Are Monster Cables Really Worth The Money?

Question

Really my question is are all those premium cables really worth the money? The Monsters, RCAs, Phillips, Acoustic Research, etc. are gold contacts, and oxygen free materials, etc, do they really make a difference? Sometimes when I swap them out with cheap cables everything works and looks the same.

Answer 1

While their warranty may be a legitimate argument, their price does not justify their performance. Put another way, if a Monster Cable patch cord is 10X the cost of it's Radioshack equivalent, do you expect it to perform at 10X the performance of the Radioshack cable? Ad to this the one fact that Monster doesn't want you to know: Digital doesn't care. As long as a digital signal is reaching the other end of the cable, it's as good as it can be. A $100 oxygen free HDMI cable from Monster WILL NOT perform any better than the cheapest HDMI cable you can buy at Wal-Mart.

Here is an interesting read about Monster Cable-
http://www.monstergreed.com/Index%20with%20info%20about%20MC.htm

Answer 2

First, Monster cable is not really a high-end cable and is not nearly as expensive as the really high end stuff. I did not have good luck with Monster myself, although I am still using some. What cable you are looking for makes a big difference; for HDMI, which is digital, if the cable works at all, it's as good at it can get, so get the cheapest. Don't pay more than $25 for 10ft. Check here http://www.ehdmi.com/hdmi.html.

For speaker cable, go to Home Depot or other home product store and see what they have. Anything they have that is big enough (12guage or bigger) is ok unless you have very long cable runs. It doesn't have to be speaker wire; lamp cord will work. It's just that speaker wire is marked so you can keep track of which wire is which.

Analog cables (component video, s-video, composite video and audio) are more critical. You need good quality connectors, preferably gold-plated. The higher-quality RCA or Calrad cables are ok.

Answer 3

I think they are not worth it... for what you pay for one pair you can get lots of other brands that work just as well and are much cheaper. (ps never buy the cheapest cable from an unknown company).

now. monster is owned by RCA or vise versa. if you buy the RCA cables they may not have the same quality control or the extra heavy duty shielding (that you would only use in a radio station transmitter tower) and they are 1/3 or less the price.

i have used monster cables and returned them all.
example: monster dvi cable 6ft $119.00
RCA dvi cable 6ft $24.99
the picture looks the same to me!!! yes the monster cable has a life time warranty, but you have to buy almost 5 RCA cables to equal the one monster. and exactly how hard are you on your cables anyway. don't they just sit in the back of you entertainment center, collecting dust.

to me the only thing monster about a monster cable is the price.

Answer 4

The extra shileding can make a sigificant differance if there is a lot of electronics or wireless signals in the area that could get into the cable.

This is especially important if your using the cables for recording purposes. The better the cable the better the sound will be as it as its going through

Answer 5

^120 to 25? I'd really like to see an add or some-sort to confirm that. That's just ludacris.

But anyway, it also depends on what kind of TV you have. At a local bestbuy my dad was told that HDMI isn't really worth it unless you have a plasma TV.

Answer 6

Absolutely because of their unconditional warranty. You only have to buy them once and as soon as they start to make noise (because they have gotten a lot of wear) you trade'em in for a fresh one. No questions asked at Guitar Center.

Answer 7

Hell no

Don't waste your money.

Answer 8

hell yes