var json_comments = new Array("
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shepd
April 28, 2009 4:09 PM
Moderate | Flag for review

Monster used higher-quality products in the analog era to give you better sound

Que? I mean, really, you can get better sound with coat hangers.

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10 replies
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zombie_batch
April 28, 2009 8:32 PM
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@shepd: when comparing my free (came included with something else) S-Video cable versus a $125 S-video cable. There was a difference. Don't get me wrong, the difference was Marginal, but the Monster still had the better picture. Just not a picture worth $125 versus what I can get with something on hand. These are both long cables, 12ft or something, not single digit feet length like 6 or 9ft.

The monster was significantly better than a third s-video cable I had laying around, by leaps and bounds, thanks to the monster having shielding and the other cable apparently not having any.

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pmw
April 29, 2009 1:11 AM
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@zombie_batch: S-Video is an analog standard. Higher-quality materials probably do make a higher-quality picture. The complaints come from Monster Cable selling $125 cables for carrying digital data such as HDMI and S/PDIF. For that, you will not be able to tell a difference between a $125 and a $5 cable.

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Corporate_guy
April 28, 2009 7:55 PM
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@shepd: Have fun using a coat hanger for an analog signal. With analog you need good shielding to keep interference out. Of course the facts about analog being susceptible to interference don't actually tell us if Monster made good cables for analog signals.

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shepd
April 28, 2009 11:30 PM
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@Corporate_guy:

The coat hangers were used to replace speaker cable in the test. It takes a decent amount of voltage (and current to back it up, of course) to actually get a traditional speaker to make sound.

If you are picking up induced interference strong enough to drive an 8 ohm load in the, say, 1V and up range, you have other things to worry about (Like, say, melting things!).

Now, for your line-level signals, you got it. Interference city! :o)

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Anonymous
April 28, 2009 9:06 PM
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@Corporate_guy: Not sure if it'll let me post a link, but here's a experiment done comparing monster cables to coat hangers. Even audiophiles (allegedly) couldn't tell the difference.

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Megladon
April 28, 2009 4:27 PM
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@shepd:


I still want to start a wire coat hanger company called \"Monster Coathangers!\"*


*this is not a speaker wire, the fact that this coat hanger can possibly sound better then actual speaker wire of a product of similar name is only coincidence

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godlyfrog
April 28, 2009 10:55 PM
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@Megladon: If you did that, they would actually have grounds to sue you, since most reasonable people can't tell the difference between Monster Cable's cables and a wire hanger...

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Nitrokart knows CPR and took that guy's wallet
April 28, 2009 4:45 PM
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@Megladon: No, don't - Monster Cable will sue you for using the generic term \"monster\" in your company's name!

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docrice
April 28, 2009 4:16 PM
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@shepd: I believe he meant to say, \"Monster used higher-quality products in the analog era that would theoretically give better sound\"


Am I a believe in gold plated conductors, twisted audio cables, etc. for analog applications? Sure. We use them for much more advanced stuff in the electronics industry all the time because they have a definite performance edge (normally less signal attenuation and less noise pickup). Does a digital video cable with \"oxygen-free copper\" and gold plated ends make a difference? Pretty doubtful.

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shepd
April 28, 2009 4:45 PM
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@docrice:

My favourite fun fact: Obviously, when it comes to sound transmission over either distances, or to speakers, you need to ensure you use material that is low in resistance. Here's the resistance chart for popular metals:

silver - 14.71 nOhm/m
copper - 15.80 nOhm/m
gold - 20.11 nOhm/m
aluminum - 25.00 nOhm/m

So, if you actually cared you'd reduce gold usage, and increase silver usage. Your best \"speaker wire\" would be made of pure silver. As a reasonable substitute, copper comes pretty damn close, which is why it's used. And, for price, it's aluminum, which is what the electric company uses (And you would use it in your house, too, if your electrician weren't an idiot).

The only reason gold is used on these connectors is because it doesn't tarnish. And that means you can be a lazy ass and not clean the connectors before using them. Wooooooo!

Of course, if you just remember to clean the connectors (if they are tarnished) prior to using them, you don't need to spend the extra.

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Morberis
April 28, 2009 4:55 PM
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@shepd:


NO.


Sorry we use copper because if you use aluminum you need to go up 2 wire sizes which costs twice as much destroying almost the entire cost advantage of aluminum. Copper has other advantages too which make it far superior in home use, especially when the cost savings are measured in the lower hundreds CDN.

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shepd
April 28, 2009 11:26 PM
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@Morberis / chuck0008:

Sigh.

