Monster Home Audio Setup - $21.95 + 5 shipping at Midnight box

[NSA Lummox]

http://www.midnightbox.com

I know I was flamed for suggesting the Monster fiber optic audio cables on clearance at radio shack, but you have to admit this is a good price.

2 20ft front cables
2 35 ft rear
1 10ft center
1 10ft sub (non-powered, can be used with speakers too, which I did with my 7.1)
1 10ft sub cable for power subs
1 8ft component video cable

I ordered these cables before with the s-video bundled in, and they're quite nice. I think they're 12 or 14 guage cable; they're pretty thick (probably 14). Having the connectors on the ends was nice for hooking up my stuff too. I would think even monster brand haters would think this is a good deal on all of these cables.

 

[turkishharem]

Good bundle of connectors for most home users. Decent price, but you can get this exact package for $3 less at Amazon.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Holy crap, this is a great deal. I may have to buy a couple of them at this price. The shipping from Amazon (actually Geeks.com) was $14 for two units, so it is actually still cheaper on midnightbox (with $5 flat shipping per order, it's $7 cheaper than Amazon for the same two units). Great bonus that the speaker wires already have pin connectors! Saves time and money.

BTW Monster makes their speaker cables look thicker with the super-thick plastic jacketing. The refraction makes the copper inside look huge. I've got some generic-brand 14 gauge wire that is smaller in overall diameter than Monster's 16 gauge wire (which is their standard/cheapest gauge). I'm betting that these cables are 16 gauge. Still, nothing wrong with that and still a great deal.

 

[NSA Lummox]

Yeah, I just tried to order from Amazon too and it was $14 to ship them (lol?), not to mention they say it won't even ship for a few days. Usually when I order from midnight box things come pretty quickly. I love how they have their "Amazon prime" free trial that gives you free shipping on 20% of their items now. And those tools want to patent that idea, HA!

 

[mikeford]

I looked around a bit and none of the ads including the Monster Cable web site say what guage the wire is, plus clearly monster is dumping old product.

If anybody orders report back on the size of the copper (not the jacket) when it shows up.

 

[Caveman]

BTW Monster makes their speaker cables look thicker with the super-thick plastic jacketing. The refraction makes the copper inside look huge. I've got some generic-brand 14 gauge wire that is smaller in overall diameter than Monster's 16 gauge wire (which is their standard/cheapest gauge). I'm betting that these cables are 16 gauge. Still, nothing wrong with that and still a great deal.

Huh? Your statement about how Monster makes their cables appear smaller makes me think they may be smaller than advertised.

Then you say you have some 14gauge wire that is smaller than Monster's 16gauge wire. I think what you're trying to do is corroborate your first statement with this observation right? Either that or you are now saying that Monster's wire is actually bigger than advertised (since it's 16 is actually LARGER than a competitors 14)....

Then you say they are probably 16 gauge wire like that's a bad thing (which if they are actually bigger than a competitor's 14 gauge, should not be a problem.)

Confused... Please help...

 

[Vetterin]

Originally posted by: NSA Lummox
Yeah, I just tried to order from Amazon too and it was $14 to ship them (lol?), not to mention they say it won't even ship for a few days.

Thats strange because I just went to Amazon and ordered these cables through
digitalfix for $17.95 + $7.99 frt = $25.94 Total

 

[midnitetoqr]

Originally posted by: Caveman
Huh? Your statement about how Monster makes their cables appear smaller makes me think they may be smaller than advertised.

Then you say you have some 14gauge wire that is smaller than Monster's 16gauge wire. I think what you're trying to do is corroborate your first statement with this observation right? Either that or you are now saying that Monster's wire is actually bigger than advertised (since it's 16 is actually LARGER than a competitors 14)....

Then you say they are probably 16 gauge wire like that's a bad thing (which if they are actually bigger than a competitor's 14 gauge, should not be a problem.)

Confused... Please help...

16 gauge wire is smaller than 14 gauge wire. Counterintuitive? Maybe. But that's how the gauge measuring system works. Larger numbers = smaller diameter.

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: Caveman

BTW Monster makes their speaker cables look thicker with the super-thick plastic jacketing. The refraction makes the copper inside look huge. I've got some generic-brand 14 gauge wire that is smaller in overall diameter than Monster's 16 gauge wire (which is their standard/cheapest gauge). I'm betting that these cables are 16 gauge. Still, nothing wrong with that and still a great deal.

Huh? Your statement about how Monster makes their cables appear smaller makes me think they may be smaller than advertised.

