Considering these speaker wires

[Shintsu]

So part of my finally not being lazy and hooking up the rest of my speakers does indeed involve me needing more speaker wire. I have enough for 5.1 but need enough for 7.1. I ordered some of the 12 AWG from BJC, but I still haven't gotten around to using it. I ordered two 14 ft long pre-cut cables for something to the tune of $25 I think (Exact wire was BJC Twelve White [5000UE]). So I saw someone else on here mention Monoprice.com for something else and saw they had speaker wire (Among other wires) for really cheap prices.

Now I never bought the snake oil/tweak juice nonsense that speaker cable needs to be thousands of dollars and all this rubbish, but on some level I guess my conscience wants to know - is there truly ANY audible difference you could tell between wire like this and say the most expensive speaker wire that BJC sells (Which is still way cheaper than Monster stuff - which I am actually using for my front three channels, only because I got the whole lot of it for like...$5 or $10 and it is nice and thick). Here is the cable I'm thinkin' about getting from Monoprice LINK. I really don't need 100' but hey, it's pretty cheap and I can't say I'll never need more speaker wire. You can never have too much right? I'll obviously keep the length minimal on my install. Since it's oxygen free and 12 AWG, I'd think it would work fine would it not? The cable length would not exceed 20 feet (and that's a stretch at 20 feet as well).

I have actually had my father do a blind comparison of one speaker on the same receiver with some nice thick Monster cable (He used to sell audio equipment so Monster sent him free stuff - including some cable) and on the other speaker he used plain out lamp cord. The lamp cord speaker didn't sound horrible nor did the Monster wire one sound fantastic. They sounded the same - both sounded good. My father and his friends also had a blind comparison going for some of those "snake oil" wires versus some cheap lamp cord and said if you could pick it out five times out of five, the guy offering this comparison would buy the person any piece of equipment they wanted up to $5,000 - but no one ever did it more than a lucky guess or two. All this would tend to make me think it doesn't matter at all, but I know on a very small fundamental level it matters a little bit - just not like those snake oil cable companies would have you believe.

Again, I'm comparing only to BJC - the only other place I'd buy wires from. Although while I'm asking it, regarding things like component cables and other video cables - do you all think some of this low priced stuff on Monoprice is any good (Like this 6 FT Component cable LINK vs the same 6 FT from BJC model Belden 7787A RCA/RCA which costs $66 LINK)? I like to believe BJC isn't overpriced, and I know their stuff is good but that is a huge price difference. Is it noticable? If not, I think I might go on a shopping spree for some new wires on Monoprice...

 

[Adam]

Personally, I don't believe that you'll see/hear a difference between the cables. For speaker wire, it comes down to aesthetics, IMO. For the interconnects, it comes to down to aethetics and, more importantly (because you probably won't be able to see them), the connectors.

I own some of the Monoprice interconnects like the ones that you linked to. The cables are a bit stiff, and the connectors don't get a good grip on the jacks on the components. So, after connecting them, they'd tend to slip loose as I was sliding my equipment back into place. The BJC connectors look like the same kind that I have on my subwoofer cable, and if so, those are nice connectors - easy to push on and pull off, but they won't slip off on their own.

So, the Monoprice cables added about five or ten minutes when assembling my system due to reconnections, and that's worth the savings that I got over buying other brands (including BJC). I wouldn't turn down the BJC cables, though.

 

[TLS Guy]

So part of my finally not being lazy and hooking up the rest of my speakers does indeed involve me needing more speaker wire. I have enough for 5.1 but need enough for 7.1. I ordered some of the 12 AWG from BJC, but I still haven't gotten around to using it. I ordered two 14 ft long pre-cut cables for something to the tune of $25 I think (Exact wire was BJC Twelve White [5000UE]). So I saw someone else on here mention Monoprice.com for something else and saw they had speaker wire (Among other wires) for really cheap prices.

Now I never bought the snake oil/tweak juice nonsense that speaker cable needs to be thousands of dollars and all this rubbish, but on some level I guess my conscience wants to know - is there truly ANY audible difference you could tell between wire like this and say the most expensive speaker wire that BJC sells (Which is still way cheaper than Monster stuff - which I am actually using for my front three channels, only because I got the whole lot of it for like...$5 or $10 and it is nice and thick). Here is the cable I'm thinkin' about getting from Monoprice LINK. I really don't need 100' but hey, it's pretty cheap and I can't say I'll never need more speaker wire. You can never have too much right? I'll obviously keep the length minimal on my install. Since it's oxygen free and 12 AWG, I'd think it would work fine would it not? The cable length would not exceed 20 feet (and that's a stretch at 20 feet as well).

I have actually had my father do a blind comparison of one speaker on the same receiver with some nice thick Monster cable (He used to sell audio equipment so Monster sent him free stuff - including some cable) and on the other speaker he used plain out lamp cord. The lamp cord speaker didn't sound horrible nor did the Monster wire one sound fantastic. They sounded the same - both sounded good. My father and his friends also had a blind comparison going for some of those "snake oil" wires versus some cheap lamp cord and said if you could pick it out five times out of five, the guy offering this comparison would buy the person any piece of equipment they wanted up to $5,000 - but no one ever did it more than a lucky guess or two. All this would tend to make me think it doesn't matter at all, but I know on a very small fundamental level it matters a little bit - just not like those snake oil cable companies would have you believe.