The Canadian Electrical Code still (and will forever) permit aluminum installations. It is perfectly safe. Of course, the vast amount of poor electricians out there won't disappear, so that means you won't easily get insurance on a building with aluminum wire.

And, of *course* you must use appropriately rated wire for the job. That should go without saying. The AWG size of the wire is not a definition of its current carrying capacity, the conductance is. Since aluminum has a higher resistance/lower conductance, you obviously will require a lower AWG than copper. Since the cost of it is much lower (well, it would be except for the fact there's very little demand for high AWG aluminum). Of course, for popular sizes (3 AWG and lower) aluminum is cheaper despite using more material.

Aluminum is not dangerous at all, except when installed by awful electricians. A good electrician knows not to inspect for nicks and knows to only use aluminum rated materials when working with it.

The issue with aluminum is, plain and simple, bad electricians. Copper is very forgiving to poor technique: Nicks, excessive (or not enough) exposed wire, incorrect torque, improper/exposed joints, improper or underrated materials, improperly sized wire, and unsecured wire don't often tend to cause problems when you use copper, but do cause issues when you use aluminum. These are not inevitable problems, these are dangerous mistakes your electrician is making. If your electrician \"gets away\" with these things because he's using copper, he's a bad electrician. Sadly, he keeps his job and keeps f**king up homes because nobody figures it out. With aluminum, he wouldn't last in the industry very long.

I don't count galvanic issues, since copper has the exact same problems. If you use steel screws to hold together copper, just see how long it will last...

I have a copy of the codebook if anyone disagrees as to whether or not aluminum is legal.

In summary: Aluminum, as a material to carry power, is not dangerous. Bad electricians, however, are.

Now, don't think I'm trying to tell you (or that I would myself) to wire up houses with aluminum wire. I just lament the situation we've put ourselves in (China controlling copper costs) over our inability to do the job right.

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usa_gatekeeper
April 28, 2009 9:48 PM
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@Morberis: Not to mention, as I recall, galvanic corrosion at contact points (switches, outlets, etc.) between aluminum wire and brass screws.

This corrosion can eventually lead to high resistance connections and all kinds of nasty events including fire.

All I'm saying is do your homework before messing with aluminum wire for permanent electrical use around the home.

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chuck0008
April 28, 2009 7:09 PM
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@Morberis: Most importantly aluminum isn't up to code, because constant heating and cooling from being turned on and off causes stress fractures which leads to house fires. The more you know...

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Firethorn
April 29, 2009 1:47 PM
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@chuck0008: Even that's surmountable by using the proper termination equipment, but when that termination equipment costs twice as much as stuff that's only rated for copper, combined with the need to increase the gauge for a given amperage capacity, you don't save any money inside the house from using AL.


My breaker panel is rated for Al, my outlets aren't.

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PencilSharp
April 28, 2009 7:39 PM
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@chuck0008: ...which leads to house fires.

But then there's the moral question:

Is someone who would drop $99 on a $4 cable responsible/smart/adult enough to actually own a house?

XOXO pS!

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Kimaroo - 100% Pure Natural Kitteh
April 28, 2009 4:10 PM
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I'm having trouble feeling sorry for them... I wonder why that is.

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6 replies
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mariospants
April 29, 2009 1:50 PM
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@Kimaroo: Well, besides the fact that everything's going wireless in the next 20 years, Monster is going to have to change its business line really quickly if it wants to survive.


Let's be honest, a lot of these cheap cables have bad solders between the connector and the wires and other problems. I have thrown out about a third of all of the cheap cables I've ever bought because at some point (usually after a move) they stopped functioning properly.


Still doesn't stop me from buying a cheap replacement rather than a high-price Monster that's guaranteed to work properly.

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KingPsyz
April 28, 2009 4:13 PM
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@Kimaroo:
Cause they're a collection of litigous ass gobbling douchnozzles with a penchant for shovel fucking?

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revmatty
April 28, 2009 5:12 PM
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@PSN: kingpsyz: \"a penchant for shovel fucking?\"

I've never heard that term before, and I'm sure as hell not going to google it.

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KingPsyz
April 28, 2009 5:54 PM
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@revmatty:
I made it up, but I'm sure there's some google results

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KingPsyz
April 28, 2009 5:57 PM
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@gStein:
douchenozzles(n) ex. See gStein
def. 1: Plural form for applicator tips for female hygene rinse.
def. 2: Corporations and/or people with little to no compassion for their fellow human beings. Usually lack any pride in their profession.
def. 3: People who spell correct insults on blogs.

