Results are in - Monster XP vs Sonocable

[jamie2112]

I have done blindfolded test in a controlled STUDIO environment and we used a coat hanger ,yes a coat hanger and a set of Kimber cable and could not tell the difference. There were 2 grammy winners and 6 multiplatinum engineers doing this at BET in Washington DC and none of us could tell the difference. Take this for what you will but I KNOW that as this bickering is for not. You can all say what you want but until I see unbiased tests being done in a controlled situation I am calling this snake oil is the highest fashion.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I have done blindfolded test in a controlled STUDIO environment and we used a coat hanger ,yes a coat hanger and a set of Kimber cable and could not tell the difference. There were 2 grammy winners and 6 multiplatinum engineers doing this at BET in Washington DC and none of us could tell the difference. Take this for what you will but I KNOW that as this bickering is for not. You can all say what you want but until I see unbiased tests being done in a controlled situation I am calling this snake oil is the highest fashion.

Curious what those engineers did afterwards when they failed

 

[fmw]

Nope i didnt , I didnt even know i had 2 type of different wires . All i knew i had Monsterwire on each side . It was truely driving me mad that i couldn't get my setup to sound right in the middle , the sweetspot was off center . I run my speakers , 3 feet from back wall and 2 1/2 from the side wall all equal , for optimal sweetspot and for the C9 .
Im not sure what they do to that XP wire .
Look @ my bedroom setup , it was driving me nuts , my equipment is not the best , but its better than the norm and now its sounds great , i love that SP3 Tube ( again TY Audioholics , you guys made my a very happy man ) amp are so much smoother on the treble and midbass , you guys @ Audioholics know how good these SP3 sound ) .

They don't do anything to the wire other than put a brand name on it. The wire didn't have a sound. Room acoustics can and do make different sides of stereo pair sound different from each other, even in mono mode. You might be a good candidate to run a properly conducted bias controlled listening test. It isn't terribly difficult with wire. I can provide details of what you need to do if you decide to pursue it.

 

[pzaur]

This thread should be turned into bathroom reading!

For anyone who doesn't fully understand why the cow analogy doesn't work, here's why.

Cow #1 input = corn
Cow #2 input = grain

Two different sources/signals entering the cow which creates a different flavor/ouput. The inputs are different. There is no comparison to wire, ever, nada, zilch, impossible.

Different inputs equals different outputs.

This forum really needs a former employee from one of the large speaker wire companies to answer this simple question:

Does xxxxxxx cable company make any changes to a cable to alter it's properties or do they just change the color and thickness of the jacket?

My guess is they just change the thickness of the jacket.

-pat

 

[cubbie5150]

This thread should be turned into bathroom reading!

For anyone who doesn't fully understand why the cow analogy doesn't work, here's why.

Cow #1 input = corn
Cow #2 input = grain

Two different sources/signals entering the cow which creates a different flavor/ouput. The inputs are different. There is no comparison to wire, ever, nada, zilch, impossible.

Different inputs equals different outputs.

This forum really needs a former employee from one of the large speaker wire companies to answer this simple question:

Does xxxxxxx cable company make any changes to a cable to alter it's properties or do they just change the color and thickness of the jacket?

My guess is they just change the thickness of the jacket.

-pat

I'm glad you pointed out the obvious fallacious analogy, because I was going to myself.

IMO, there's no problem w/ spending more for wire (or anything else for that matter). Even for cosmetic reasons. Hell, I admit I spent $$ on bi-wire config speaker cables from Signal Cable. Is there an audible difference between that & a single run of Belden I had from BJC? NOPE...nada, zilch. But, I do like the loos & "build quality" of the Signal Cable speaker wire jackets & connectors. To some, I wasted $$, but I didn't do it fo the "wrong" reason(s).....

 

[zhimbo]

It was accuaually a mistake by me not knowing there was a difference between XP and regular Monster wire ( thinking like most here all wire sounds the same ) . Im sure glad i had my girlfreind point it out the difference , I thought i couldn't get my bedroom setup right

And yet, I'd still feel utterly comfortable betting that you couldn't pass a blindfold test as described above between the two sets of Monster wire, unless there's an actual defect with one of the wires (not especially likely). Really, really comfortable, actually.

 

[MinusTheBear]

They don't do anything to the wire other than put a brand name on it. The wire didn't have a sound. Room acoustics can and do make different sides of stereo pair sound different from each other, even in mono mode. You might be a good candidate to run a properly conducted bias controlled listening test. It isn't terribly difficult with wire. I can provide details of what you need to do if you decide to pursue it.

This is a great post by FMW and strikes the essence of what the OP is hearing ,if there is a difference. IF THERE IS A SOUND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR SPEAKERS IT IS BECAUSE OF YOUR ROOM'S ACOUSTICS AND NOT BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCE IN SPEAKER WIRE YOU ARE USING. Treating your room and playing around with speaker placement will yield you better sound not upgrading speaker wire.

 

[Bloodstriker]

This is a great post by FMW and strikes the essence of what the OP is hearing ,if there is a difference. IF THERE IS A SOUND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR SPEAKERS IT IS BECAUSE OF YOUR ROOM'S ACOUSTICS AND NOT BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCE IN SPEAKER WIRE YOU ARE USING. Treating your room and playing around with speaker placement will yield you better sound not upgrading speaker wire.

But the speakers were never moved and nothing in the room ever changed?

