Monoprice VS Bulejean cables..

[Yamaheart]

Hi, i noticed that Monoprice cables are way cheaper to compare to Bluejean. How is the quality of Monoprice compare to Bluejean? Thanks

 

[MinusTheBear]

Blue Jeans cable has better build quality and connectors IMO (I have purchased from both). Some cables from Monoprice can be really cheaply built (but you pay accordingly). If you are looking for value buy from Monoprice, if you want better quality buy from Blue Jeans. There is no sound quality advantages in using either brand. Both are excellent companies and have great customer service.

 

[chas_w]

Or you can try Blue Jean's lower priced line:

http://www.tartancable.com/

 

[snmhanson]

I was just coming to this section to ask the same exact question. Looking at the HDMI offerings, I am under the impression that the lower priced Blue Jean offerings are going to be almost identical to the Monoprice offerings so it would basically come down to price. However, I wonder if the Blue Jean Belden cables offer better performance, especially over longer distances. I need to order a couple longer HDMI cable runs (up to 50') and a few shorter interconnects as well and I will pay the extra for the BJC Belden Series-1 cables if it is worth it. However, if I am not going to get anything extra for the money I may just order from Monoprice since I want to order an HDMI switcher from them anyway.

I also noticed that speaker wire is alot cheaper on Monoprice (less than 1/2 the price for 12 gauge wire). Is there any significant difference between what they offer? Once again, Blue Jean offers Belden cable while Monoprice, I assume, offers a generic Chinese made brand. However, is there any reason to pay 2-3X as much from Blue Jean for what seems to be the same thing?

I'm not sure who to go with. I like Blue Jean as they seem to be a little less generic in that they offer both a name brand option (Belden) as well as a cheap Chinese option. Plus, although it probably doesn't meen much when it comes down to it, they are in the same state as I am. I do know that I would prefer to use one source for all of my cable needs though.

Matt

 

[Yamaheart]

Blue Jeans cable has better build quality and connectors IMO (I have purchased from both). Some cables from Monoprice can be really cheaply built (but you pay accordingly). If you are looking for value buy from Monoprice, if you want better quality buy from Blue Jeans. There is no sound quality advantages in using either brand. Both are excellent companies and have great customer service.

Sounds good there, as long as there is no differ in sound quality or performance. So bluejean does provide more quality in making the cables, i.e flexible rubber, or tougher connection.

 

[MinusTheBear]

I really like the Canare connectors blue jeans uses compared to the rca connectors on the monoprice cables. As to the flexibility, on the blue jeans site they have product notes to which is the most flexible cable for a certain application for the same cable type. Some cables I have from them I would consider stiff.

One tip from buying from Monoprice is to read the customer reviews of the product. Their prices are awesome but some of their products have issues. Stick to the cables that have high customer review scores.

 

[jostenmeat]

Hi, i noticed that Monoprice cables are way cheaper to compare to Bluejean. How is the quality of Monoprice compare to Bluejean? Thanks

I've now spent hundreds of dollars with both companies. However, the only cables that I can directly compare are HDMI and speaker wire.

The BJ HDMI cable I have is very short. As for Mono, I've tried numerous lengths, including 15, 25, and 35 ft. They all work perfectly.

I actually prefer Mono's speaker wire. And it's sooooo much cheaper. The BJC's red/black insulation was a lot more difficult to work with IMO; delicate. The strands are already twisted, whereas with Mono they're straight. OTOH, Mono doesn't offer 10 gauge. I am directly comparing 12 gauge from both companies.

 

[Yamaheart]

thanks to all for this...

 

[j_garcia]

I only buy HDMI from Bluejeans. I have yet another one coming from them this week (need a longer one for the TV).

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hi, i noticed that Monoprice cables are way cheaper to compare to Bluejean. How is the quality of Monoprice compare to Bluejean? Thanks

Bluejeans are made in the USA

 

[Yamaheart]

Bluejeans are made in the USA

Nice, support the economy. Thanks.

 

[snmhanson]

Bluejeans are made in the USA

I was going to mention this, however, after a closer look I saw that even BJs higher-end HDMI cables are actually assembled in China. The raw cable is produced in the US by Belden and then apparantly sent to China for final assembly. Still better than being fully produced in China I guess and they are apparantly trying to bring the full production cycle to the US but are facing some hurdles. Hard to believe that it is cheaper to ship the materials to China to be assembled and then ship the assembled cables back to the US to sell, but that is how I understand it. Nevertheless, I guess from an economic perspective it may benefit the US economy a little more to buy BJ cables versus Monopice, although I wouldn't count on it single handedly saving our economy. From a patriotic standpoint though - BJ all the way. I still don't know which company I am going to go with. BJ does seem a little less corporate though and slightly more in tune with the customer IMO.

Matt

 

[split0101]

I bought HDMI cables from mono as interconnects for my TivoHD, HD camcorder and Popcorn and have had no issues with them. Plus they sell them in all sorts of pretty colors

 

[KurtBJC]

Hard to believe that it is cheaper to ship the materials to China to be assembled and then ship the assembled cables back to the US to sell, but that is how I understand it.

It is a bit hard to believe, isn't it? But we're here in Seattle, with a major seaport on the Pacific, and ocean freight is cheap--it costs less to send a container of goods by ocean to China than it would cost to ship the same container by truck to California. Adding in to that is the labor cost factor--while we would dearly love to terminate the HDMI cables here with US labor, there is no existing way to terminate other than hand-soldering, and with 38 solder joints on each cable (19 at each end), plus connector overmolding, that is a lot of labor. If we did it in the US, at least with existing connectors, it'd cost so much that we wouldn't have any customers. We have a connector prototype for US termination and do intend to offer that as an option in future when we get the bugs worked out.