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KingPsyz
April 28, 2009 4:18 PM
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@Kimaroo:
What can I say, i have a knack for these kinds of things.

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quagmire0
April 28, 2009 4:16 PM
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monoprice.com FTW!

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3 replies
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KingPsyz
April 28, 2009 4:18 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@quagmire0:
newegg helped me out too, I got my HDMI cable for my PS3 for $6

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Keavy_Rain
April 28, 2009 4:39 PM
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@PSN: kingpsyz: That's what I paid for my HDMI cable at Fry's.

It came in a clear plastic bag and they had a shopping cart full of them, right next to the shopping cart full of HD-DVD's for $5 a pop.

Just for laughs, I went to their Audio/Video cable section to price compare. Turns out an HDMI cable, same length, with fancy packaging would run me $50.

I decided to save $44 and go with the one in the plastic bag. Took it home, hooked up my PS3, and watched Wall-E on Blu-Ray. I'm no A/V expert, but the picture looked pretty damn good to me.

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KingPsyz
April 28, 2009 5:05 PM
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@Keavy_Rain:
That's cause as the article started it's either there or not.


So really there's no signal issues.

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Keavy_Rain
April 28, 2009 10:00 PM
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@PSN: kingpsyz: Monster cable and the $50 cable from Fry's in the nice package disagree with you, but if it makes you feel better, I agree with you.

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KingPsyz
April 28, 2009 10:39 PM
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@Keavy_Rain:
Me and Noel Lee have never seen eye to eye, I'm okay with that. He does drive a nice car he let me sit in though.

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nakedscience
April 28, 2009 4:25 PM
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@PSN: kingpsyz: My HD TV CAME with an HDMI cable, and it's not even really name brand (it was a gift). I didn't realize that wasn't normal until a few weeks ago.

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minsky
April 28, 2009 4:16 PM
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Oh boo-hoo for Monster. They deserve everything crappy that comes their way.

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PHRoG
April 28, 2009 4:16 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

There is a special place in hell, reserved just for them! When I'm on site, if I see a single Monster Cable product, they get an earful and most are absolutely disgusted at how they bully other companies using litigation.

Just plant the seed...:D

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1 replies
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Crystal Wojcinski
April 28, 2009 7:18 PM
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@PHRoG: They not only get their special place in hell but I've been saving up an evil laugh just for this Consumerist story.
HAHAHAHAHA...*COUGH* HAHAHAHA

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squinko
April 28, 2009 4:17 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I came to this site looking to purchase Monster Cables and instead found this negative article about them. I am very confused and distraught, because this site said Monster Cable, but there are no cables to be had. I'm afraid I will have to report this to Monster Cable Products Inc. so they can protect their copyrights.

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6 replies
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Benguin
April 28, 2009 7:32 PM
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@squinko: I got here looking to play some minigolf after fixing my transmission.

I'm in a world of confusion, right now.

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SacraBos
April 28, 2009 6:48 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@squinko: Sit down, have a drink [www.monsterenergy.com] and soon everything will be okay.

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whyerhead
April 29, 2009 9:21 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

@SacraBos: Why drink Monster Energy when you can have Brawndo? [www.brawndo.com]
It's got electrolytes!

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Half Beast
April 28, 2009 4:17 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Die slowly.
These jokers get no sympathy from me.
Get equivalent quality from the jumble of miscellaneous wiring in the drawer under the TV in the basement.

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1 replies
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fanboy.took.my.star
April 28, 2009 11:55 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@half-beast: and you can still get atlona cables for less than monster...and atlonas kick ass...

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Nettwerk
April 28, 2009 4:20 PM
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They should hang themselves with that hdmi cable.

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1 replies
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LegoMan322
April 28, 2009 4:34 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@Nettwerk: We should hang them while in court for hanging them with the HDMI cable. Lets use the $600 one....should sound and show a lot nicer than $4 one.

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Trai_Dep
April 28, 2009 4:23 PM
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So the article implies that Circuit City customers were dumb as posts.
Not that I have any problem with that.

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1 replies
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Ber'Zophus
April 28, 2009 5:35 PM
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@Trai_Dep: I do wonder that...but, maybe, the reason they're hurting is that, just maybe, consumers are starting to realize they're $99 coat hangers? And proceeds go to the elimination/profit off of anything with \"Monster\" in its name?

