Think Monster Cables Are A Rip Off?

[fstime]

When I worked at COMPUSA, I looked up the actual prices of all monster products and most of them had a 50-100% markup.

Huge ripoff. I don't recall any other specific name brand having such a markup.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Soundmanred

Originally posted by: slayer202
MONSTER MP AVS2000 | $1499.99 | $909.12 | $590.87


woah. what is that cable used for?

I think it's some kind of power conditioner or switching unit, not a cable.

There are cables that are FAR more expensive than that. I've seen ones over 5k advertised.

If you bought them, I guarantee your mind would tell you that you could hear a difference.

thre was a guy on here many years ago who did pay that much for cables for his home theater system. he swore up and down that he could hear the difference in his expensive cables.

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Soundmanred

Originally posted by: slayer202
MONSTER MP AVS2000 | $1499.99 | $909.12 | $590.87


woah. what is that cable used for?

I think it's some kind of power conditioner or switching unit, not a cable.

There are cables that are FAR more expensive than that. I've seen ones over 5k advertised.

If you bought them, I guarantee your mind would tell you that you could hear a difference.

thre was a guy on here many years ago who did pay that much for cables for his home theater system. he swore up and down that he could hear the difference in his expensive cables.

If you spent $10k on cables, you would convince yourself it sounded better too.

 

[zoiks]

Those don't seem very accurate. When I used to work at an electronics store, we were offered 75% off the retail price on Monster cables. I'm sure they were still making a profit on them even with that markdown.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: hanoverphist

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Those cables all cost well under $7 to manufacture, so someone's making $$$$$$$$. What a scam. "High quality digital cables with NO signal loss" cracks me up everytime I hear someone at Best Buy or Circuit City say it. If it's digital- IT WORKS OR IT DOESN'T! There's no in-between.

Monster is a good name for the company- for Monster Profits.

Wow, I can't believe there are still people on ATOT who believe that just because it's digital it either works or doesn't.

also that the gauge of a wire isnt important... it determines how well your power gets across, as well as the life of the cable. its not the most important, but it is a fairly significant factor. monster cable does use many fine strands (at least the cable i got with my stereo did) and it was 12ga instead of the standard 18ga. i dont know about any others here, but we use 10-12ga for medium voltage and 18-20ga for control and low voltage for a reason. im not defending monster, i think they are a rip off too. i also think its the same as buying name brand jeans. if you want it, use it... just realize youre buying the name, mostly.

Incorrect. The gauge, particularly with speaker wires, DOES matter. I don't care what kind of wire you use, if you use, say, 20 gauge speaker wire with a decent-powered amp, it's going to make your sound quality suffer until you replace it with larger wire.

umm... i was saying the exact same you said...

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: hanoverphist

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Those cables all cost well under $7 to manufacture, so someone's making $$$$$$$$. What a scam. "High quality digital cables with NO signal loss" cracks me up everytime I hear someone at Best Buy or Circuit City say it. If it's digital- IT WORKS OR IT DOESN'T! There's no in-between.

Monster is a good name for the company- for Monster Profits.

Wow, I can't believe there are still people on ATOT who believe that just because it's digital it either works or doesn't.

also that the gauge of a wire isnt important... it determines how well your power gets across, as well as the life of the cable. its not the most important, but it is a fairly significant factor. monster cable does use many fine strands (at least the cable i got with my stereo did) and it was 12ga instead of the standard 18ga. i dont know about any others here, but we use 10-12ga for medium voltage and 18-20ga for control and low voltage for a reason. im not defending monster, i think they are a rip off too. i also think its the same as buying name brand jeans. if you want it, use it... just realize youre buying the name, mostly.

I would say it IS the most important factor. Wire gauge and shielding are both up there, but you can add all the shielding in the world to an inadequate wire gauge and you're still going to lose significant signal strength. What is "adequate" depends on the length of the run and the impedance of the speakers, but for most people 16 gauge is more than adequate (according to someone who is much more knowledgeable than myself and most others here: http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable). The thing about Monster is, you can get the same quality product for much less money. The comparison to jeans ignores the fact that wires are supposed to be hidden.

i would think using stranded over solid would be more important, but i see your point... and the jeans thing someone else brought up, i was just comparing the similarity in buying similar quality name brands for the sake of the name.


edit:
ok, i read that page you linked... i stand corrected on my thinking on solid/ stranded wire. but i was glad to see the gauge was the factor that made the difference.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: Leros

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Soundmanred

Originally posted by: slayer202
MONSTER MP AVS2000 | $1499.99 | $909.12 | $590.87


woah. what is that cable used for?

I think it's some kind of power conditioner or switching unit, not a cable.

There are cables that are FAR more expensive than that. I've seen ones over 5k advertised.

If you bought them, I guarantee your mind would tell you that you could hear a difference.

thre was a guy on here many years ago who did pay that much for cables for his home theater system. he swore up and down that he could hear the difference in his expensive cables.

If you spent $10k on cables, you would convince yourself it sounded better too.

There was actually just a study released (about wine but still applicable) that proved that people actually enjoyed the wine more if they thought it was more expensive, even though it and the control sample were the same wine, from the same bottle. They determined it (somehow) through electrochemical responses in the brain.

I remember reading it on the Consumerist if anyone wants to look it up.

Point I'm trying to make is that our brains are hard-wired to equate more expensive and better.

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: apac
MONSTER 4FT HDMI CABLE | $79.99 | $41.78 | $38.21

Ouch, AND how the hell is the wholesale price still 41.78? This cable is like $7 from monoprice.

yea. i dont get that either. still f-ing ridiculous

 

[LtPage1]

I'm not surprised at those profit margins. They're a rip-off for other reasons.

 

[eelw]

And this is just wholesale prices. Imagine how much money Monster Cables are still making?

 

[Muadib]

Best marketing team on the planet.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Muadib
Best marketing team on the planet.

They must share the same marketing team as BOSE

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Muadib
Best marketing team on the planet.

They must share the same marketing team as BOSE

:laugh::thumbsup: Now there's a combo sure to part a fool and his money.

 

[yowolabi]

Even the wholesale prices are ridiculous, as i'm sure someone who's posted has already said. Those cable cost nowhere near that price to create.

 

[alkemyst]

Almost EVERYTHING you buy at retail prices is about 2-3x the price the wholeseller buys at.

Outside of this, monoprice.com has comparable items below Monster's wholesale prices.

For some cables/run length what you buy really matters, for other types just getting the signal there is 99.99999% of the battle.

I know idiots that paid more for cables than their reciever cost them.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: apac
MONSTER 4FT HDMI CABLE | $79.99 | $41.78 | $38.21

Ouch, AND how the hell is the wholesale price still 41.78? This cable is like $7 from monoprice.

Methinks Best Buy would be better off burning their bridges with Monster, buying $3 cable from Monoprice and marking those up to $20.

They would sell a lot more $20 cables than $80 ones.

Don't forget the $199.95 professional GeekSquad installation.

for $20 you can get that around back.