Then you say you have some 14gauge wire that is smaller than Monster's 16gauge wire. I think what you're trying to do is corroborate your first statement with this observation right? Either that or you are now saying that Monster's wire is actually bigger than advertised (since it's 16 is actually LARGER than a competitors 14)....Then you say they are probably 16 gauge wire like that's a bad thing (which if they are actually bigger than a competitor's 14 gauge, should not be a problem.)

Confused... Please help...

What he's saying is that the overall diameter of Monster wire including jacket is bigger than regular 14 gauge wire, not that the copper itself is. The wire is 16 gauge with a thick jacket to make the wire appear to be a thicker gauge than it really is. Hopefully that makes sense.

EDIT: Looks like a good price. Better than equivalent wire from monoprice.com, but I couldn't find any resellerratings on the company... That isn't necessarily a good sign. Anyway, a much better deal than the aforementioned fiberoptic cable.

One last thing, if I was doing runs of more than 25ft, I'd want to use higher gauge wire (14 or preferably 12 gauge... assuming the 16 gauge comment is true, but then again I'm a little picky about these things.)

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Originally posted by: Caveman

BTW Monster makes their speaker cables look thicker with the super-thick plastic jacketing. The refraction makes the copper inside look huge. I've got some generic-brand 14 gauge wire that is smaller in overall diameter than Monster's 16 gauge wire (which is their standard/cheapest gauge). I'm betting that these cables are 16 gauge. Still, nothing wrong with that and still a great deal.

Huh? Your statement about how Monster makes their cables appear smaller makes me think they may be smaller than advertised.

Then you say you have some 14gauge wire that is smaller than Monster's 16gauge wire. I think what you're trying to do is corroborate your first statement with this observation right? Either that or you are now saying that Monster's wire is actually bigger than advertised (since it's 16 is actually LARGER than a competitors 14)....

Then you say they are probably 16 gauge wire like that's a bad thing (which if they are actually bigger than a competitor's 14 gauge, should not be a problem.)

Confused... Please help...

First off, just to be clear... gauge is a goofy measure. Just like with shotguns, the lower the number the bigger the wire. 10 gauge is bigger than 12 gauge is bigger than 14 gauge is bigger than 16 gauge is bigger than 18 gauge etc. A bigger number = a thinner wire. Also, the gauge specifically measures ONLY the thickness of the actual conductor (copper core of the wire). The thickness of the plastic insulator/jacketing around it has no impact whatsoever on the gauge, but it can make a thin wire appear larger by magnification due to the well-known refraction technique (e.g. pour a dark liquid into a thick glass, and from the side, the liquid will appear to fill out to the very edge of the glass even when the glass has a thickness of its own).

Monster makes their cables appear bigger for a given gauge by using a thick jacketing. I was at Fry's the other day and looking at speaker cables. They had some generic 14 gauge cable (that I ended up buying). I was also looking at the cheapest Monster speaker wire (I think their XP line?) and it was labeled as being 16 gauge. If I looked at the cut ends of the two cables (where I could clearly see the actual thickness of the copper conducter) the Monster was clearly smaller than the generic 14 gauge wire. However, this Monster 16 gauge wire LOOKED bigger than the generic 14 gauge wire because the clear plastic jacketing/coating was so thick.

 

[Old Hippie]

I was also looking at the cheapest Monster speaker wire (I think their XP line?) and it was labeled as being 16 gauge. If I looked at the cut ends of the two cables (where I could clearly see the actual thickness of the copper conducter) the Monster was clearly smaller than the generic 14 gauge wire.

Wouldn't that be knida like, illegal?

 

[scandalousjack]

Originally posted by: Caveman

BTW Monster makes their speaker cables look thicker with the super-thick plastic jacketing. The refraction makes the copper inside look huge. I've got some generic-brand 14 gauge wire that is smaller in overall diameter than Monster's 16 gauge wire (which is their standard/cheapest gauge). I'm betting that these cables are 16 gauge. Still, nothing wrong with that and still a great deal.

Huh? Your statement about how Monster makes their cables appear smaller makes me think they may be smaller than advertised.

Then you say you have some 14gauge wire that is smaller than Monster's 16gauge wire. I think what you're trying to do is corroborate your first statement with this observation right? Either that or you are now saying that Monster's wire is actually bigger than advertised (since it's 16 is actually LARGER than a competitors 14)....

