WTF: Monoprice Cables!!

[SZLiao214]

i bought a premium hdmi to dvi connector from them not knowing the difference between each gauge size. Holy crap the thing is stiff and thick.

It makes me cry to see people buy 30 dollar 3 feet cables from the store.

 

[Rage187]

Every time I order from them, I leave a cheesy comment in the order form on how much man love I have for them.

 

[Ichinisan]

Is that a good thing though? Wouldn't signal degrade faster on that due to its size?

Extra size in the conductor allows the cable to be longer and have less electrical resistance compared with a thinner cable. In most of their cables, the extra size includes extra shielding.

 

[yh125d]

Also, many of their cables don't retain their shape (meaning if you un-roll it, it doesnt try to roll itself back up)

I had a 10' DVI cord from them sitting for a year before I unrolled it. straightened it out with my hand once and its straight as an arrow. Only a couple of theirs that I've had will fold back up like that

 

[Alone]

I've purchased maybe six cables from Monoprice and all but one has broken with regular use within a couple weeks. I suppose if you're running it in a wall or not touching it, it's fine. But I had a couple HDMI cables I ran to my laptop and a 3.5mm/rca cable from my iPod and they both crapped out rather quickly.

 

[Lean L]

Uh, I'd love for them to turn into Newegg. They actually offer free shipping on some of their products, they're faster to my house than Amazon and have a return policy only bettered by Amazon, and their selection/prices are superb. Maybe they aren't "as good" as they use to be and their interface is a little less intuitive, but they're still Top 5 to me. I can also easily switch allegiances from Monoprice to Cablesforless and not miss a beat, can't do that with Newegg.

Have you used newegg in the 2003-2005ish timeframe? Back then they had free shipping on EVERYTHING and no rebates or random household products. That meant you got the best price without filling out forms. Newegg is crap compared to what it was.

 

[rockyct]

Is that a good thing though? Wouldn't signal degrade faster on that due to its size?

Well...unless you're taking into account eddy currents in which case you should hollow out the center of the wire...the thicker the wire the better.

Power lines are actually hollow inside because of eddy currents. I even use a piece of wire from the Hoover Dam as a pencil cup.

Oh, and I love Monoprice. $5 overnight shipping for your entire order FTW

 

[vi edit]

I dropped over $700 in stuff with them during my house build. If I had to go to a retail store for that stuff I'd be looking at like $3,000.

Yay Monoprice.

Their A/V plates and speaker cable are a huge savings. A $2 plate with banana connectors at Monoprice is like $15 at Home Depot.

I was buying 250ft of 12g inwall speaker cable for the same price that like 50' of 16g was at the big box stores.

 

[CallMeJoe]

I dropped over $700 in stuff with them during my house build. If I had to go to a retail store for that stuff I'd be looking at like $3,000.
Yay Monoprice.
Their A/V plates and speaker cable are a huge savings. A $2 plate with banana connectors at Monoprice is like $15 at Home Depot.
I was buying 250ft of 12g inwall speaker cable for the same price that like 50' of 16g was at the big box stores.

When I wired my home theater room, I used monoprice CL2 speaker wire, coax and wall plates. Saved a bunch. I also use their speaker wire.

 

[gevorg]

Monoprice is Monster Cable's worst nightmare.

Many of their cables come in different AWG size so you do have a choice in cable thickness. And if the credit card fiasco still bothers you, there are always one-time use credit card numbers.

 

[0roo0roo]

Is that a good thing though? Wouldn't signal degrade faster on that due to its size?

You have that backwards, more decent cabling for speakers atleast is thicker. Cheap cabling with thin conductors is not better, it actuallly reduces the length of wire you can use. Even cheap lamp cord 16guage wire from homedepot is better than most speaker wire you get with cheap systems...

That being said how thick the conductors are inside that headphone cord ....i don't know...it is probably mostly insulation.

But it does look cool

 

[Kelvrick]

Monoprice is Monster Cable's worst nightmare.

Many of their cables come in different AWG size so you do have a choice in cable thickness. And if the credit card fiasco still bothers you, there are always one-time use credit card numbers.

Who still does those?

 

[rudeguy]

I made the mistake of buying an optical cable from there. I normally spend the extra $.50 and get the good stuff from there and did the same with this purchase.

