Even inexpensive cables can make a difference

steveinaz

I decided to replace the 49 cent hair-thin, plastic molded IC's on the vintage rig in the 70's mancave. Just wanted something of more substantial build--but cheap. Went to Monoprice.com and ordered 2 sets of their 6ft "premium" interconnects, at a whopping $3.23/each (product # 2864).

The premium features RG-59 wire, thick insulation, and nice gold plated connectors--hard to believe their making any money on these things at the price. Not expecting much, they surprised me by taming an overly "zippy" treble, and seem to squeeze a little more bass foundation. Impressive for such a cheap cable. The HPM's sound far smoother now, and less in-your-face.

Give them a look if your wanting an inexpensive alternative to the cheapies included with your equipment.

Kex

steveinaz wrote: »

... Give them a look if your wanting an inexpensive alternative to the cheapies included with your equipment.

I have bought some of these in the past too. I would guess that they are at least as good as Monster Cable (which I also confess to owning, but did NOT have to pay for!), but I'm not an expert. It's a good place for cheap speaker wire too, if you're not ready to step up to more specialized stuff, such as Blue Jeans or Signal etc. They also carry a lot of other stuff, such as wall plates, HDTV antennas ... but I have no experience with any of those.

Like steveinaz said, if you want an inexpensive alternative to some of cheapies included with your gear, or Monster junk sold at stupid prices by Best Buy etc., this is probably a good place to go. I even had a problem with one of my shipments and, after a phone call, they shipped out replacements immediately at no charge.

Face

I used them a while back when determining lengths needed for a few runs. I agree, they're comparable to Monster, for much less.

Just a word of warning, they can have a death grip on some components, so use a little deoxit on the ends to protect your gear.

steveinaz

Face
True--they are kinda tight, not "Monster" tight, but close. I had an old set of Monster in the attic, I could not get those POS to plug in. They are now residing in my trash can.

zingo

All the gear I have purchased from Monoprice has been very high quality and very low priced, ICs included. Thanks for the review Steve.

steveinaz

I've been pleased with both Monoprice and Blue Jeans Cables; both are very affordable.

steveinaz

You'll like the optical cable, I have 3 of them--nice build.

Kex

Keiko wrote: »

... The salesgirl at BB was trying her best to sell me an $80.00 HDMI Monster Cable. When I told her I could get one for 4 dollars and change she gave me this look like I was BS'n her. ...

Poor girl! She's been "educated" by BB to believe that they get the best deals on the best gear. I am convinced BB make at least as much profit from a sale of Monster HDMI cables as they do from the sale of a HDTV. People pay attention to the cost of the $1,500-2500 TV, and pricing competition is intense. They often forget they need all the cables, and at the last minute, when the sales "advisor" tells the non tech savy buyer they need to spend $100-200 on cables, they think it's no big deal when compared to the price of the TV.

To BB's credit though, I think their sales people are not on commision, so, to some extent it's an "honest" mistake on the part of the seller (but I may be wrong about this).

disneyjoe7

steveinaz wrote: »

I've been pleased with both Monoprice and Blue Jeans Cables; both are very affordable.

For the record BJC makes a kick **** HDMI cable for the money.

Hilbert

Just yesterday I received a couple pair of blue jeans cable basic RCA stereo cables. They replaced (i) the hair thin RCA cables that came with my Yamaha cd player, and (ii) a couple of cables I found in a drawer. Very pleased and surprised by improvement in sound.

Let's not forget banana plugs: $20 for 4 at BB vs. about $7 at BJC, and BJC seems at first glance anyway to be better quality.

NotaSuv

Keiko wrote: »

Cool...Ya know, I'm such a dumbazz Steve. Until very recent I didn't know that the little domed plastic thingy on the end of a toslink cable needed to be removed. No wonder I could never get a tight connection. OK...you bastiches can kick me in da nuts now.

my son called me with that very same problem about a month ago.....lol

told him no pakalolo before setting up the audio

nice score with the ps3 I have been wavering on buying one

have you played any movies with it yet?

enjoy your new toy

PolkClyde

Monster cables are all through my carver mono bloc...

steveinaz

Impact Acoustics makes an outstanding Toslink cable as well, about $49, but it's actual quartz-glass---not plastic.