Pricey A/V Cables? Don't Be Fooled
Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:24AM EDT
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If you've ever been shopping for an HDTV at a big electronics retail store, you'll know the drill—basically, once the pushy salespeople hit you up for the $500 extended warranty, they steer you toward the $100 (or more) HDMI, digital audio and coaxial cables. Usually, these cables come in fancy packaging, the connectors are dipped in gold (literally), and you're told that if you're buying a $3,000 TV, you might as well throw down a couple hundred more for the very best cables. Don't fall for it.
Don't take my word for it, though. The experts at Ars Technica would be the first ones to tell you that a $100 Monster-brand HDMI cable delivers a better picture than, say, a $15 off-brand version. Their verdict? "Cabling is something of a racket, and while there probably is a difference between the medium-quality cables and the Monster Cables that cost $100+, I'm guessing none of us have systems that will let us tell enough of a difference to make the price worth it." (Read the full story for more details.)
I couldn't agree more. I recommend you pay no more than about $20 for an HDMI cable, $10-15 for an optical (or Toslink) digital audio cable, $10 for a component-video cable, and $10 or less for regular RCA-type cables. The sales dude may look appalled, but do yourself a favor and save your money.
Related:
Shopping for HDMI cables: who do retailers think they're kidding? [Ars Technica]
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7 Posted by serveace69 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:14PM EDT Report Abuse
scarlettatl is correct. Most consumers have completely bought into monster/best buy's theory that it really is worth the extra 5-10x price increase. I doubt that any of you could hear the difference between a $15 cable and a $150 cable. If you want some good cheap cables, check out http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/index.htm. They have some good articles on cables, and if you still don't believe them, buy them and do a hookup test yourself and see if you can tell a difference (if anything, I bet their's are better.) The most outrageous cable I've ever seen by monster is a ~$300 gold-plated optical cable. Think about that for a while. Has light ever cared whether whether its connectors were gold-plated? I think not.
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8 Posted by thrill350z on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:08PM EDT Report Abuse
monoprice.com and eBay have cables fairly priced. There is no need for monster cables but they do have a good marketing technique. They try to make you think a $100 cable is better then a $10 one and if you are buying high end equipment it's easy to fall for this. I have purchased $100 HDMI monster cable and one on eBay for $12.99 and I can not see a difference on my 1080i HDTV.
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9 Posted by moose6299 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:26PM EDT Report Abuse
Lets put it this way....HDMI and Toslink Optical are digital sends. They are zeros and ones. No amount of RFI/MFI is going to degrade a 0 or 1. So 150dollar cables dont really matter on those cables. Analog and Composite can be effected, I tend to spend a bit more on those. As for Monster Cable - If you spend that much you are getting ripped off, and investing HORRID business practices (I.E. http://monstervintage.com/Monster%20Cable/Boycott%20Monster%20cable%20products.htm) Also cables I have seen packaged under the 'Monster' Label are usually just rebranded from some 3rd party company that makes 'high end' cables for every company who wants to buy them and slap a label on. 6
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10 Posted by hollymcatee on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:20PM EDT Report Abuse
"pricey cables" are better cables. You do see a hugh difference in picture quality and sound quality. Try it yourself, buy the cheap ones and the nice ones, hook them up and see if you do not see a difference. You wouldn't buy a nice car and put cheap tires on it, you would buy the nice tires. TV's are the same. You get what you pay for.Upgraded cables are digital , regular cheap ones are analog. Do you remember when there was bag phones? Then digital cell phones came out? "pricey" cables provide better color streams and less noise,(static)True High definition is also effected by the kind of cables you purchase. If you need more info. go to Best Buy's website, they have a cable guide to explain the technology of cables and why upgraded ones are better.
