The Evil That Is Monster Cable
One of the memes-of-the-day is this post at audioholics in which audiophiles could not distinguish between Monster cable and a coat-hanger used as a speaker hook-up:
We gathered up a 5 of our audio buddies. We took my “old” Martin Logan SL-3 (not a bad speaker for accurate noise making) and hooked them up with Monster 1000 speaker cables (decent cables according to the audio press) [around $80 for two]. We also rigged up 14 gauge, oxygen free Belden stranded copper wire with a simple PVC jacket. Both were 2 meters long. They were connected to an ABX switch box allowing blind fold testing. Volume levels were set at 75 Db at 1000K Hz [sic. Should probably be 1000Hz]. A high quality recording of smooth, trio, easy listening jazz was played (Piano, drums, bass). None of us had heard this group or CD before, therefore eliminating biases.
The music was played. Of the 5 blind folded, only 2 guessed correctly which was the monster cable. (I was not one of them). This was done 7 times in a row! Keeping us blind folded, my brother switched out the Belden wire (are you ready for this) with simple coat hanger wire! Unknown to me and our 12 audiophile buddies, prior to the ABX blind test, he took apart four coat hangers, reconnected them and twisted them into a pair of speaker cables. Connections were soldered. He stashed them in a closet within the testing room so we were not privy to what he was up to. This made for a pair of 2 meter cables, the exact length of the other wires. The test was conducted. After 5 tests, none could determine which was the Monster 1000 cable or the coat hanger wire. Further, when music was played through the coat hanger wire, we were asked if what we heard sounded good to us. All agreed that what was heard sounded excellent, however, when A-B tests occured, it was impossible to determine which sounded best the majority of the time and which wire was in use. Needless to say, after the blind folds came off and we saw what my brother did, we learned he was right…most of what manufactures have to say about their products is pure hype. It seems the more they charge, the more hyped it is
I’m quite aware this isn’t a scientific experiment (this would be great to do double-blind with full documentation) and that soldering coat-hangers together is almost certainly going to result in a tonne of reflections and nasty crap happening at the junctions. Whether that messiness of signal results in distortion at the speakers is a matter for the electrical engineers and blind testers.
However, I am also quite confident that Monster cable is a huge ripoff. A prime example of this ripofftitude is their wonderful selection of toslink — fiber optic — cable. The 600dfo stuff will cost you $80 for one 2m piece. Compare this to the stuff on monoprice: $3.74. It’s frickin’ optical fiber. The light is bloody on or off. That extra $76 is not going to improve your audio transmission quality one iota.
I will say this in defense of the Monster cable: the connectors are pretty. Not $80 pretty though.
Tags: coat hanger, monster cable, music, speakers, wires