Then you say they are probably 16 gauge wire like that's a bad thing (which if they are actually bigger than a competitor's 14 gauge, should not be a problem.)

Confused... Please help...

Don't forget that the higher the gauge the thinner the wire. It seems to me that slashbinslashbash is saying that Monster is using 16 gauge wire (which is smaller than 14 gauge) and then using lots of clear or translucent plastic insulative coating to make the copper wire appear to be thicker than it actually is.

edit: it seems that as I was typing slashbinslashbash was already giving an explanation.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

I was also looking at the cheapest Monster speaker wire (I think their XP line?) and it was labeled as being 16 gauge. If I looked at the cut ends of the two cables (where I could clearly see the actual thickness of the copper conducter) the Monster was clearly smaller than the generic 14 gauge wire.

Wouldn't that be knida like, illegal?

How would it be illegal? 16 gauge is supposed to be smaller than 14 gauge. The conductor of the Monster 16 gauge looked to be the same size as the conductor of the generic 16 gauge that they also had laying around.

 

[Caveman]

Thanks all...

Actually, the reason I was confused with slashbinslashbashe's original post was BECAUSE I know that 14 gauge IS larger than 16 gauge...

I think modestninja hit it on the head with the following:

What he's saying is that the overall diameter of Monster wire including jacket is bigger than regular 14 gauge wire, not that the copper itself is. The wire is 16 gauge with a thick jacket to make the wire appear to be a thicker gauge than it really is. Hopefully that makes sense.

+

Probably overkill, but even for short distances, I generally try to go no smaller than 14 with 12 preferred.

 

[Thump553]

I still think (after substantial informal testing) that you have to have pretty golden ears to be able to tell the difference between high priced speaker wire and ordinary lamp cord from Home Depot. If your run is going to be longer than 25' or so, get heavier wire.

It is important to decent decent guage and quality interconnects-you can hear the difference from the skinny patch cords shipped with most components.

That said, $25 or so for this set isn't bad, it's way below Monster's usually ridiculously high prices. Monster sells a lot because they kick back very high commissions to the salespeople and stores.

 

[superHARD]

hot!!!

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: Thump553
I still think (after substantial informal testing) that you have to have pretty golden ears to be able to tell the difference between high priced speaker wire and ordinary lamp cord from Home Depot. If your run is going to be longer than 25' or so, get heavier wire.

It is important to decent decent guage and quality interconnects-you can hear the difference from the skinny patch cords shipped with most components.

That said, $25 or so for this set isn't bad, it's way below Monster's usually ridiculously high prices. Monster sells a lot because they kick back very high commissions to the salespeople and stores.

The only problem I've noticed with lamp wire from places like Home depot is that it is often green (oxidized) under the plastic after it has sat there for a while. It seems that the insulation used on there isn't very good. I've usually ended getting my wire from monoprice because it's still cheap and I've never noticed any oxidation with it. I mean for $25 for 100ft of 12 gauge wire is pretty good IMO.

 

[NSA Lummox]

Just fyi, midnight box is reliable. even though the sale is about to end, i would feel confident to vouch for them. i've placed 4 or 5 orders, always had prompt service and never had a broken or damaged product.

 

[superHARD]

Originally posted by: NSA Lummox
Just fyi, midnight box is reliable. even though the sale is about to end, i would feel confident to vouch for them. i've placed 4 or 5 orders, always had prompt service and never had a broken or damaged product.

cool, thanks

 

[DefRef]

What gauge is this Monster wire? Not how thick does it LOOK, but how thick is it really? Thanks.

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: NSA Lummox
Just fyi, midnight box is reliable. even though the sale is about to end, i would feel confident to vouch for them. i've placed 4 or 5 orders, always had prompt service and never had a broken or damaged product.

Well put some reviews up on resellerratings for the rest of us!

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: DefRef
What gauge is this Monster wire? Not how thick does it LOOK, but how thick is it really? Thanks.

I believe the concensus on the thread was 16 gauge, but I'm not sure since I haven't had it out in person.

 

[DefRef]

Is that good or bad or passable? I've got a Panasonic HTiaB (great sound considering how inexpensive it was) which came with rather lightweight wires and I'd like to upgrade it a bit. The reviews for these cables seem to have been done when this was $100+, so for $20 with all the cables having plugs, etc. it seems like a decent upgrade. Or does it? LMK. Thanks.

 

[GeezerMan]

Here is my favorite page on speaker wire by Roger Russell. Retired engineer at Mcintosh.
His whole web page is quite good

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm