Help...What AV Cables to buy

[tmy023]

Greetings, just bought a plasma, dvd, surround sound system last night and about $400 in cables which seems excessive. My Dad was an EE and used to go the other way, i.e. a wire is a wire...anyway, I have been "sold" the following:
- monster THX ultra 600 component video cable
- monster THX digital coax audio 400
- monster THX Fiber optic audio 400
- monster Ultra 800 HDMI cable
and a monster home theater reference power center HTS 100 MKII

total damage...$430...something tells me I might have gotten similar quality audio/video for a LOT less, and also, I wonder what the $150 power center got me that a $20 surge protector wouldn't have??

THANKS for any help you can provide....

 

[JPW]

Well if I were you, I'd use the cheap cables that came with the gear, take back that over priced Monster crap, and go order cables from www.bluejeanscable.com.

As for the surge protector, I don't believe a $20 one is the way to go. I'd go get a $80 or more Tripplite.

 

[markw]

Sometimes father does know best.

'nuff said.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

I concur with JPW. You got seriously ripped off dude. But we are here to help.

JC

 

[MDS]

Ripped off in terms of price paid but not necessarily in quality of cables. Monster does make good cables, it's just that they think they are worth 3-4 times as much as the competition and the big box stores push them because they make a huge profit on them - way more than they make from selling the a/v equipment.

 

[edwelly]

I got all of my cables from www.partexpress.com and couldn't be happier with the quality and very low cost.

 

[mtrycrafts]

My Dad was an EE and used to go the other way, i.e. a wire is a wire...anyway, I have been "sold" the following:
-....

Hard to add to what others have said but yes, you were "sold" those cables. The marketeers are very good at what they do.