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liveallnight
April 28, 2009 4:24 PM
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I can't wait for the posting titled: \"Monster Cable finds home in Monster Island, gone forever.\"

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1 replies
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gttim
April 28, 2009 4:26 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

I use monster cables for my bass, but they weren't outrageously expensive and I wouldn't have bought them if they were. I fail to see the continuation of a business model that jacks prices up to unreasonable levels. Other than \"some people are stupid, lets try to fool them.\"

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6 replies
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Murph1908
April 28, 2009 5:59 PM
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@gttim:
\"I fail to see the continuation of a business model that jacks prices up to unreasonable levels. Other than \"some people are stupid, lets try to fool them.\"

You must have missed the post yesterday about the $700 handbag. The funnies part about that story, which I don't think anyone mentioned, was the smaller version was $400. Is there really $300 difference between two bags that are identical except for size?

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Keavy_Rain
April 28, 2009 10:03 PM
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@Murph1908: I paid $1,000 for my 40\" HDTV and the next size up, the 46\", was $400 more.

Its amazing how much the price goes up for a small difference in size.

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Grive
April 28, 2009 11:05 PM
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@Keavy_Rain: To be fair, though, in the case of the TV, what you've got there is a 32% increase in screen size, which is really, really close to 40%.

Added to that, the controller complexity increases exponentially, and a 46\" TV has a considerably higher chance of being a dud off the manufacture line, and an increase of 40% in cost doesn't sound unreasonable at all.

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m4ximusprim3
April 28, 2009 6:09 PM
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@Murph1908: Maybe the extra volume is full of enriched weapons grade uranium!

See what a good deal that would be?

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Parapraxis
April 28, 2009 6:27 PM
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@m4ximusprim3:

The boat is a boat, but there could be anything inside the mystery box! It could even be a boat!

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tc4b
April 28, 2009 4:48 PM
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@gttim: I can't remember if it was Twain or Vonnegut or whoever, but someone smart said:

\"No one ever went broke underestimating people's intelligence.\"

In fact, I think investing in people's ignorance is a pretty good guarantee of returns.

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Ichiro51
April 28, 2009 4:32 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

@gttim: But it's working. A good friend of mine who is pretty smart but absolutely not a savvy consumer was almost in shock when I told him a couple weeks ago that Monster wasn't worth the money. I forwarded a few posts from here and Engadget to him, so hopefully he's been set straight, but in the context of consumerism, the \"some people are stupid\" thing is more common than we would like to hope.

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YouDidWhatNow?
April 28, 2009 4:46 PM
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@Ichiro51:


...unfortunately, more like \"the vast majority of people believe marketing hype.\"


And screw the analog era - the wiring that Monster sold then still provided no perceptible benefit over, say, a K-Mart $2 extension cord with the ends clipped off.


Monster has always existed purely based on the business plan of fleecing gullible consumers. Same as Bose. Evil from the business plan up.

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gqcarrick
April 28, 2009 4:26 PM
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The real downfall of Circuit City was the prices. I went in one time just looking around, I went over and saw the price of cables. $15 for a power cord for a computer! I have tons of those at work, I could be making some serious coin to all the idiots who bought the cables at those prices.

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5 replies
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ncboxer
April 28, 2009 7:46 PM
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@gqcarrick: I use to work at Best Buy (quit after 3 months of BS), and they made there money on accessories like cables. I know at least computer wise, they had razor thin margins because of all the competition, and made the bulk of there profit on service plans and cables and such. I could get a printer cable for $3 (employee price) that they were selling for $30 to everyone else.

This is why Best Buy didn't teach their employees computer knowledge or how to sell computers, they taught us how to push service plans and accessory bundles. What the customer doesn't want a service plan? I guess we have no more of that computer model on hand to sell them. I left soon after this practice cropped up...

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johnva
April 28, 2009 4:38 PM
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@gqcarrick: Virtually all B&M retail stores seem to have turned \"accessories\" into a category they can put a 500% markup on. Best to shop online for that sort of thing.

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Outrun1986
April 28, 2009 4:36 PM
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@gqcarrick: I bought a USB printer cable at Walmart for 10$ (this was before we had monoprice selling us dirt cheap, good quality cables). Big Lots near me has a whole set of USB cables and connectors for something like 7.99 and they are the light up kind. I have never had a problem with the cheaply priced cables, so I agree that monster is complete BS.

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pecan 3.14159265
April 28, 2009 4:29 PM
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@gqcarrick: I was catching up with past podcasts of This American Life and one of the stories was about the CC liquidation, and that at the very last day of liquidation, someone bought a USB printer cable that used to be $33.99 and it was finally marked down to $2.16 and tax. I have a hard time accepting that a printer cable should have been $33.99 to begin with.

