speakers wires and cables, best cost/benefit

[vxaudio]

cables and interconnects knowledge is currently one of my weakpoints..currently I use HDMI from dvd to tv only for picture b/c thats all it supports. optical for audio. and 16 gauge speaker wire.

I need advice on several things: note, im on a budget and can never make the stretch for monster or other expensive brands. Thus i am looking for the best cost/benefit cables and wires (not necesssarly the best of the best) i will list prices that i hope i can find a good wire next to each topic

1. Im getting a new SVS pci 25-31 this week and need to get an RCA plug about 15 feet. i know these can go from 5 to hundreds of dollars. I know monsters are around 75 are there any in the $20 range that anyone has found to be good?

2. Speaker wire upgrade. currently i use 16 gauge basic wire from radio shack. is there much of an advantage in going with something more expensive or larger? my longest stretch is about 25 feet now im happy now, but am i missing something better?

3. I have an HDMI that came with my samsung up converting dvd.and its great...would spending 150 on a monster be worth it here?

4. for audio i currently use like a $15 phillips optical...same deal here..worth spending extra money?

thanks for any help.....ideally..sticking with what i have would be awesome..but im wondering if others that have upgraded thought it was worth it or not? thanks

[L.J.]

cables and interconnects knowledge is currently one of my weakpoints..currently I use HDMI from dvd to tv only for picture b/c thats all it supports. optical for audio. and 16 gauge speaker wire.

I need advice on several things: note, im on a budget and can never make the stretch for monster or other expensive brands. Thus i am looking for the best cost/benefit cables and wires (not necesssarly the best of the best) i will list prices that i hope i can find a good wire next to each topic

1. Im getting a new SVS pci 25-31 this week and need to get an RCA plug about 15 feet. i know these can go from 5 to hundreds of dollars. I know monsters are around 75 are there any in the $20 range that anyone has found to be good?

2. Speaker wire upgrade. currently i use 16 gauge basic wire from radio shack. is there much of an advantage in going with something more expensive or larger? my longest stretch is about 25 feet now im happy now, but am i missing something better?

3. I have an HDMI that came with my samsung up converting dvd.and its great...would spending 150 on a monster be worth it here?

4. for audio i currently use like a $15 phillips optical...same deal here..worth spending extra money?

thanks for any help.....ideally..sticking with what i have would be awesome..but im wondering if others that have upgraded thought it was worth it or not? thanks


Save your money. Please don't drop $150 on a HDMI cable. If I've learned anthing from this site, it's that there is more out there than Monster and you can do just as well spending a portion of the money.

[GMichael]

Try some of these. I like 12 ga.
But I don't think you need much more than 16 ga.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?DID=7&WebPage_ID=3&Start=1&searchorderby=3&Manufacturer=195&CATID=56&ObjectGroup_ID=374&sm=1&so=2&raid=53&rak=sound_king

[L.J.]

Try some of these. I like 12 ga.
But I don't think you need much more than 16 ga.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?DID=7&WebPage_ID=3&Start=1&searchorderby=3&Manufacturer=195&CATID=56&ObjectGroup_ID=374&sm=1&so=2&raid=53&rak=sound_king

I'm gonna order some flat cable soon and that's the route I'm going. I've wasted so much money on cables.

Hey GMichael,
you'll be happy to know I picked up Stargate today per your recommendation. Only $10 bucks plus it's DTS.

[GMichael]

I'm gonna order some flat cable soon and that's the route I'm going. I've wasted so much money on cables.

Hey GMichael,
you'll be happy to know I picked up Stargate today per your recommendation. Only $10 bucks plus it's DTS.

Cool, the original? You'll like it.

[N. Abstentia]

If you enjoy pissing your money away, by all means buy Monster cable. That's the only purpose it serves. You can get the same stuff at WalMart under the RCA or Phillips brand for 1/5 the price. Or if you want to order online get Dayton or AR from www.partsexpress.com

[EdwardGein]

I'd recommend you use glass fiber optic cable for your TV connection which you can get for around $20- $30 or so on Ebay- whether you believe it or not, it makes the TV sound louder, more pokier and richer. Do not use this for your CD or DVD connections though as the sound is too in your face. Instead, you can get a great fiber optics cable from gamezone11 on Ebay see item # 5816401382 He sells this 6' fiber optics cable regularly under $10 (he also sells a 3' one) & for some reason it produces a better sound for my DVDs and CD's then any other cable, a noticeable difference.

For speaker wiring as long as your using 16 gauge your OK, I use Monster out of habit. You can buy Monster spealer wire alot cheaper on Ebay, about 40-50% less then retail, so unless you need the speaker wire right away you should so that.

