Monoprice's new Engineered and Patented Monolith RCA on order

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  • jeremymarcinko
    jeremymarcinko Posts: 3,785
    Unless it's value engineering.
    Oh, Listen here mister. We got no way of understandin' this world. But we got as much sense of this bird flyin in the sky. Now there is a lot that bird don't know, but it don't change the fact that the world is happening to him all the same. What I am tryin to say is, is that the course of your life, well its changing, and you don't even see it- Forest Bondurant
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    I think it's "Ultimate Engineering"
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,752
    edited April 2017
    Emlyn wrote: »
    Looks like 95 percent of those cables is plastic, cotton fiber stuffing, and foil. Sort of like Monster Cable made a killing with. At least they did not call them a Reference product, just their Ultimate. I thought Monoprice was all about engineering in audio cables being a waste of money.
    So Reference is above Ultimate in the marketing jargon lexicon? Just want to be sure that I am properly calibrated, you know?

    PS -- nice to see you posting over here.
    jeremymarcinko wrote: »
    Unless it's value engineering.

    Perhaps maybe even "Muntzing"?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntzing

    In seriousness (well, sort of) -- I mean, if they're $15 wires... how bad could they be? Even if they're audibly indistinguishable from the $5 kind, the aesthetic improvement is probably worth a sawbuck. The price of the Ethereal cables is identical, it appears, based on the accessories4less link.

    Maybe a shoot-out would be appropriate.

    185342.jpg
    4856.Jpg

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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    Yes, for $15 a pair I bet they are excellent............hardly Ultimate I'd guess. They certainly look like they will be better than any of those cheapies included with gear these days.
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,752
    Heck, maybe I'll start a hifi company and leverage truth in marketing with my first product:

    Penultimate Interconnects.
    Not Ultimate, but the next best thing.

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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,956
    Marketing kids....the words "Monolith" and "Ultimate", catches more fish than actual product quality. Plus the price makes them "Giant killers". I'm pretty sure Audioholics will be singing their praises soon. Time to sell your MIT cables and buy these, pocket the change. While your at it, sell those Pass amps too because Monoprice has Giant killer amps as well.

    Which btw, I just noticed the emoji with the eyes rolling is gone. I'm on top of things for sure huh. WTF ?
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,752
    tonyb wrote: »
    Marketing kids....the words "Monolith" and "Ultimate", catches more fish than actual product quality. Plus the price makes them "Giant killers". I'm pretty sure Audioholics will be singing their praises soon. Time to sell your MIT cables and buy these, pocket the change. While your at it, sell those Pass amps too because Monoprice has Giant killer amps as well.

    Note my current avatar is "Monolithic" :)
    Which btw, I just noticed the emoji with the eyes rolling is gone. I'm on top of things for sure huh. WTF ?

    2edcf010fad7b4f8bcb44b2020ec7ec8_emojis-eyes-and-need-to-on-eye-roll-emoji-clipart_576-440.jpeg

    (Note to self -- do not search Google for 'emoji' again without being prepared for the worst)

    ;)

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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 25,410
    they look to me like every other RCA ground shield grip of death interconnect I've ever had....
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,752
    pitdogg2 wrote: »
    they look to me like every other RCA ground shield grip of death interconnect I've ever had....

    I once found a Marantz integrated amp on the freebie table at the semi-annual NEARC antque radio/audio fleamarket. It worked absolutely fine -- but it had one little issue.

    10068178695_b92f928918_b.jpgMarantz PD25 7 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

    The shields on the "CD" input RCAs were -- gone. Not there. :pensive:

    10068178705_5609f33ac5_b.jpgMarantz PD25 6 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,492
    A victim of the infamous Monster turbine death grip cables no doubt.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,752
    Ayuh.
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,956
    Obvious the dude didn't have a TT. LOL
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • Absolute_Zero
    Absolute_Zero Posts: 72
    pitdogg2 wrote: »
    they look to me like every other RCA ground shield grip of death interconnect I've ever had....

    I'll let you know if they have a death grip...
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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 25,410
    Absolute_Zero wrote: »
    pitdogg2 wrote: »
    they look to me like every other RCA ground shield grip of death interconnect I've ever had....

    I'll let you know if they have a death grip...

