hershon
07-29-2004, 05:53 PM
My Leo curiosity got the better of me but I don't have anything to lose here. It was basically unanimous throughout this board on 2 different threads that using Monster Ultra (priciest) cables will have minimal noticeable effect in terms of sound and picture quality and I'd be wasting my money buying them. Anyway, Frys in LA, the biggest electronics place I've ever seen, has the deal that you can return anything within 30 days and get youir full money back, so I decided to see and hear for myself, and here are the results. I realise anything whayt I'm saying here is totally subjective and is my opinion only.
SUBWOOFER CABLE: Basically, I compared my THX subwoofer cable to the Ultra THX subwoofer cable by playing the same tracks of the same CD with the exact volume, EQ settings, everything the same except the subwoofer cable. I originally was going to play several CD's as I didn't think I was going to hear any difference based on AudioReview Forums comments. Wrong! The results were like being just a little bit pregnant. The bass sound coming out of the subwoofer using the Ultra THX cable was significantly different than that coming from the THX cable but unfortunately that was not a good thing. Specifically the bass sound the Ultra THX produced was a louder more in your face less richer type sound then that produced by my my THX subwoofer cable. For my personal tastes I preferred the sounds coming from my original THX subwoofer cable as the bass sound was a more subtler richer sound which is how I prefer to hear bass. The CD I tested was the Beatles Revolver. I was planning to test more but based on my initial result I did n't see the need.
Ultra Audio Cables to connect my TV to my receiver (specifically Monster Interlink400mkII- a similiar cable to the Ultra Audio Cable). I've just been using a cheap pair of ordinary RCA plugs to connect to my receiver so I can hear the TV from my 6 speakers (including sub). Again the difference was significant, but again not for the better which totally shocked me as I thought anything would be an improvement over my basic cheapo RCA Cables. Specifically, the sound of the Monster audio cables while a little louder and more pokey were slightly muffled and not rich while the sound from my RCA cheapo cables were natural and rich. I tested this on 4-5 different television shows, playing both on each one.
I couldn't test the video as I bought the wrong cable- a composite instead of an S Video. Based on the results I've noted, my S Video cable is THX, I'm not even going to buy an ultra S Video cable and will be retunring all this stuff within the week. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side!
SUBWOOFER CABLE: Basically, I compared my THX subwoofer cable to the Ultra THX subwoofer cable by playing the same tracks of the same CD with the exact volume, EQ settings, everything the same except the subwoofer cable. I originally was going to play several CD's as I didn't think I was going to hear any difference based on AudioReview Forums comments. Wrong! The results were like being just a little bit pregnant. The bass sound coming out of the subwoofer using the Ultra THX cable was significantly different than that coming from the THX cable but unfortunately that was not a good thing. Specifically the bass sound the Ultra THX produced was a louder more in your face less richer type sound then that produced by my my THX subwoofer cable. For my personal tastes I preferred the sounds coming from my original THX subwoofer cable as the bass sound was a more subtler richer sound which is how I prefer to hear bass. The CD I tested was the Beatles Revolver. I was planning to test more but based on my initial result I did n't see the need.
Ultra Audio Cables to connect my TV to my receiver (specifically Monster Interlink400mkII- a similiar cable to the Ultra Audio Cable). I've just been using a cheap pair of ordinary RCA plugs to connect to my receiver so I can hear the TV from my 6 speakers (including sub). Again the difference was significant, but again not for the better which totally shocked me as I thought anything would be an improvement over my basic cheapo RCA Cables. Specifically, the sound of the Monster audio cables while a little louder and more pokey were slightly muffled and not rich while the sound from my RCA cheapo cables were natural and rich. I tested this on 4-5 different television shows, playing both on each one.
I couldn't test the video as I bought the wrong cable- a composite instead of an S Video. Based on the results I've noted, my S Video cable is THX, I'm not even going to buy an ultra S Video cable and will be retunring all this stuff within the week. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side!