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DreamTheEndless: Death's little brother
April 30, 2009 5:03 PM
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@pecan 3.14159265: TAL is fantastic and that was a great episode.
(To any who don't know, it's probably on your local public radio station every week and available as a free podcast on iTunes. I think you can download it from their site too - www.thisamericanlife.org )
I drive across the country and podcasts of TAL are one of the few things that keep me sane.

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Zclyh3
April 28, 2009 4:26 PM
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No sympathy at all.

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2 replies
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TEW
April 28, 2009 6:42 PM
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@Zclyh3:
I agree after reading their antics on this web site I vowed to never buy their products. I refuse to support a company that pries on the start ups.

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LegoMan322
April 28, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Zclyh3: Yep...that about covers it. Let them die.

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Illusio26
April 28, 2009 4:28 PM
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\"Ed Kasza, a salesman for Chicago area retailer The Little Guys, says his store uses only Monster cable because it is the most reliable cable. \"Would you really want to put a $25 cable with a $3,000 TV?\" he says.

\"You'd be wasting your money on the TV if you were to do that.\"\"

Seriously? Is this guy for real? If their salesmen are actually that retarded he just convinced me to never walking into a Little Guys store.

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5 replies
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RecordStoreToughGuy_starcommandseries.com
April 28, 2009 4:54 PM
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@darkjedi26: Would a cheap cable cause the TV to catch on fire? I don't see how a cheap cable would somehow be detrimental to an expensive TV. Maybe affect the picture quality slightly, but I'm about half-blind anyway, so who cares? Not me.

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Firethorn
April 29, 2009 2:21 PM
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@RecordStoreToughGuy: Cheap substandard power cable, maybe.


Picture quality wise, with digital once you're getting enough of the signal through so that 100% of the digital bits can be read, cable quality doesn't really matter. As SergioDingo mentioned, if you're going to be messing with cables a lot, better quality connectors make sense, and to me, if the cables have the possibility of being pinched, a tad more shielding of the rubber/plastic variety might be good.


Analog is a tad more iffy, but again, once you get above rock bottom cheap cable, the advantages to better stuff become limited, and monster blows more hot air than quality.

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SergioDingo
April 28, 2009 4:51 PM
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@darkjedi26: There is something to be said for using a quality cable.

The problem is that monster cable isn't quality. I own a lot of cables, and I don't take particularly special care of them. They get coiled up and tossed in closets, plugged in then pulled on, etc. I don't think I've ever had a radio shack cable go bad on me. Monster cables, on the other hand seem to constantly have problems with being poorly crimped with fragile connectors that are prone to failure. When I've dissected monster cables, I've found bad solder joints.

Monster cable: Slipshod quality, audiophile pricing.

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Quake 'n' Shake
April 28, 2009 4:50 PM
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@darkjedi26: \"Reliable Cable\" is such a bullshit term. If you plug a cable in once, and leave it there, as probalby 99% of consumers do, it will be reliable.


Reliability is an issue when cables are constantly disconnected and reconnected. In that case, it's the plugs and jacks that matter. Monster's cables do not impress me in that department.

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Ichiro51
April 28, 2009 4:36 PM
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@darkjedi26: A salesman is by definition nothing but a shill for his products, so he's just doing his job...I think it would take speaking to him candidly after he's taken off his salesman hat to figure out whether he's really that retarded.

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BamAlmighty
April 28, 2009 4:31 PM
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Monster is the Bose of the cable world

all bark, no bite

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2 replies
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Powerlurker
April 28, 2009 8:07 PM
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@BamAlmighty:

Say what you will about Monster as a purveyor of overpriced snake oil, but Bose, though their products may be overpriced for what you get, has lots of solid research behind their work. To this day, Bose still does a lot of fundamental research on acoustics and other fields and puts much of their profits back into R&D.

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tc4b
April 28, 2009 6:33 PM
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@BamAlmighty: I disagree. I don't think Bose products are AS overpriced of overhyped as Monster's. In fact, some BOse lines of speakers are comparable in price to many other low-to-mid level consumer brands and perform adequately.

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segfault
April 28, 2009 4:36 PM
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One of my clients got to pay $22 for a USB cable from Staples the other day... I didn't know I would be hooking up a printer, otherwise I would have brought one of my $2 USB cables with me. I thought it was grossly overpriced.

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redskull
April 28, 2009 4:47 PM
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Reminds me of the days when people believed your CDs would sound better if you colored the edges with a dark green marker!

