MonoPrice Hi-Fi Speaker Speaker Cable

PSOVLSK

Love me a "Speaker Speaker" cable debate, especially when it turns into an HDMI cable debate

mrloren

PSOVLSK wrote: »

Love me a "Speaker Speaker" cable debate, especially when it turns into an HDMI cable debate

Speaker, HDMI, COAX, RCA, SPDIF, XLR or network, it does not matter, you get what you pay for. Will the Monoprice/Fry's elcheap-O cables work? yes! but will you get the same performance? NO! Better quality cables DO make a difference. If you can't hear the cow bells time to get better cables.

Sami

mrloren wrote: »

China white box cat5 made 112MBs and bounced between 105-112MBs. The same 25GB ISO using my better CCI cable held a solid 124MBs

Now put in a 10MB switch in the chain and see if the cable makes any practical difference.

PSOVLSK

mrloren wrote: »

PSOVLSK wrote: »

Love me a "Speaker Speaker" cable debate, especially when it turns into an HDMI cable debate

Speaker, HDMI, COAX, RCA, SPDIF, XLR or network, it does not matter, you get what you pay for. Will the Monoprice/Fry's elcheap-O cables work? yes! but will you get the same performance? NO! Better quality cables DO make a difference. If you can't hear the cow bells time to get better cables.

I can hear the cow bells with Doug's cables.

mrloren

Sami wrote: »

mrloren wrote: »

China white box cat5 made 112MBs and bounced between 105-112MBs. The same 25GB ISO using my better CCI cable held a solid 124MBs

Now put in a 10MB switch in the chain and see if the cable makes any practical difference.

Why would I want to do that? I have a nice CISCO gigabit switch on my home network. Thing that sucks is COX only goes to 150Mbs, on speed test I get 155Mbs on every jack in our house.

We made some crossover cables to show there is a difference in cables.

Sami

mrloren wrote: »

Why would I want to do that?

To demonstrate it's the weakest link in the chain that dominates. With HDMI it's not the cable (if it works) and a high end cable isn't going to make a difference in the end result.

mrloren wrote: »

I have a nice CISCO gigabit switch on my home network. Thing that sucks is COX only goes to 150Mbs, on speed test I get 155Mbs on every jack in our house.

See because of this it wouldn't matter if you put some serious money and upgraded to fibre all around the house. It would make some insanely fast internal media network but wouldn't make any difference in your internet speed.

gurot1

mrloren wrote: »

Oscilloscope always measures analog signal but lets leave it at that. On the other note I have some really high end CAT5 and CAT6 cable to sell as I suspect most of you are not getting the best internet experience possible with your cheap cable that came with the router (not to speak of WiFi). [/quote]

At work we use the basic white box cat5e, I hard wired my house with good CCI made in USA cat5e. One of my coworkers said I should have saved the $30 and just went with our stuff from work. I laid out two runs of 200' in the warehouse. the made in China white box cat5 made 112MBs and bounced between 105-112MBs. The same 25GB ISO using my better CCI cable held a solid 124MBs with no bounce. both cat5e same connectors same PC's. The better made more costly cable will have the proper twist and better copper to transmit your data.

[/quote]

First time using the quote function
From what I have read (I have never experimented with it) quality of digital cables can play a role in long runs of cable. I think 200 feet would qualify as a longer run.

gurot1

And looking at the post above, my first attempt at using a quote was a fail

msg

you need the first quote in there I think

[quote]

smglbrth

PSOVLSK wrote: »

mrloren wrote: »

PSOVLSK wrote: »

Love me a "Speaker Speaker" cable debate, especially when it turns into an HDMI cable debate

Speaker, HDMI, COAX, RCA, SPDIF, XLR or network, it does not matter, you get what you pay for. Will the Monoprice/Fry's elcheap-O cables work? yes! but will you get the same performance? NO! Better quality cables DO make a difference. If you can't hear the cow bells time to get better cables.

I can hear the cow bells with Doug's cables.

I've always been able to hear the cowbells with any cable I ever used..., he he...

mantis

I find cable debates comical.
If you haven't tested yourself you should shut your mouth.
If you have then you have plenty to say.
On the other hand I say buy and use whatever you feel is right. If you feel spending good money on quality cables is useless then why would you?

mrloren

mantis wrote: »

I find cable debates comical.
If you haven't tested yourself you should shut your mouth.
If you have then you have plenty to say.
On the other hand I say buy and use whatever you feel is right. If you feel spending good money on quality cables is useless then why would you?

agree with that.