    Please do
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  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,475
    In my experience that type of RCA connector design is never good enough. They tend to either be too loose and fall off or too tight and mar the surface of ground shields on components or worse. The RCA connector end on the Ethereal cable does look different, almost like a Canare/Taversoe crimp design. If it is Canare it's way better than the connector Monoprice seems to be using. The barrel is the same thing, but it seems the wire to connector is soldered based on the description. Soldered doesn't necessarily mean it is better.

    In that price range, I'd still go for Blue Jeans Cable RCA cables. They get the job done and don't cost much.
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  • Mr. Sharpe
    Mr. Sharpe Posts: 1,354
    afterburnt wrote: »
    Reverse engineered?

    Upside down engineered.
    Home theater:
    43” Westinghouse Displayer
    Marantz UD-7007 Player
    Emotiva MC-700 Processor
    Adcom GFA-5006 Amplifier
    Parasound Zamp Amplifier
    Ethereal ESO-1 Power Conditioner
    Klipsch RC-10 Center
    Klipsch R34c Fronts
    Klipsch RB-41 Surrounds
    Polk audio PSW-505

    Stereo:
    Polk audio RTA-12c’s fully upgraded crossovers
    DIY 12tc braided speaker cables
    Denon DVD-5910ci Spinner
    Parasound P6 Preamplifer
    Parasound HCA -1500a Amplifier
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 10,716
    From a meeting I was in,
    " not value engineering but engineering with value."
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  • monepolk
    monepolk Posts: 1,142
    ^^^^ Must have been someone from Marketing
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  • DarqueKnight
    DarqueKnight Posts: 6,765
    Emlyn wrote: »
    I thought Monoprice was all about engineering in audio cables being a waste of money.

    Makes you wonder why telephone companies spend, and have spent, so much money on cable engineering research...and all they are passing is a voice band signal.

    Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country!
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  • Absolute_Zero
    Absolute_Zero Posts: 72
    edited June 2017
    BTW the connectors are firm but they don't have a death grip. I picked up the AQ Evergreen from my local BB and I can't tell any audible difference.

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  • msg
    msg Posts: 9,989
    monepolk wrote: »
    ^^^^ Must have been someone from Marketing
    Or Engineering Managers who think they're better at Marketing than Marketers.
    I disabled signatures.
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  • Absolute_Zero
    Absolute_Zero Posts: 72
    DarqueKnight wrote: »
    Emlyn wrote: »
    I thought Monoprice was all about engineering in audio cables being a waste of money.

    Makes you wonder why telephone companies spend, and have spent, so much money on cable engineering research...and all they are passing is a voice band signal.

    They aren't passing voice band. They are passing data over the likes of SONET and 40/100GB Ethernet links. They are concerned with not dropping 20 million concurrent phone calls over a single link.
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  • dannylightning
    dannylightning Posts: 233
    it says ultimate performance but you say it is compared to a lower line AQ cable ?
    Cambridge Azur 651A
    Polk LSi M703
    Sonos Connect




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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,956
    dannylightning wrote: »
    it says ultimate performance but you say it is compared to a lower line AQ cable ?

    Let's get serious for a second, do you really expect "ultimate performance" in any cable that cost 15 bucks ?

    Just my opinion, but nothing Monoprice makes will compare to AQ cables. Just sayin'..matter of fact I'm having a hard time thinking of what can be worse. Not to offend anyone, but ya get what ya pay for as the saying goes.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • motorhead43026
    motorhead43026 Posts: 3,897
    Those are carp.
    The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

    It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact.
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  • dannylightning
    dannylightning Posts: 233
    tonyb wrote: »
    dannylightning wrote: »
    it says ultimate performance but you say it is compared to a lower line AQ cable ?

    Let's get serious for a second, do you really expect "ultimate performance" in any cable that cost 15 bucks ?

    nope... i ordered a couple things from mono price once. i cant say i liked them very much..

    Cambridge Azur 651A
    Polk LSi M703
    Sonos Connect




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  • Absolute_Zero
    Absolute_Zero Posts: 72
    dannylightning wrote: »

    nope... i ordered a couple things from mono price once. i cant say i liked them very much..

    I have HDMI cables from them going on 9 years old. Can't complain. I have in-wall rated CL2 from them with some still on the spool.

    The RCA seems well built just like the AQ and no difference that I can discern.
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