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3 replies
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metaled
April 29, 2009 12:36 AM
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@redskull: It's actually the entire face (non label side), It forces the red laser to shift to a slightly purple hue, which we all know (Blue Ray) is more easily read by the digital pickups because it is higher on the digital spectrum. Forcing higher speed and greater accuracy.
Disclaimer, if you believe this BS and color your CDs Green with a marker, then you deserve for them no to work! DON'T DO IT!

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SacraBos
April 28, 2009 6:52 PM
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@redskull: People are really that stupid. They are just too ignorant to know that the laser is infrared and a red marker should be used.

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Dooley
April 28, 2009 4:54 PM
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@redskull:

I don't remember ever hearing that!

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Bahnburner
April 28, 2009 4:52 PM
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Is Monster in the worst companies in America bracket? If not, they should be.

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salvatorecondegni
April 28, 2009 4:53 PM
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What a ripoff. I know monoprice sells dirt cheap cables, but I was able to snag 3 Phillips 6ft HMDI cables from sellout.woot.com for $5 each.

I've read several times over that with digital cables, they either work or they don't. There's no gray area like there is with analog (composite) cables.

I'd check your dollar stores for USB cables. I picked up a few that have the little disc in the middle that retracts the cable.

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Dooley
April 28, 2009 4:54 PM
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Just call me curious...

Why haven't they sued Coca Cola yet, for their \"Monster\" energy drink?

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fanboy.took.my.star
April 28, 2009 11:58 PM
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@Dooley: thats cause coke is 1000x larger than some company that sells over priced cables no shoppers that dont know any better in north america...

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logicalnoise
April 28, 2009 5:30 PM
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@Dooley: they did and coke ended up just making a concessiont o linkt monster cable's site at the bottom of their monster drink website.

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ManekiNeko
May 6, 2009 1:53 AM
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@logicalnoise: Wow, I'm surprised Coke actually blinked in that stand off. Monster must have some really good lawyers... maybe they're actual monsters!

Dracula: \"Blah, I vant to sue your ass!\"
Frankenstein: \"Ligitation GOOD, sensible pricing BAD!\"
Wolfman: (humps Coke lawyer's leg)

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jc364
May 12, 2009 6:28 PM
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@ManekiNeko: lol, that made me laugh a little. nice job.

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Murph1908
April 28, 2009 4:58 PM
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@Dooley:
Because Coca Cola has lawyers too. Unlike Monster Mini-golf and the other small business Monster Cable likes to pick on.

Coca Cola would chew them up and spit them out.

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chrisjames
April 28, 2009 4:54 PM
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but we're also increasing performance

What, they wave their magic wand over the cables twice now, instead of just once? It's like watching a shell game where the con artist is openly holding the ball for all to see, while prodding the player to pick a shell.

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Russ Savage
April 28, 2009 4:58 PM
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hahahahahahah... boy i hope they whither and die. scum bags ripping off the unbeknownst public.. that's all they are.. salesman. knowledge is power.. and hopefully soon everyone will know how bullshit you are.

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wallapuctus
April 28, 2009 5:01 PM
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Watch out USA Today, lawsuit incoming.

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jpdanzig
April 28, 2009 5:07 PM
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Even during the analog years, Consumer Reports ALWAYS told readers that there was NO reason to spend the $$$ on Monster Cables.


The only Monster product I ever bought was a car FM transmitter for an mp3 player -- its performance was dreadful, with horrendous noise and interference, and Monster's customer support was no better, as my email asking for help on reducing the interference went unanswered.


I guess Monster must have relied on CC salesbots to talk hapless customers into buying their stupidly overpriced cables as an add-on.


Maybe one of these days consumers will stop buying other ridiculously marked up junk like Starbucks coffee and all those body washes and fragrances at the bath chains (I can't remember their names, though one is a block away from me; one bath chain is green, the other is red...)

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Monte Butts
April 28, 2009 6:14 PM
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@jpdanzig:

Actually, the ONLY Monster product I've owned at any price that was worth anything was that FM Transmitter. I've had several kinds over the last 5 years and the Monster is the only one that sounds halfway decent in my work van.

That being said, as a musician, their pro audio cables SUCK. I don't care that they have a lifetime warranty; continued failure does me no good on stage.

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jpdanzig
April 28, 2009 9:16 PM
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Monte, did you ever try the iriver FM transmitter? That worked like a charm for me...


@Monte Butts:

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bohemian
April 28, 2009 5:10 PM
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My $6 generic brand HDMI cable from Target is laughing at Monster Cable.