I don't have a lot of money so I cant buy the best. I use to have just the basic cable and have upgraded to what some might say is "good" HDMI and speaker cables. Yes I can tell the difference.

Now for my home network. I hardwired my house with "good" cat5e. I could have saved a few bucks and went with normal white box cable but I did not want to make that a bottle neck. I have Cox 150Mbs (18MBs) internet so going out of the house it makes no difference between white box and good cable. In our home there is a lot of network traffic. On any given Saturday evening the kids will be watching their Netflix and playing league. My wife and I will be streaming a movie off the NAS. sometimes we will have 3 different movies streaming off the NAS at the same time. DLNA is my best friend on weekend mornings. So yes it was advisable to use a better cable in my home network.

As for more cow bell http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/classics/video/1119596

Funny all the times I played agent of fortune I never noticed it. Now when I am at a friends that have Bose junk cubes you cant hear the cow bell. on a decent system you can.

Nightfall

I noticed you linked my thread. Although I didn't see anywhere in there where I typed the words "MIT is the be all end all, nothing is better." Only that I heard an improvement over home depot speaker wire.

Nightfall

Keiko wrote: »

What's your experience in; coat hangers and lamp cord? Unless you've experienced what different cables have to offer, you're opinions are meaningless rhetoric with nothing credible to base them upon. Zilch, nada, zero!

He's already stated that he's never tried anything in his own system. Only heard other peoples stereos and taken word from other anticable people. He takes others opinions on the matter and adopts them as his own instead of trying for himself.

xcapri79 wrote: »

I wouldn't dream of spending that sort of money on exotic interconnects nor support a vendor that sold such. I'm happy with what I have and would rather buy a another pair of nice speakers such as the Polk LSiM703's that I just did. Over the many years, I have heard systems of others with all sorts of different interconnects being used. I've listened and I've talked to trusted people and ex-sales people.

Nightfall

xcapri79 wrote: »

No you just created a thread entitled, "Another MIT Believer".
Come on now, that is quite religious sounding!
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2129933/Another MIT Believer
Read the thread and my point is made.

Is the thread titled "MIT is the be all end all, nothing is better"? No? Okay, did I say anywhere in the thread that "MIT is the be all end all, nothing is better"? No? What are you grasping at again?

I should have named the thread "Another cable matters believer". If I would have bought Audioquest it would have been named "Another Audioquest believer". If I would have bought Dougs cables it would have been named "Another Douglas Connection believer".

The thread title has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Which is, I have never said that there isn't anything better than MIT. Ever.

Nightfall

xcapri79 wrote: »

I guess you guys have never read Shakespeare or understand what a figure of speech is.

If you're going to change your story now then this still applies:

Keiko wrote: »

Certainly nothing wrong advocating for better cables, and discussing our experiences.

Nightfall

xcapri79 wrote: »

Take it up with DSkip.

No problem. Hey skip do you agree that expensive cables offer no benefit?

DSkip wrote: »

I'm not saying moving up the line doesn't net you better sound (if synergy is in place)

Cool, thanks for clarifying that.

Nightfall

I think you're misinterpreting skips post. Where did anyone here say you have to spend $1k+ per speaker cable and IC to get good sound? He specifically said that he's not saying moving up the ladder in a brand doesn't get you better sound. He also isn't saying that Monoprice, zipcord, or coat hangers are good enough.

Nightfall

xcapri79 wrote: »

Nightfall wrote: »

I think you're misinterpreting skips post. Where did anyone here say you have to spend $1k+ per speaker cable and IC to get good sound? He specifically said that he's not saying moving up the ladder in a brand doesn't get you better sound. He also isn't saying that Monoprice, zipcord, or coat hangers are good enough.

F1 said it.

F1nut wrote: »

whereas a $7000 audio cable certainly is.

Maybe to you, but to others that is a drop in the bucket. That's real perspective.

$7000 is just a drop in the bucket from your leader. So which is it?
Just try to reconcile what F1 and DSkip has said.