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11 Posted by bcw004@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:03PM EDT Report Abuse
I have the top of the line Monster cable for my ps2 and for my HDTV Cable TV to my projection screen tv. I changed my cables one by one from cheap to expensive and I saw a clear difference each time I changed a cable. Why be cheap if your are buying $5000-$10000 worth of equipment that you are going to have for 10 or more years. It's not like you are buying cables every year. I like to get the best quality out of great equipment. If you have never seen the best picture or heard the best sound then you can be cheap but if you have then spend a little extra. When professional A/V companies are installing $100K systems in people's homes who are looking for the absolute best quality for the money they are not putting in $15 cables even though it would save the company money if they did. They are putting in the best because they want the best picture and sound.
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12 Posted by woohoosier on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:49PM EDT Report Abuse
$100+ dollars for superior A/V to watch American Idol?
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13 Posted by tomaschpw on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:14PM EDT Report Abuse
I used to work at Best Buy and cables and accesories had the largest mark ups (50-80%)
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14 Posted by sgtklu on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:14PM EDT Report Abuse
The premise of this article is correct, the common viewer/listener can do without the high end cables. Really! The cable world is full of high end cables that could make your audio/visual expeirence the best. But at what ratio of price/performance is what you have to ask yourself. Scientifically, I am sure that gold connectors / different shielding would help with reduced interferance or better signal transmission. Of course when you get into high end equipment, high end cables will make a difference to the discriminating eye/ear. I have had both a 100 dollar hdmi cable and a cheaper one. The difference between the two was not noticable on either my hd projector or hd plasma tv. Eventually, technology will get to the point where cabling will be important, but right now most cables can be bought at the lower price and still get the job done.
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15 Posted by davidbaye on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:38PM EDT Report Abuse
I used to work at Best buy also and I can tell you that higher quality analog cables (rca, component) will definetely make a difference in picture and audio quality, but there is much less of a difference in the quality of cheap and expensive digital cables (hdmi, optical) As previosly mentioned, cables are marked up quite a bit, but we usually discounted them pretty significantly with the sale of an HDTV. As a customer, you have to aset your won prices in order to get the best deal.
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16 Posted by ventsislavdanailov on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:33PM EDT Report Abuse
Yes, HDMI cable in Apple store cost $18. Everybody knows that Apple is a brand that know best! No comment...
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17 Posted by michael.mckee2 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:17PM EDT Report Abuse
It needs to be noted that there is a difference in HDMI/Toslink and everything else. These are digital signals and the only part of this cable that matters is the connection. Industry standard is gold plated and is recommended. Your coaxial audio and component video cables to matter! Now your talking about actually physical elements such as copper and silver. Cheap component cables use less amounts of silver vs expensive ones. You will see a difference between a 20 dollar component and 100 dollar! Same applies for coaxial audio cables, speaker wire, and other interconnects. Higher amounts of metals like silver and copper mean less resistance from the signal which means better quality. With the price of copper at all time highs, it can get expensive with some audio cables. All this being said, Monster does have the highest markups around. You could even put them in the same class as Bose as far as genius marketing and horrible markup/poor quality. Shop around, read the fine print. Just like anything else, know what you're buying before you buy it. Bottom line, digital cables don't require loads of money. Anything else requires more attention.
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18 Posted by michael.mckee2 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:17PM EDT Report Abuse
One other thing. If your not running a true 1080p source such as blu-ray or hd-dvd, you can get away with just component. HDMI is only required when trying to pass a 1080p signal. If your just trying to improve the quality of your satelite dishes HD content, invest in good component.
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19 Posted by bgman36 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:06PM EDT Report Abuse
Cables absolutely make a huge difference in the quaulity of what your trying to achive from your av system.i added monster tips on to my speaker wire and it made a huge audio difference.people who want to spend the money for a good tv or audio system need to scheive the preformance they are paying for a descent set of cables.believe me there is a big difference between whats in the box and a high quality monster cable. monster is alwats gonna win!
