Monster Cable or coat hangers, take your pick
Tue Mar 4, 2008 12:13PM EST
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Five audio fanatics take the Pepsi challenge with a set of THX-certified Monster Cables and—get this—four coat hangers. Think they could tell the difference? Think again.
Here's the setup: two brothers, one of whom is described as "an audio engineering whiz kid," rounded up five audiophile pals, a pair of Martin Logan SL-3 speakers, a set of four-foot Monster Ultra Series THX 1000 Audio Interconnect cables (which sell for about $100—yep, one hundred smackers), some 14-gauge Belden stranded copper wire, and a pair of two-meter cables made from four coat hangers.
The test group donned blindfolds and compared the Monster Cables to the Belden copper wire, and even after seven swaps, no one could tell the difference. Then came the acid test: the brothers replaced the Belden wire with the jerry-rigged coat-hanger wires. And yes, you guessed it: after repeated "A-B" tests, the blindfolded guinea pigs said they liked what they heard, but they couldn't tell the $100 Monster Cables apart for the two-cent coat hangers. (All the cables involved were about two meters long.)
Of course, as Consumerist points out, coat hangers aren't exactly recommended if you're talking about a 50-foot run of cable (and touching unshielded coat-hanger wires together would probably fry your receiver). That said...consider this little anecdote the next time a blue-shirted sales clerk tries to sell you a reel of $99 speaker wire. Instead, try a standard coil of 16 gauge copper wire—that should do the trick for short runs (say, 20 feet or less), and a 50-foot reel should only cost you about $10.
Related:
Do Coat Hangers Sound As Good Monster Cables? [Consumerist]
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2 Posted by mwbudd on Tue Mar 4, 2008 2:52PM EST Report Abuse
Bravo Ben. I've spent years trying to explain to ordinary people that things like Monster cables may be pretty but electrically speaking they are no better than any other cable. As for me, I've got nothing but 16 ga zip cord installed on my home theater and it sounds great. Spent my money on the tuner and speakers instead of Monster cables.
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3 Posted by dozent100 on Tue Mar 4, 2008 3:17PM EST Report Abuse
Isn't amazing that those who refuse to learn even the rudiments of science.are so susceptible to the pseudo-science of Madison Avenue, The National Media and the Liberal Elite. With competence like this, who is going to run this society when the last of the competent technicians and engineers are gone? You can't design equipment or operate technology with Pseudo-science, because it is based on the world as people want it to be, not on the real world. The amazing thing is that when pseudo-science fails, due that lack of basis, It is always science's fault because it doesn't bend from reality. This type of stupidity kills people! As Robert Heinlein said: "Stupidity is the only crime from which there is no appeal!"
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4 Posted by rayvr@att.net on Tue Mar 4, 2008 5:13PM EST Report Abuse
Dozent100 --Now let's see, Madison Avenue, that would be Republican, wouldn't it? And the liberal elite? What does that have to do with monster cable? And who are these liberal elitists? Figments of a dittohead's imagination? Monster cable sales are all about Madison Avenue. And the lack of education? Well, dittoheads are dittoheads because they aren't educated and they aren't educated because the rich and powerful (who I believe are mostly of the Republican persuasion), like it that way. Money is power and power is control. People, like Archie Bunker (a Republican), always know better. They always have the answers. You'll never convince Archies that monster cable isn't the absolute best! But, of course, don't tell that to the electrons that follow the path of least resistance. They know where they're going and they don't care what you paid for the material. Like P.T. Barnum said: "There's a sucker born every minute."
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5 Posted by eileansiar on Tue Mar 4, 2008 8:15PM EST Report Abuse
Bravo! Political Science 101 when the subject is speaker connector wires. That phrase "liberal elitists" - I just love it when when I see a guy use that! I picture him as a cowboy, husky, smoking a Marlboro ... And dying of lung cancer years later. To the subject, though. In B-school I had a marketing prof who was a total fascist. Take the suckers for all they're worth was his cry. 1000% markup, sure! People, I still remember him saying, THINK something is better if it has a higher price. Sell fewer, but earn lots more on each one. Get rich. Greed is good!
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1 Posted by scubydu1968 on Tue Mar 4, 2008 1:51PM EST Report Abuse
I've been familiar with this scam for years and have been trying to get people to educate via the internet. With some simple skills, and know how, all which can be obtained on-line for free, anyone can make their very own cables at home. You can obtain just about any type of connector through internet purchase or your local radio shack. The only special tool you might need is a soldering iron and you can buy those cheap. Make any cable you need for life! You could even get crazy and color co-ordinate your cable colors. Got a red wall? Make a red cable... Don't be mindless consumers!