I don't understand how you're getting that out of what he said. He didn't say that you need $7k cables for good sound. He only said that for some people that's a drop in the bucket. He's not even saying that it's a drop in the bucket to HIM, US, or any one person in particular.

I don't understand how you misinterpret so many statements.

F1Nut: The sky is blue.

xcapri79: See, he said that the sky is ALWAYS blue!

How do you keep pulling me back in?

PSOVLSK

x-man: Stay out of cable threads and I think you have something to offer. If you think cables don't matter, fine, but leave it alone already. Do you really think that many of us here are just imaging improvement? Honestly, if you switched out my cables with something high end, I might not notice a difference because I honestly don't have great ears. BUT, if you put the budget Monoprice stuff back in my rig I would notice immediately.

Why is this so hard for you to believe?????

tonyb

Oh Goody, yet another cable debate thread.

Funny though, audio forums are for ALL things audio, not just SOME things audio. Cables are certainly a part of your gear and qualify as audio related.

Even MIT has inexpensive cables much better than your run of the mill stuff. Monster too....has expensive cabling, should we label them too high end ? Stop looking at the extremes, get the best your wallet will allow. Audio is played on many levels, to poo-poo anyone not on your level is plain stupidity.

tonyb

kevintomb wrote: »

After reading through this thread, I started to think about...

Confirmation bias:

Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's own beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, degrade, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs.

Yep....they look on the internet for articles that confirm their beliefs without ever trying anything for themselves.

tonyb

kevintomb wrote: »

Confirmation bias:

Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's own beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, degrade, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs.

Kevin says.....

tonyb

xcapri79 wrote: »

That is because people will tend to hear what they want to hear. .

Maybe so to a certain extent, but that's a pretty broad brush to paint with. Bias is in everything, from the car you drive, the clothes you wear, and the foods you like. Differences in bias are usually related to personal preferences and that is usually based on experience with x product.

Having a bias because of something you read on the internet or have zero experience with is totally different.

WilliamM2

tonyb wrote: »

Having a bias because of something you read on the internet or have zero experience with is totally different.

And continuing to claim people have no experience just because they don't think like you do is ridiculous. Many who don't believe the cable myths do have experience, and used to buy expensive cables. Then we tried what you are afraid to do, we had an open mind and tested our beliefs.

You would think after decades of this "debate", there would be some evidence that proper cables really do sound different. And I'm not talking about measurements, but actually demonstrating the difference can be heard. You'd think some cable manufacturer, out of the hundreds that are out there would be all over it.

tonyb

WilliamM2 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

Having a bias because of something you read on the internet or have zero experience with is totally different.

And continuing to claim people have no experience just because they don't think like you do is ridiculous.

Never said that chief, that's your bias speaking right there. We always welcome opposing views.....when based on real world experience instead of a Roger Russell report.

Other thing is, when asked about exactly what experience is had with what gear and cables......we get crickets. So if ones belief is firmly planted in the nay sayer side of the cable debate, you'd think they'd list why they hold that belief. Instead....they toss up links to internet articles which then tells us they have no experience. Same routine over and over again.

So if your claim is such that it's all about bias, I agree.....but one side uses their own personal preferences as their bias based on actual use, while the other side creates their bias based on what they read. Not an apples to apples comparison, wouldn't you say ?

WilliamM2

tonyb wrote: »

So if your claim is such that it's all about bias, I agree.....but one side uses their own personal preferences as their bias based on actual use, while the other side creates their bias based on what they read. Not an apples to apples comparison, wouldn't you say ?

Again, you claim one side has no experience. I say I have more experience than you, I've listened for differences in cables sighted and blind. You haven't.

As far as cables or gear, what's the point? Just so you can tell us it was the wrong cables, or wrong gear? Nonsense. I will tell you I got my first system handed down to me when I was 8. Bought my first new system at 12, and have been running separates since 1980 when I was 16. Is that enough experience? Not according to you. But if I started two years ago and agreed with everything you believe in...

Why not address the fact that your side still has no evidence? You've had decades to come up with something...anything. Talk about crickets.

F1nut

Yawn

F1nut

And yet, you've never tried cables in the several hundred to thousand $ plus range, but act like you know all about them. Oh SNAP caught with your pants down again.

ken brydson

F1nut wrote: »

And yet, you've never tried cables in the several hundred to thousand $ plus range, but act like you know all about them. Oh SNAP caught with your pants down again.