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reece_james wrote:

Edit: I'll be buying some of those pads.

I don't remember how many come in a package but get them for the power supply too. I remember someone reviewed this amp with them and said that when they added them to the power supply it helped a lot

This is a BS marketing ploy.

For a lot of them yes, but you can't say that absolutely. I know this for a fact because we check each cable before we use it on a scope and some cables do make a difference. The marketers do use buzz words I'll agree, but saying that cables can't make a difference is just as wrong because there are notable exceptions.

MyMac8MyPC wrote:

reece_james wrote:

Edit: I'll be buying some of those pads.

I don't remember how many come in a package but get them for the power supply too. I remember someone reviewed this amp with them and said that when they added them to the power supply it helped a lot

This is a BS marketing ploy.

For a lot of them yes, but you can't say that absolutely. I know this for a fact because we check each cable before we use it on a scope and some cables do make a difference. The marketers do use buzz words I'll agree, but saying that cables can't make a difference is just as wrong because there are notable exceptions.

I never said they didn't make a difference, I said that oxygen free labeling is a bunch of BS, along with the bullsmurf that Monster Cable and others like to say about wrapping the copper in a special way to make the high frequencies time align with the mids and lows inside the cable.... complete BS.  Not to mention nobody in the world could even detect it with their ears.

Nobody, and I mean nobody in the professional audio world uses Monster cables.  Every single pro audio company I've ever seen uses Canare quad star for audio cables.

-mark

MyMac8MyPC wrote:

avkills wrote:

I never said they didn't make a difference, I said that oxygen free labeling is a bunch of BS

Well since there's a difference, why shouldn't they be able to mention it? Or are you talking about the cheaper cables that just use 'oxygen free' as a buzz word?

Monster Cable and others like to say about wrapping the copper in a special way to make the high frequencies time align with the mids and lows inside the cable.... complete BS.

No it's not. You might want to google Velocity Propagation. LOL

Nobody, and I mean nobody in the professional audio world uses Monster cables.

Not true

Ever hear of the rock group Journey? Their entire studio was wired with Monster cable.

Ever hear of Prince? His studio is also entirely wired with Monster cable.

Ever hear of BabyFace? His studio is also entirely wired with Monster cable.

Ever hear of Grammy-winning artist Herbie Hancock ? His studio is also entirely wired with Monster cable.

Same with Matchbox 20 (they also use it on stage).

Same with Aerosmith...

Same with Linkin Park...

I could name many other groups and artist that also use it, but I think by now you should (hopefully) get the point

That's funny, I've never ever seen a monster cable on a live gig ever.  All the pro-sound companies I've worked with all use Canare quad star.  But then again professionals do not use unbalanced cable, so until Monster Cable starts making professional cable interconnects, ie XLR or TRSor AES/EBU; they can go suck it.  Not only that, I bet all of those studios you mention are completely digital, all the more reason not to spend 10x as much on cable.

The so-called "Velocity Propagation" you mention is barely detectable by test equipment, let alone anyone's ears.  And you are only talking ~20hz to ~20 Khz, hardly enough change in frequency to even mention it.

What I am talking about is that "some" manufacturers claim that they can have a entirely different kind of wrapping inside the same full range cable that only certain frequencies will travel down...which is complete horse smurf.

And great, you mention a ton of bands who have wired "their" studios with Monster Cable, I am sure Monster cable pays dearly for that honor.

Monster Cable is a complete rip off, there, I've said it.

-mark

: Backs away from the audiophiles :

When you're on a budget like me, you buy whatever works. I moved away from the Logitech upon realising how bad they really are.

My TA-10.1 2.0 setup has cost me about $270AUD where as a Logitech 7.1 setup would probably come in around $1000AUD or more. Satisfaction wise, I think the TA walks all over my mates Logitechs.

It's actually nice listening to movies on a TA 2.0 setup, nostalgic and less distracting.

MyMac8MyPC wrote:

It almost sounds like you're affiliated with them...

Gee you think!  Yes I am in the industry and I can honestly tell you that nobody uses Monster Cables.

What bands do in their own studios is their own business, when they go on the road, they hire a professional audio company to tour with them, and those companies don't use monster cable; they use Canare quad star or something similar.

I am not trying to debunk your physics lesson, what I am telling you is that the frequency change in the human audible range is so small that the difference in propagation is so minutely small that nobody in the world could hear the difference.

If you have a bunch of frequencies traveling down a single audio cable, you can't tell which frequencies where they must travel down that wire...it simply can't be done.  That is what I am getting at, and many companies claim that they do just that.