Right now, on a cost basis, the Series-1 HDMI cable averages about 90% US-content--that is, of every dollar we spend on cable and termination, ninety cents goes to Belden, who produce this cable for us in factories in Kentucky and Indiana. The cable stock that goes into the Series-1 is probably the most expensive HDMI cable stock in the world--we have never had a Chinese product quoted to us with the per-foot cost anywhere nearly as high. The Series-F2 is somewhat lower US content, simply because the lengths are shorter and the bulk cable, being smaller-gage, is a bit cheaper (though still much more expensive than Chinese cable stock), but on average the US content is still somewhere over 50%.

From time to time I do run into a potential customer who is quite angry over the fact that we use Chinese labor for termination. This always puzzles me a bit--as far as I have been able to determine, all other brands of HDMI cable are 100% Chinese content, with the bulk cable made there and the termination work done there. The way we look at it, if the use of Chinese labor makes a customer angry, he ought to be angrier at everyone else than he is at us....

Our other products, by the way, continue to be US-made, apart from various prebuilt adapters, switches, DVI cable, and the like. Every morning we fire up the cable strippers and the pneumatic presses and get to work assembling cable--however, the "analog" side of the business is definitely in a downturn as HDMI takes over the consumer A/V world.

Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable

 

[mtrycrafts]

...
From time to time I do run into a potential customer who is quite angry over the fact that we use Chinese labor for termination. ...Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable

Thanks for your continued enlightenment on the production costs, etc.
You should ask those customers if they are willing to pay for US soldered connectors to cables and quote him the price

 

[mtrycrafts]

.... BJ does seem a little less corporate though and slightly more in tune with the customer IMO.

Matt

Oh are they ever. As you see in this post, Kurt has spent lots of time here sharing his trials and tribulations. Don't know of anyone else doing this, other than the 'monster' sending goons to justify their actions

By the way, it seems that that HDMI connection may be the only cable they outsource and all others are in house. Remarkable.

 

[snmhanson]

It is a bit hard to believe, isn't it? But we're here in Seattle, with a major seaport on the Pacific, and ocean freight is cheap--it costs less to send a container of goods by ocean to China than it would cost to ship the same container by truck to California. Adding in to that is the labor cost factor--while we would dearly love to terminate the HDMI cables here with US labor, there is no existing way to terminate other than hand-soldering, and with 38 solder joints on each cable (19 at each end), plus connector overmolding, that is a lot of labor. If we did it in the US, at least with existing connectors, it'd cost so much that we wouldn't have any customers. We have a connector prototype for US termination and do intend to offer that as an option in future when we get the bugs worked out.

Right now, on a cost basis, the Series-1 HDMI cable averages about 90% US-content--that is, of every dollar we spend on cable and termination, ninety cents goes to Belden, who produce this cable for us in factories in Kentucky and Indiana. The cable stock that goes into the Series-1 is probably the most expensive HDMI cable stock in the world--we have never had a Chinese product quoted to us with the per-foot cost anywhere nearly as high. The Series-F2 is somewhat lower US content, simply because the lengths are shorter and the bulk cable, being smaller-gage, is a bit cheaper (though still much more expensive than Chinese cable stock), but on average the US content is still somewhere over 50%.

From time to time I do run into a potential customer who is quite angry over the fact that we use Chinese labor for termination. This always puzzles me a bit--as far as I have been able to determine, all other brands of HDMI cable are 100% Chinese content, with the bulk cable made there and the termination work done there. The way we look at it, if the use of Chinese labor makes a customer angry, he ought to be angrier at everyone else than he is at us....

Our other products, by the way, continue to be US-made, apart from various prebuilt adapters, switches, DVI cable, and the like. Every morning we fire up the cable strippers and the pneumatic presses and get to work assembling cable--however, the "analog" side of the business is definitely in a downturn as HDMI takes over the consumer A/V world.

Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable

Thanks for the great post. I hope I didn't come across as angry or unhappy about you sending the cables to China as I completely understand. I was just pointing out how contrived it is that it's usually cheaper for U.S. businesses to send a product thousands of miles away to have it assmebled and then sent back to the states to market it. I actually used to work for a company that made boxes for a major shoe company that did the same exact thing.

In any case, I applaud you for keeping as much of the process as possible in the US as well as for the stand you are taking against a certain other cable company. Based on my limited use of your product (2 HDMI cables so far) it seems that you produce as good a quality cable as other companies that charge many times what you charge. And I think that the fact that you take the time to communicate with your customers and potential customers in person (on this and other forums) has convinced me to go with BJ cables exclusively for my cabling needs. The only thing that sucks is that I am going to have to pay sales tax since I live in the state of Washington as well. Oh well, small price to pay...

Matt

 

[Yamaheart]

Hi all, I noticed that Monoprice does not have cable for Subwoofer. Will the RCA audio cable from Monoprice works fine for the SUB? Or it is better with the cable designed for SUB? Thanks

 

[j_garcia]

Hi all, I noticed that Monoprice does not have cable for Subwoofer. Will the RCA audio cable from Monoprice works fine for the SUB? Or it is better with the cable designed for SUB? Thanks

Makes no difference.

I just wanted to add a little experience I had with BlueJeans the other day. I ordered the cable and our network or Paypal had a hiccup while I was ordering. Paypal said it timed out when I clicked on "submit" even though I had just logged in a few seconds ago. I hit it again and ended up getting two emails for two orders 1 minute apart. Before I could even call them, and we are talking only a few minutes, they had called me to verify whether I wanted two separate orders or if that was an accident and they cleared it up over the phone.

 

[Adam]

Or you can try Blue Jean's lower priced line:

http://www.tartancable.com/

Excellent. I don't recall seeing that before.

I ordered a bunch of cables from Monoprice last week, but I really like the looks of the connectors on the Tartan optical cables.