They only way they continue to exist is due to places like Circuit City and Best Buy. Without those sales kids convincing people they need a $100 Monster Cable for their new TV to function Monster basically has no sales channel.

I hope the recession and demise of big box electronics stores kills Monster Cable off.

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Barney_The Plug_ Frank
April 28, 2009 5:16 PM
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Die Monster Cable, Die!

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Megan Squier
April 28, 2009 5:45 PM
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Seriously, has the average consumer ever done a cost/benefit analysis on Monster cables? Okay, a Monster cable costs $100 there abouts; you can buy a no-name cable for about $5.

Lets say all picture quality is relatively the same when comparing the cheaper cable to the Monster cable. The cheaper cable would have to last 1/21 as long as the Monster cable for Monster to be better. Even if the cheaper cable only lasts half as long as the Monster its still a much better deal.

My dad taught me what would best be described as retail psychology. He didn't have much of an education (he has a GED he earned while in the Army and that's it) but I've seen him rake over car salesmen with MBA's like you wouldn't believe. If more consumers could use their heads and muster up a little common sense Monster wouldn't exist.

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NotATool
April 28, 2009 6:38 PM
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@Megan Squier: Great post, but wondering why a car salesman would have MBAs?

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Megan Squier
April 28, 2009 7:06 PM
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@NotATool: I meant to say the sales manager with a master's of business admin. Back in '02 my dad was looking for a good deal on a Crown Vic and he encountered one idiot of a dealership sales manager who tried to confuse him (my dad). Well, my dad threw the double talk back on the sales dude and ended up confusing him (sales dude). This guy had his college diploma on the wall of his office. My dad walked and ended up driving to a dealership 80 miles away that cut him a good deal on a used one.

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scoosdad
April 28, 2009 5:48 PM
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Huge props to USAToday for having the kahunas to imply repeatedly in the article that Monster cables were a waste of money. That in itself will probably hurt Monster more than Circuit City going under, or the recession, or both.

Hope USAToday has good lawyers.

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Baccus83
April 28, 2009 5:52 PM
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I'm confused. Is $99 a reasonable price for a transmission repair cable?

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vladthepaler
April 28, 2009 6:14 PM
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They should give up on cables and focus on their mini-golfing business.

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theyoungandthebetrayed
April 28, 2009 6:18 PM
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Not Monster but still related: Last weekend I saw that the Sony HDMI and S-Video cables at my local Target were on clearance, from $100+ to less than $20, and thought to myself, \"Well at least Target has figured out that no one is buying this junk...\"

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Anonymous
April 28, 2009 6:28 PM
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I worked at Circuit City for about two weeks a few years ago, and it should have been called MONSTER CABLE city. All through the training, both on the computer and the floor, they nagged us to do nothing but upsell. \"do they need MONSTER cables??\"

In fact, they loved it more than their service plan.

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Saboth
April 28, 2009 6:31 PM
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I could make a pool cue out of solid platinum, but that doesn't mean it will perform better than the wooden one.

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tc4b
April 28, 2009 6:37 PM
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While I hate their litigious ways, I admire Monster for marketing. They've created a perception in the market out of whole cloth, that their cables are worth so much more money. And they've turned a profit doing so. To me, it's like Madonna or Marylin Manson; people without an abundance of talent, but who have been able to market themselves well very well.

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vastrightwing
April 28, 2009 6:41 PM
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But nothing beats the Denon AKDL1 Dedicated Link Cable! Just read! LOL

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greghayden70
April 28, 2009 6:51 PM
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Put two identical lcd TV's next to each other with identical tuners, hook one up with a 15 foot 3.00 dollar cable from a Sony Playstation Three and the other with a 100.00 dollar 6 foot cable from Monster... Guess what... Identical pictue quality

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Corporate-Shill
April 28, 2009 6:55 PM
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8' HDMI cable at Monoprice.com goes for about $4.


Great. Now name ONE store carrying the product. Can't? I wonder why.


Monster Cable sells their cables for $4 as well.... before freight charges. Then there is the distributor markup. Then there is the retail store markup. The retail store markup is huge, mainly because stocking products for customer display is a monster waste of precious showroom resources...especially products that need a lot of physical space for a minimally priced product. Of course you must pay an employee to re-arrange the showroom display after the idiot customers. And then there is that pesky markup to make up for the fact that consumer electronics are a price leader and the only profit the retail store might make is from selling the heavily markedup cable or an extended warranty. At the end of the day, a $4 part from Monster Cable is a $100 MSRP part on the dealer's showroom floor.


