven't applied?

[McLilith]

Not that I believe all the Monster Cable claims, but James Randi expects too much, from what I vaguely remember. I think he demands some sort of extremely obvious and 100% repeatable evidence. This would exclude any effects which might be real, but only happen sporadically, or which might be consistent, but are very subtle.

If I have that right, Monster wouldn't be able to claim the prize, because not everyone could hear the effects (not 100% repeatable), and those that did hear the effects are frequently referring to subtle effects at best.

Good luck, collecting the prize. I've just as good a chance of perfecting telekinetic levitation in my spare time.

...wish me luck.


take care,
McLilith

[birrbits]

Pass me the crack pipe.

There are plently of high quality cables out there.

Can you list some brands?

Do you only buy one brand of microphone?

Why buy one brand of cable?

I have good cables from numerous manufacturers including hosa and radio smack (just to list the 2 least popular) It just depends on the particular cable. I have some radio smack rcas that I wouldnt use to tie up the garbage with, yet I have a few "gold plated" radio smack rcas that have held up for years. I have some hosa short patch cables that were manufactured by a blind man with a variable sized injection molder, and I have some outstandingly rugged hosa snakes. I have a few Monster cables which I find overpriced, and I have (probably) hundreds of good no-name cables.