Again, I'm comparing only to BJC - the only other place I'd buy wires from. Although while I'm asking it, regarding things like component cables and other video cables - do you all think some of this low priced stuff on Monoprice is any good (Like this 6 FT Component cable LINK vs the same 6 FT from BJC model Belden 7787A RCA/RCA which costs $66 LINK)? I like to believe BJC isn't overpriced, and I know their stuff is good but that is a huge price difference. Is it noticable? If not, I think I might go on a shopping spree for some new wires on Monoprice...

Wire is wire, and only the gauge counts.

 

[tbergman]

Again, I'm comparing only to BJC - the only other place I'd buy wires from. Although while I'm asking it, regarding things like component cables and other video cables - do you all think some of this low priced stuff on Monoprice is any good (Like this 6 FT Component cable LINK vs the same 6 FT from BJC model Belden 7787A RCA/RCA which costs $66 LINK)? I like to believe BJC isn't overpriced, and I know their stuff is good but that is a huge price difference. Is it noticable? If not, I think I might go on a shopping spree for some new wires on Monoprice...

Here is a post from Kurt of BJC explaining the costs involved in their RCA type cables. link to post

 

[Shintsu]

Personally, I don't believe that you'll see/hear a difference between the cables. For speaker wire, it comes down to aesthetics, IMO. For the interconnects, it comes to down to aethetics and, more importantly (because you probably won't be able to see them), the connectors.

I own some of the Monoprice interconnects like the ones that you linked to. The cables are a bit stiff, and the connectors don't get a good grip on the jacks on the components. So, after connecting them, they'd tend to slip loose as I was sliding my equipment back into place. The BJC connectors look like the same kind that I have on my subwoofer cable, and if so, those are nice connectors - easy to push on and pull off, but they won't slip off on their own.

So, the Monoprice cables added about five or ten minutes when assembling my system due to reconnections, and that's worth the savings that I got over buying other brands (including BJC). I wouldn't turn down the BJC cables, though.

Are you referring to the RCA Phono style connectors coming loose? I bought some of that Best Buy branded RCA phono cable for dirt cheap to use with my tape deck and that stuff has to be the HARDEST (no joke) to get on and off. I thought I was going to break the connectors on the back of my tape deck getting them on (And when I was stupid enough not to use a flashlight and accidently put the L/R channels in backwards).

Regarding BJC, I respect the reason their price is so high - but am I not mistaken in that at least part of the cost is *ahem* "Because it's made in AMERICUH!"? I'm all for things not made in Pakistan/India/China/Taiwan, but unless I'll notice a considerable quality difference that huge price gap is just too much. I understand why it costs so much for them to make, but the quality of the end products is what I'm questioning. Will you notice a difference between one versus the other side by side from the same source? Maybe if I ever buy those component cables from BJC I'll pick up a cheap set from Monoprice and do a comparo (But I gotta be honest, spending $60+ on one set of cables isn't high up on my list).

So I'm glad to know the speaker wire will be fine - but I still am curious about the video cables. Do you all think the actual image quality will be affected at all by using cheap cables like Monoprice sells versus some expensive stuff that is guaranteed to be nice like BJC sells? Like this Monoprice HDMI cable LINK (24 AWG 6 FT) versus this BJC Series-F2 HDMI cable LINK for $17. Do you truly think there would be a difference in picture quality or just a difference in perceived quality of American made versus Chinese? Not saying there's anything wrong with it, I just want to know if that's why it costs more. I mean, here's a good one - the BJC LC-1 stereo cables, it costs $31.50 for 3 foot of this (LINK) and I'll be the first to say, they look extremely nice! But I'm also comparing to somethin' like this (LINK) which is only $2.11 and still looks decent. I could buy a ton of cables at that price, whereas $31.50 for a 3 foot RCA phono cable is killin' me if I'm buying any more than one set (Though that much just for that is still killin' me!).

BJC makes really nice looking quality cables, I don't dispute that - but again could someone help me on the differentiation versus cheap cables in noticable differences?

 

[Adam]

Are you referring to the RCA Phono style connectors coming loose? I bought some of that Best Buy branded RCA phono cable for dirt cheap to use with my tape deck and that stuff has to be the HARDEST (no joke) to get on and off. I thought I was going to break the connectors on the back of my tape deck getting them on (And when I was stupid enough not to use a flashlight and accidently put the L/R channels in backwards).

Yep, I'm referring to the RCA-style connectors coming lose. They don't form a tight grip, although you can bend the metal a bit to change that.

I know what you're talking about with firm grip connectors, though! I have some from Radio Shack with burled metal connectors, and my eyes have actually watered when trying to remove them (especially when my hand is all crooked from reaching behind an entertainment center). The Monoprice ones that I got are the exact opposite of that.

The connector on my subwoofer cable (which looks like the BJC connectors on the inner diameter) is fantastic - easy to get on, easy to pull off, but won't come off on it's own. You just need to decide if it's worth the extra cash.