Oh, and Monoprice's price might be $4. Then you get to add UPS costs plus wait 2-7 days to get the item.


Level the playing field and Monoprice is just as expensive as Monster Cable.

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Ichiro51
April 28, 2009 8:30 PM
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@Corporate-Shill: And I forgot to mention that the regular price is $7.99. And yes, the sale price is valid in their B&M store. Here you go:

[www.frys.com]

So now everyone can feel comfortable again laughing at the following (not as though they shouldn't have earlier): \"Level the playing field and Monoprice is just as expensive as Monster Cable.\"

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Ichiro51
April 28, 2009 8:20 PM
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@Corporate-Shill: Actually, I can. Fry's is selling a 10' HDMI cable on sale for $4 right now.

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hwyengr
April 28, 2009 8:05 PM
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@Corporate-Shill: I haven't been in a big-box store for a while. Do the non-Monster-branded cables cost $100 too? They seem to have the same freight, markup, and labor costs for display.

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Megan Squier
April 28, 2009 7:26 PM
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@Corporate-Shill: Online retailers are cheaper because of less overhead dude! I'm not totally anti-big box but you have to admit that if someone can sell products with less overhead they are going to sell those products cheaper. You should know that.

Good example; my husband's grandmother's computer needed more memory because Best Buy sold her a desktop that had barely enough memory to run Vista. He went online to Newegg and bought the needed memory for $25 including shipping. The memory arrived in 3 days and his uncle put it in for her. Best Buy wanted, drum roll please..........$60 for that same stick of memory.

If you're an older special education teacher on a relatively limited income who are you going to buy from?

Seriously, what was all the business about \"leveling the playing field\"? Yes, in theory that is correct but in the real world its not. I and most other people don't mind waiting for an item if one can save $90 on it.

By the way, there are PLENTY of cables being sold at retail for much lower than Monster. I picked up a few at Wal-Mart for $10 apiece last summer when I bought my TV.

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Outrun1986
April 28, 2009 7:23 PM
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I think your average consumer would not notice a difference between cheap cables and monster brand, and would likely be just as satisfied with the cheapest cable provided, regardless of the type of equipment hooked up. We all obviously know that, but those salesmen will get the uninformed customer regardless.

Has anyone ever actually had a cable die on them? I know I sure haven't. The only way I can think of is if you were really yanking it or someone tripped over it, or maybe an electrical storm, but these would really be extenuating circumstances for most computer/home theater equipment and probably not something that happens to most consumers every day. Under normal use conditions a cable shouldn't die. I have monoprice USB cables and I toss them around quite a bit and leave them in dusty environments and they still work just fine.

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Jay Gonzz
April 28, 2009 7:47 PM
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..\"but we're also increasing performance\" is akin to making a refreshing glass of cold water with more \"wetness\"..?

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masterasia
April 28, 2009 7:55 PM
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\"We're lowering prices, due to the recession, but we're also increasing performance\" is the funniest thing I have ever heard.

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Onion_Volcano
April 28, 2009 8:12 PM
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Monster cables work better once you season them properly. Don't forget.

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Anonymous
April 28, 2009 8:36 PM
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The only good thing about Monster Cable is that if you do have one and break it even by towing your car with it you can walk into any store selling monster cables and they have to replace it. I have done it many times so you do get a lifetime warrenty

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Grrrrrrr, now with two buns made of bacon.
April 28, 2009 11:10 PM
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Circuit City was the ultimate captive market for pushing overpriced cables. I mean, we've all been there. You step up to the counter to buy a shiny new DVD player for $150 and suddenly realize that there won't be any movies tonight unless you buy a cable...and look, they're out of cheap ones and all they have is overpriced Monster cables. Funny how that works.

Screw you, Monster Cable.

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Mauni Mehrizi
April 29, 2009 1:44 AM
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Were is the monster vs. ??? for worst company!? because they could even give comcrap a run for there money ha who am i kidding

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Anonymous
April 29, 2009 6:59 AM
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As an ex CC employee, this doesn't surprise me at all. CC was BFFs with Monster. The managers could give a crap if you knew anything about the products you were selling. All they wanted was for you to sell 1) CityAdvantage (Extended Warranry) and 2) Accessories, especially anything Monster (likely due to the obscene markup). Heck, even the Belkin USB cables hovered around $35. I think the idea was that, hey, not that many people are loyal to us and shop here anymore, so let's gouge the hell out of everyone who is still loyal and for some reason wanders in here.

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stands2reason
May 23, 2009 7:00 PM
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Only $99 for a cable that's worth about $1. It's a bargain!

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