USA Today Report on MonsterCable

[Audiosouse]

Preying on the Dumb

Noel Lee is not a genius, he has no consceince. Big difference.

The reason I'll never be rich is because it wouldn't occur to me to dupe someone into thinking that a $165 CDN component video cable is a good investment for an $89 Walmart DVD player. Such was the case for my buddy, bless his dumb ***...all I could say is "yeah, I can see the difference alright".

The retailers are equally to blame as they're the front line pushing Monster like their selling crack cocain to a junky. It's rediculous how they push it, I mean, even a dealer I knew personally couldn't help himself until I pointed out what he was doing

Noel just knows that money (or the faint hope of obtaining it) makes people do crazy things.

I hated Monster way before I read that article, because their products cost three times everything else but don't actually work as advertised. I even berated Audioholics for added them to their recommended components articles...by the way Gene, it's still there as an alternative.

 

[MDS]

The reason I'll never be rich is because it wouldn't occur to me to dupe someone into thinking that a $165 CDN component video cable is a good investment for an $89 Walmart DVD player. Such was the case for my buddy, bless his dumb ***...all I could say is "yeah, I can see the difference alright".

Hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.

Retailers push Monster because they have a HUGE markup (as we all know). They make far more money on cables than they do selling the electronics themselves.

 

[Audioholics]

The "mark-up" issue extends to all reaches of home theater unfortunately. We know a vendor who is so focused on his 60% markup for dealers that he simply thought it unconscionable that in a review we compared his products to similar units sold online for nearly half the price - and gave a lower value rating because of it.

He felt this was apples to oranges since he sold to dealers as opposed to direct-to-consumer and, to dealers, the value was excellent. Only the consumer gets the mark-up so it's OK.

Mark-ups are OK - but the consumer needs to do their research and there will always be different markets to shop in. DIYers would be silly to use highly marked up products, but those hiring an installer are going to pay it as a natural result of the business model. In the case of the retail store, impatience, poor planning, and pressure sales seem to rule the day.

If you're going to buy a TV or piece of electronics - do your research and get the cables prior to walking into the store. It's not brain surgery to plan out your cabling needs before-hand. Chances are all 17 sets you're looking at will have DVI-D outputs these days and you'll likely make up your mind on such things as a DVD player before you set foor into the store since they are difficult to test on the showfloor. Speakers all accept banana connectors or straight wire - so that's never an issue.... You get the point.