 

[Shintsu]

Well, I guess since the Monoprice cables are so dang cheap I could at least try them and see how they are. Whoever makes Best Buy's cheap wires does a fine job of making sure they don't come out, I'll definitely credit them with that. Amazingly I've also been using some Best Buy branded optical cable for my 360 and my CD player - both sound fantastic. I suppose this should've been at least a sign that it doesn't always matter about brand name. So the only question does still lie with video cables - which could actually matter since video degradation seems like it'd be much easier to notice.

 

[mtrycrafts]

....

I have actually had my father do a blind comparison of one speaker on the same receiver with some nice thick Monster cable (He used to sell audio equipment so Monster sent him free stuff - including some cable) and on the other speaker he used plain out lamp cord. ...

Unfortunately that is not a good way to compare speaker wires as the two channels can be and will be different, both with the sound content and with regards to the room interaction with speaker placements, etc.

Best to have the same cables on both speakers then swap both. The results will still be the same but, if one did hear a difference by chance, it wasn't a fair comparison and it wasn't the cable differences causing it. That guy would be out of $5k

 

[Shintsu]

Unfortunately that is not a good way to compare speaker wires as the two channels can be and will be different, both with the sound content and with regards to the room interaction with speaker placements, etc.

Best to have the same cables on both speakers then swap both. The results will still be the same but, if one did hear a difference by chance, it wasn't a fair comparison and it wasn't the cable differences causing it. That guy would be out of $5k

Well, it was something that happened well before I was even born so I'm summarizing to some extent. I don't know specifics, so they might have. This was a group obsessed with speakers at the time and some of them did subscribe to the audio snake oil stuff so they certainly wouldn't use two different wires since one would have different resistance or some such. I never saw it so I can't speak for them, but I'm pretty sure they tried to make them as neutral as possible because some of them wanted the good wire to sound better so they could get some free equipment!

 

[tbergman]

I've never had any problems with my Monoprice video cables. HDMI shouldn't be a problem at all, digital signal either gets there or there is noticeable difference. I'm thinking that the biggest difference between the monoprice and BJC rca type cables will be connection quality(coming on/off, staying on) not video quality. Like I said, I use Monoprice and can't complain. Monoprice is cheap enough that if you get some cables and can't stand how they look or feel when moving equipment around, get some BJC cables.

 

[Shintsu]

I've never had any problems with my Monoprice video cables. HDMI shouldn't be a problem at all, digital signal either gets there or there is noticeable difference. I'm thinking that the biggest difference between the monoprice and BJC rca type cables will be connection quality(coming on/off, staying on) not video quality. Like I said, I use Monoprice and can't complain. Monoprice is cheap enough that if you get some cables and can't stand how they look or feel when moving equipment around, get some BJC cables.

True that, digital signals can't really be degraded the way an analog signal could be. It seems silly that connectors would be the big price factor for most cables, but it does seem lots of people complained about the RCA phono connectors being too loose on Monoprice - fortunately I don't need any RCA phono cable ATM so I'll skip on that.

I'm still left to question the only type of video cable left that is high quality image but not digital - component. Since that is an analog source, I question if there could possibly be noticable difference in image quality of a really cheap cable versus a nice one BJC sells or if it's still mostly the connector quality. I wish I could go back and buy more cables from the last flea market that came to our local expo center - there was a guy with a ton of random accessories and cables for less than $5 and I picked up one of those taped up plastic boxes that had a Monster branded 3 foot HDMI cable, I think it was one of their nicer cables and it was only $3 and he had several but I only have one HDMI input - but we ended up using it with our PS3 in the other room.

On a related note, man Monster Cables are so bogus - they actually have multiple series of the same cables claiming one is only this good, then better, and the best...that seems like such bogus marketing crap purely on their part (Or an admittance to making their cheap cables worse so you buy their overpriced top of the line cables). They actually have a 500hd HDMI series that's "entry level" for $60, a 700hd HDMI series that's "high speed" for $70, an 800hd HDMI series that's "advanced high speed" for $90, a 1000hd HDMI series that's "ultra high speed" for $100, then you have their ridiculous M-series which overlaps with slower speeds but higher costs the top of the line M-series is the same 1000hd thing but it says M on it and is supposedly so much better and is called "ultimate high speed" and is $180!! Oh yeah, and the $180 M-series 1000hd thing is only 4 feet...!!!!!

Comparatively, I just looked at BJC's Series F2 - 25 feet for $48 or for near the same money ($185) you can get 70 feet of Series 1 Belden Bonded-Pair cable. What's funny, someone posted a review on that outrageous speaker who works at NASA and tested the wires and said their build quality is nice but the image quality is no different. It's funny if you look at some reviewers who are brainwashed into thinking they see a difference between the overpriced cable. Man, I thought Monster had bad pricing on speaker wire but wow! No wonder everyone hates Monster, at least I can say all the Monster wire I own was DIRT cheap - less than $5. Monster doesn't even give any info like gauge or anything on their expensive wire...ha ha, they seem like Bose - you don't need to see what's going on behind the curtain, ignore the man behind the curtain...lol.