 

[wire]

This is a great post by FMW and strikes the essence of what the OP is hearing ,if there is a difference. IF THERE IS A SOUND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR SPEAKERS IT IS BECAUSE OF YOUR ROOM'S ACOUSTICS AND NOT BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCE IN SPEAKER WIRE YOU ARE USING. Treating your room and playing around with speaker placement will yield you better sound not upgrading speaker wire.

If you read my above statments , everything is equal in bedroom and its pretty much a big square box . I measure out ever detail in my speakers to exact . I have to , I run a Sonic Hologram in my room , speaker placement is more critical than in your 5.1 .
Im not sure what they did to the XP wire , but there is something in that wire to make it sound different than the standard stuff i bought years before .

 

[wire]

They don't do anything to the wire other than put a brand name on it. The wire didn't have a sound. Room acoustics can and do make different sides of stereo pair sound different from each other, even in mono mode. You might be a good candidate to run a properly conducted bias controlled listening test. It isn't terribly difficult with wire. I can provide details of what you need to do if you decide to pursue it.

Did you do any D>D on the XP wire or is it just your opinion ? I had the same opionion until i ran into this about 3 years ago .

 

[pzaur]

If you read my above statments , everything is equal in bedroom and its pretty much a big square box . I measure out ever detail in my speakers to exact . I have to , I run a Sonic Hologram in my room , speaker placement is more critical than in your 5.1 .
Im not sure what they did to the XP wire , but there is something in that wire to make it sound different than the standard stuff i bought years before .

When you say everything is equal, does this mean the room is perfectly symmetrical, down to the furniture? If it isn't, there's your problem. Nothing to do with wire.

I bet the XP sounded clearer because the jacket says it's more expensive. If it actually does "sound" clearer you should be able to show that through actual tests. Put it up to the right machines and show the proof. Graphing of the results would show how each frequency responded through the cable and you'd have your proof.

No hand drawn graphs!

I bet if someone changed your wire without you knowing you'd never figure it out.

-pat

 

[fmw]

Did you do any D>D on the XP wire or is it just your opinion ? I had the same opionion until i ran into this about 3 years ago .

No XP wire wasn't one of the ones we tested but my "opinion" is based on test results done by me and many, many other people that have shown that wire doesn't affect sound in audio systems. It is possible to make a cable into a tone control but I've never seen it done with a speaker cable - only with interconnect cables. You may want to read up on perceptual hearing and placebo effect. The are strong and they affect everyone, including me and you.

 

[wire]

No XP wire wasn't one of the ones we tested but my "opinion" is based on test results done by me and many, many other people that have shown that wire doesn't affect sound in audio systems. It is possible to make a cable into a tone control but I've never seen it done with a speaker cable - only with interconnect cables. You may want to read up on perceptual hearing and placebo effect. The are strong and they affect everyone, including me and you.

Well do so work with XP and get back to us , it is sold almost everywhere . Im interested in the results .

 

[wire]

When you say everything is equal, does this mean the room is perfectly symmetrical, down to the furniture? If it isn't, there's your problem. Nothing to do with wire.

I bet the XP sounded clearer because the jacket says it's more expensive. If it actually does "sound" clearer you should be able to show that through actual tests. Put it up to the right machines and show the proof. Graphing of the results would show how each frequency responded through the cable and you'd have your proof.

No hand drawn graphs!

I bet if someone changed your wire without you knowing you'd never figure it out.

-pat

Yeh
Its a bedroom and i show case the 2 channel system . It took a while to figure out before , thanks to my GF , i finally got it .
The problem with the jacket was , i didn't even know i bought XP for one channel , i thought it was all the same wire in monster series ( oh well , i was wrong ) .

 

[Alex2507]

Only poorly designed cables can be sonically distinguisable

Hey Gene,

You own AH right? Don't you have a degree in something related to the flow of electrons or something? Maybe something audio related? Could you like back that statement up with little letters behind your name in a field related to the statement?

 

[pzaur]

The problem with the jacket was , i didn't even know i bought XP for one channel , i thought it was all the same wire in monster series ( oh well , i was wrong ) .

It probably was the same wire. Only the jacket is different.

Being a bedroom doesn't imply perfect symmetry. Is there a bathroom, closet (probably offset), windows on opposite facing walls, pictures? There are so many different attributes to every room that affect the sound. I can't even fathom how a piece of wire could alter the position of the sweet spot between speakers. You obviously had to move the speaker with the non-XP wire in question. Chances are real good that you didn't replace it back to the same exact spot and you really wanted to hear a difference to a perceived problem.

-pat

 

[fmw]

Well do so work with XP and get back to us , it is sold almost everywhere . Im interested in the results .

You want me to go buy wire so I can run a test for you? Sorry, I'm having a hard time surpressing the chuckle.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Is this the speaker wire you are talking about?

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10041004&catid=25333&test_cookie=1#

 

[mike c]

Is this the speaker wire you are talking about?

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10041004&catid=25333&test_cookie=1#

Magnetic Flux Tube construction for maximum bass response and more natural sound.

looks like regular wire to me ... except for it's flux capacitor.

but it does look like it's thin gauge ... maybe 14 or 16

 

[MinusTheBear]

looks like regular wire to me ... except for it's flux capacitor.

but it does look like it's thin gauge ... maybe 14 or 16

That was my first impression too. Maybe this wire will allow me to travel through time as well. Just hook it up to your car stereo and hit a speed of 88 miles per hour