The freaking thing is literally clad in steel! I sold electronics forever and we never had anything near as nice as that thing. We sold Monster, AR and a few other high end cables too.

My most recent purchase was 4 micro USB cables for mine and lil rudeguy's cell phones and a car charger. I also picked up a usb hub/desk lamp just because. That whole purchase was right around $20. I had to spend $26 at Radio Shack for a micro USB that broke after a week.

 

[zerocool84]

I made the mistake of buying an optical cable from there. I normally spend the extra $.50 and get the good stuff from there and did the same with this purchase.

The freaking thing is literally clad in steel! I sold electronics forever and we never had anything near as nice as that thing. We sold Monster, AR and a few other high end cables too.

My most recent purchase was 4 micro USB cables for mine and lil rudeguy's cell phones and a car charger. I also picked up a usb hub/desk lamp just because. That whole purchase was right around $20. I had to spend $26 at Radio Shack for a micro USB that broke after a week.

HAHA yea if you get the nicer stuff, they're super thick.

I'll usually get the cheaper stuff so I can easily bend the cabling.

 

[vshah]

I just bought a 3.5mm audio cable from them. I bought the premium one because the price was still cheap. Its the awesomest cable ever.

Look at this thing.

Super overkill.

i'd be worried about that causing stress on the audio jack TBH, unless it is supported somehow.

 

[Matthiasa]

Well...unless you're taking into account eddy currents in which case you should hollow out the center of the wire...the thicker the wire the better.

Power lines are actually hollow inside because of eddy currents. I even use a piece of wire from the Hoover Dam as a pencil cup.

Oh, and I love Monoprice. $5 overnight shipping for your entire order FTW

Power lines aren't hollow inside, except at substations.
All the high voltage transmission lines are just made up of tons of smaller wires which are not insulated from each other. Eddy currents play a much smaller role in transmission lines then they do in the transformers used, but in those that is taken care of using either special composites/ceramics or lamination.

 

[TridenT]

I just bought a 3.5mm audio cable from them. I bought the premium one because the price was still cheap. Its the awesomest cable ever.

Look at this thing.

Super overkill.

Yeah, it's too much overkill for me... seriously. It blocks the fucking connector on my PC. :\ It's cumbersome.

 

[edro]

I have bought ~20 or so cables from them over the years.

I am generally very pleased, but the last round of component cables I bought have very weak connectors that do not grip very tightly. The cable pulls out with just a slight pull.

 

[The-Noid]

Always been please with monoprice. Had a 50foot hdmi cable that wouldn't sync with my projector and they returned it and gave me my money back.

Overall you can't be the wall mount prices though.

 

[erikistired]

Uh, I'd love for them to turn into Newegg. They actually offer free shipping on some of their products, they're faster to my house than Amazon and have a return policy only bettered by Amazon, and their selection/prices are superb. Maybe they aren't "as good" as they use to be and their interface is a little less intuitive, but they're still Top 5 to me. I can also easily switch allegiances from Monoprice to Cablesforless and not miss a beat, can't do that with Newegg.

when i buy something from amazon and it comes to me defective i get free return shipping and fast shipping back to me. when i buy something from newegg i pay for shipping back to them and they take their sweet time getting my product back to me.

 

[CPA]

Yup, Monoprice saved a lot of A/V geeks from Monster cables.

S*** this Noel!

You can say what your really want on ATOT.

 

[Squisher]

When I opened the package of the DVI cable I bought from them I thought they sent me a garden hose.

 

[pontifex]

I just bought a 3.5mm audio cable from them. I bought the premium one because the price was still cheap. Its the awesomest cable ever.

Look at this thing.

Super overkill.

haha, i bought one like that too and i got it and i was like wtf?

really, since it was so big and heavy, it was practically useless for what i wanted it for.

 

[rudeguy]

When I opened the package of the DVI cable I bought from them I thought they sent me a garden hose.

LOL!

Some of it really is overkill. I found that you do need to read the description and not just look at the pics.

 

[Kaervak]

Their HDMI cables can definitely be used as weapons, good stuff there.

However, I have had issues with their RG6-QS cables. On the ones I bought last year, the connectors were poorly done crimp connections. Kinda figured they'd be compression connectors. Not that big a deal since I just cut off the ends and replaced them with SNS connectors from Thomas and Betts. Signal levels improved quite a bit after the swap. Aside from that all the other stuff I've gotten from them has been great.