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20 Posted by thegold78 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse
working at an electronics retailer for years, there is no doubt that premium cables do help. Going along with some of the previous statements, most people dont have the quality equipment and you need a group of products to see the difference. In response to the previous statement,,i have been to a monster training,,and yes i can say there product does make a huge difference
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21 Posted by rikki_hoar on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:42PM EDT Report Abuse
One of the things that they tried to sell me on was that gold was a better conductor, it's not. Copper is much better and silver would be the best...but it doesn't have the marketing appeal that gold has. Do the research.
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22 Posted by mobilestore123 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:24PM EDT Report Abuse
Ben I am very disappointed that you posted this article without any kind of proper research. Your own source (Ars technica) says that there is a difference, I used to be be in the audio/ video sales business and I am a gadget junkie as well trust me its worth it to spend the extra dough on good cables, i am not saying go spend a hundred dollars on name brand cables but dont expect superior audio and video out of $20 hdmi cable or $10 rca cables. I recently purchased a PS3 and to test out the difference i purchased $20 hdmi cable and also picked up belkin pure a/v hdmi cable for $80. The very first difference I saw was in the audio, the sound clarity was 100% better and the video was absolutely clear as well. If you ever put together a car stereo system or home theater system please do yourself a favor and purchase some decent cables, you dont have to buy it from the store, go online and look for a good deal. The 8ft belkins hdmi I bought were $109 in the store and $80 online and the reason they were that expensive was because of the length. You can get 4ft for around $50. Please do your research before posting an article, you have to understand a lot of people read yahoo articles and seriously take in what you "recommend".
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23 Posted by nyr62 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:42PM EDT Report Abuse
This article is absolutely true. Also, we shouldn't buy good food. We should buy the just about to turn meats, cheeses, etc cause it's cheaper. I mean a slab of meat is a slab of meat, eh? Ya know what, lets get rid of turn signals and fancy features on cars. It's just a waste of money right? I mean, we can roll our own windows down and signal to other drivers which way we're turning with our hands (or sometimes just a finger). And might as well go to a crappy doctor to get your health care, right? I mean, a heart transplant is a heart transplant, eh? No matter who performs it. This guy ain't all wrong, but his tips aren't exactly accurate either.
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24 Posted by adam_wlltt on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:45PM EDT Report Abuse
I work in an electronic store. I am one of the pushy salesman you were speaking of however I simply tell a customer if they bye the "less expensive" cables they will work just as good as the 1-3 hundred dollar ones but how many times would you like to replace those cables due to heat, dust, moisture in the air, many things can cause problems, however the protective plating around the monster cables are really what make them worth the extra money they will last 10-20 times longer
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25 Posted by boppert1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:11PM EDT Report Abuse
The monster Training is a waste of time. I've been to 3 of them. All they do is tell you how great their product is and that you can produce tremendous profit margins by selling it. I think some people are missing the point of the article though. I will agree and say their cables DO make an improvement over the rat cables that come in the box of your DVD player. But almost ANY upgraded cable will do that and as I said before Monster is NOT worth the money. Buy a comparable cable at half the price...Acoustic research, Phoenix Gold, etc. All can be found at you local big box guys and they will make the same improvement. The point of the article is to get your improvements in signal quality without putting unnecessary profits into the hands of retailers. On a side note: One thing I always wondered about those trainings is that they never could explain why a $12 panamax surge strip took the line noise out of the power signal just as well as yet provided better surge protection than their $600 HTS5000 power center. Attend a Panamax training...it will open your eyes.
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6 Posted by scarlettatl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:07PM EDT Report Abuse
Try monoprice.com, Bluejeanscable.com or ABCcables.com. Monster is indeed a ripoff (though I applaud their marketing genius) and unfortunately they thrive on some of the thinking posted here. Heed gauge of cabling (particularly with regard to length of cable) and seek out manufacturers that are gaining a reputation in the industry. "Credible" audiophile mags/websites cover this regularly and can tell you what to look for. The average consumer is paying 5 to 10 times what they should be paying for cabling.