Yes Monster cables work, do they work 10x better, no.  Digital is even more of a marketing ploy, it is either there or it isn't.  There is no such thing as misaligned signals in digital.  Once it goes analog to your speakers you could have issues, but I'd bet my life that you could not tell the difference between top of the line Monster Cable vs. Radio Shack Speaker Wire, with all other variables being equal.

-mark

avkills wrote:

But then again professionals do not use unbalanced cable, so until Monster Cable starts making professional cable interconnects, ie XLR or TRSor AES/EBU; they can go suck it.

it's sad when people try to sound smart when they are in fact ignorant:

no xlr?
http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=2135

no aes/ebu?

http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=2889

TRS?

http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=2318


go figure they also make Neutrik Speakon cables too

http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=2317


I don't think they will go suck it anytime soon

Last edited by mrreet2001 (2007-10-17 12:49 pm)

THIS is what I am talking about:

Right form the last link about their Speakon speaker cables:

Special Time Correct® windings for more accurate music reproduction.

Magnetic Flux Tube® for improved bass response and more natural sonic characteristics.

If anyone believes the above statements, more power to you!

-mark

Last edited by avkills (2007-10-17 5:03 pm)

I wonder what the specifics of that competition are.  I mean, do you need to hear the difference, or can it be demonstrated on an oscilloscope?

pkmgarf wrote:

I wonder what the specifics of that competition are.  I mean, do you need to hear the difference, or can it be demonstrated on an oscilloscope?

Differences can be seen on very nice o-scopes, but the difference is so tiny that it just isn't worth the price.  Human hearing isn't as accurate as some would lend you to believe.  Also the frequency ranges in question just are not vast enough to warrant even worrying about it.

Buying super mega expensive digital cables (especially optical ones) is completely idiotic since digital signals are much less prone to interference from EMI and other nasty things like ground loops and such that plagues analog gear.

If you want you're audio system to be time aligned, then you need to electronically separate the frequencies apart and send individual speakers the frequencies they were designed to re-produce which usually means a tri-amped system. You also need to electronically send the sub frequencies to a subwoofer and spends lots of money on very expensive processing gear.

Without processing gear; the chances your system is actually really time aligned is pretty low.  But since 99% of all people can't tell who the smurf really cares. When they do care, you are talking very expensive Line Arrays ($100,000+) or Studio Monitors which start around $2000-$3000 a pair.  And companies who buy Line Arrays for concerts "DON'T smurfing USE MONSTER CABLE"!!!!

-mark

Last edited by avkills (2007-10-17 7:29 pm)

reece_james wrote:

avkills wrote:

Buying super mega expensive digital cables (especially optical ones) is completely idiotic since digital signals are much less prone to interference from EMI and other nasty things like ground loops and such that plagues analog gear.

Sorry, I'm going to call BS on this one. I know enough about optical fibre to know that more expensive ones generally transmit more effectively and are generally of higher quality and less chance of fraying/pinching. With these it isn't interference,they shouldn't get any. But the receiver can have a hard time if it's struggling to determine the signals.

I can somewhat agree with that; but how many times have you had any optical Toslink cable fail?  I've never had one not work, but then again, I don't go around unplugging and plugging them in all the time.  Pinching could be bad definitely.  And I would never use them in a mission critical setup; instead I would use coax or AES/EBU.

-mark

avkills wrote:

Well I should have done some more research; but I never shop for monster cables, so all I knew was what I see at various so called home entertainment shops like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc etc.  Ok I was wrong...happy now.

I don't know why you would shop for pro cables at a consumer electronics store, but walk into a guitar center or a sam ash, ya know a place that actually has something that an XLR cable would plug into.

mrreet2001 wrote:

avkills wrote:

Well I should have done some more research; but I never shop for monster cables, so all I knew was what I see at various so called home entertainment shops like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc etc.  Ok I was wrong...happy now.

I don't know why you would shop for pro cables at a consumer electronics store, but walk into a guitar center or a sam ash, ya know a place that actually has something that an XLR cable would plug into.

*sigh*   I don't shop there; those are the only places I've seen Monster Cables..

I'm done; we've derailed this enough....

I use Tannoy Active Reveal's at work with the edit system.

-mark

I recently made my livingroom my home creative suite if you can call it that, so I have my computer output running through my Pro Tools M-powered firewire interface to an old 12 channel Tascam mixer (I think it's called 588 midi studio), outputting to a pair of Mackie HR824 powered monitors. It's not bad.