I also use Monster THX subwoofer cable & finally Monster THX component cables for my DVD player & HD TV & again you can get a great price on them new on Ebay from regular vendors at the Buy it Now Price which is around 40% less then retail including shipping.

For DVD-A sound I use Diamond back cable also on sale on Ebay. As an aside, while Monster entry level cables have actually produced decent results for me, I found that the more expensive Monster cables actually produce worse sounds!

[topspeed]

1. Im getting a new SVS pci 25-31 this week and need to get an RCA plug about 15 feet. i know these can go from 5 to hundreds of dollars. I know monsters are around 75 are there any in the $20 range that anyone has found to be good?Check out Radio Shack. They'll have something that will work fine.


2. Speaker wire upgrade. currently i use 16 gauge basic wire from radio shack. is there much of an advantage in going with something more expensive or larger? my longest stretch is about 25 feet now im happy now, but am i missing something better? The most important thing you should consider with speaker wire is the length compared to the gauge. There was a very cool link that showed the degredation of signals over a given length, but for the life of me I can't remember where. Try doing a search and you should be able to find it (post it as a sticky when you do!). If you can use a wire cutter, go to Home Depot and buy their out-door extension cord and clip off the ends. Yes, it's orange and black but hey, it is October. Consider it festive :D! FWIW, TAS used this exact cord in a speaker cable shoot-out and could hear no difference between this and the exotics.


3. I have an HDMI that came with my samsung up converting dvd.and its great...would spending 150 on a monster be worth it here? Nope.


4. for audio i currently use like a $15 phillips optical...same deal here..worth spending extra money? Keep what you have.


There are plenty of opinions on cables. Check out the cable forum here. Just put on your flame suit before entering ;)

[vxaudio]

i bought a $15 acoustic research sub cable from best buy. I couldnt find anyone that carried RCA or philips..so i went with what i got. This one is single shielded, but from what ive read this is fine unless you go over 30 feet. somebody correct me if im wrong im going about 10 feet. The double shielded one from AR was $35 and monster was $49. Oh yeah, the manager of the audio department at BB best buy was helping me and we got into a debate about monster cabes. i told him that on forums, most people agree that they are way overpriced and many others based on tests outperformed them and were cheaper. His great absolute statement was that all the "kids" on forums bash monster b/c of the price, and any review that said they were not the best was biased. haha what a close minded loser. He said that nothing but monster cable would ever touch his blessed receiver and martin logan gratto subwoofer. I dared him to have a subwoofer showdown with me against my new svs 2531 (which of course he had never heard of) , but he declined, once again making the absolute statement that nothing could outperform the ML gratto. It was fun to hear him make a fool of himself. doesnt it piss you off when salesmen act this way?

[L.J.]

95% of my cables are monster. If I could do it all over again I would. I didn't know any better. It's even worse when newbie's walk into BB or CC and not only is that the only wire they sale but all the sales swear by it. I was talkin to a friend a couple of days ago about HT. He has a small setup going and was using a composite cable for his DVD player. I asked why wasn't he taking advantage of his component, and he said he didn't want to drop $80 on monster cable. To make a long story short, we ended up using some old video cable he had laying around at his house and he ended up with a nice picture, with having to spend a dime. If $80 cables would make a difference, than I ask how much? 5% maybe. He had a pretty nice picture for free, and you can't beat saving $60-$80 bucks.

[EdwardGein]

While I'm not saying there are not exceptions, usually the salesmen/managers at places like Best Buy, Circuit City (which I somehow by most of my stuff from there website has great customer reviews) etc., aren't all that knowledgable. I know the regular salespeople at Best Buy don't get commission so they have little motivation. These stores are great if you know what you're planning to get ahead of time but if you're going there uncertain and base your selection on info provided by the store or demonstrations on their products done in less than ideal conditions, you're in trouble. Having said that, I've had my share of the same lack of knowledge from high end stores. I'd recommend doing research on various product reviews on the internet through google as well as various forums.

My experience with Monster personally is, that at the entry level of a Monster product, you're gettting a good solid product & based on that I'm willing to spend some extra money on that Monster entry product. My personal experience though with more advanced Monster cable is that the more advanced Monster product doesn't sound as good as the entry level one & why spend alot more money for worse results.

Again, as far as cables are concerned. If you don't need a cable yesterday, you can buy from a regular reputable Ebay seller, well known Monster component cables, speaker wire, sub cables, etc., brand new as a Buy It now Item (you don't have to bid) at about 40% less then you'd pay at stores & you usually aren't charged tax (shipping may drop this figure to 30%).