whats up with monster

[hankdog]

been to a few of the local merchants and a lot of them are dropping monster cable stuff, the local tweeter is now carring audioquest and panamax power conditioners, is monster stepping on too many toes, I tried an audioquest sub-a cable on my sub and thought the sound was somewhat compressed and the cables are twice as expensive,

 

[jaxvon]

I doubt the Audioquest cable compressed the sound, but either way, I'm not sure about Monster. Their business practices are very predatory. Maybe they tried to bite the wrong people. Also, Audioquest is super expensive and snake Oily. They're not worth the money.

 

[agarwalro]

I tried an audioquest sub-a cable on my sub and thought the sound was somewhat compressed and the cables are twice as expensive,

I highly doubt the cable had anything to do with the sound. Just out of curiousity, which cable did you end up using?

 

[indcrimdefense]

simply for the sake of trying, i demoed some audioquest king cobra interconnects. they sounded fine, and could note some difference b/w the king cobras & my monster m850, but in the mids. not necessarily better or worse, but some difference. both cables were hooked up to my denon 2910 & a B&K ref pre-amp, so i could switch between the 2 w/ minimal delay. they went back, nice cables but ridiculously overpriced, particularly compared to my ridiculously overpriced monsters. the one thing i will say for them is that the connections are nice, solid but doesn't require you to kill yourself to connect or unconnect. but for 175/meter i didn't notice any benefit over my m850/1 meter, which thankfully i got on sale

 

[hankdog]

cable i was using

I originally had a monster bass on the sub and then tried the audioquest, I wasn't impressed with the audioquest, maybe it was because the cable was their entry level cable

 

[Hi Ho]

I am doubtful that the different cable even impacted the sound at all. I'll bet if you did a double blind test that you would not hear any difference. RG-6 coax cable is just as good as the Monster stuff (maybe the same thing) and costs 15-25 cents/ft.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... maybe it was because the cable was their entry level cable

Even if it was, comparable cables are transparent, period. Especially interconnects, unless you have a construction defect but then you have a broken cable.
But, human expectation is is a prime factor for perception flaws.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Monster isn't stepping on anybody's toes, they are just more prevalent in stores such as Circuit City and Best Buy which loses some of their 'glamour' when you go into custom shops.

A custom shop is supposed to be beyond Best Buy level, so they need a brand that is beyond Monster.

They make a TON of money on cables. It is easily 100% mark up on cabling and typically gives end users about no real increase in performance as shown in test after test after test.

Heck, if I owned a store, I would introduce some esoteric brand name cable that I came up with myself. Buy the parts, make them all in house for a few bucks a cable, then sell them for hundreds of dollars. People are just gullible enough to believe in it all.

Throw in some proprietary short distance anti-skin effect properties and we have ourselves a winner!

 

[Sheep]

Monster isn't stepping on anybody's toes, they are just more prevalent in stores such as Circuit City and Best Buy which loses some of their 'glamour' when you go into custom shops.

A custom shop is supposed to be beyond Best Buy level, so they need a brand that is beyond Monster.

They make a TON of money on cables. It is easily 100% mark up on cabling and typically gives end users about no real increase in performance as shown in test after test after test.

Heck, if I owned a store, I would introduce some esoteric brand name cable that I came up with myself. Buy the parts, make them all in house for a few bucks a cable, then sell them for hundreds of dollars. People are just gullible enough to believe in it all.

Throw in some proprietary short distance anti-skin effect properties and we have ourselves a winner!

Thats not how you run a buiseness. Although, being loaded is a nice thing. I'm a sell out too!

SheepStar

 

[mulester7]

Thats not how you run a buiseness. Although, being loaded is a nice thing. I'm a sell out too!

SheepStar

....stand firm, Sheep, don't listen to the wrong shoulder.....

 

[sdy284]

They make a TON of money on cables. It is easily 100% mark up on cabling and typically gives end users about no real increase in performance as shown in test after test after test.

I can vouch for that, I worked @ Best Buy in high school and the employee discount is 10% over cost and the Monster stuff was usually half the price of what they were actually selling it for

 

[tomd51]

I can't fault Monster for wanting to make a decent profit margin and they do make satisfactory products, but in my view, they go above and beyond good business practices. Capitalism is one thing, but when taken advantage of, "product conscious" consumers begin to despise companies such as Monster, which breeds the type of animosity you'll see here and other HT/Audio forums.

Here's a related PR from earlier this year:
Tweeter Drops Monster Cable Brand (Sept. 26, 2005)

 

[mtrycrafts]

Monster isn't stepping on anybody's toes, !

They sue anyone with 'monster' in their name, by the thousands, no matter what they sell.

 

[lbjazz]

Monster isn't stepping on anybody's toes, they are just more prevalent in stores such as Circuit City and Best Buy which loses some of their 'glamour' when you go into custom shops.

A custom shop is supposed to be beyond Best Buy level, so they need a brand that is beyond Monster.

They make a TON of money on cables. It is easily 100% mark up on cabling and typically gives end users about no real increase in performance as shown in test after test after test.

Heck, if I owned a store, I would introduce some esoteric brand name cable that I came up with myself. Buy the parts, make them all in house for a few bucks a cable, then sell them for hundreds of dollars. People are just gullible enough to believe in it all.

Throw in some proprietary short distance anti-skin effect properties and we have ourselves a winner!

try 500%

For example. A monster 1000 series 4ft optical cable sells at bb for $99.99. As an employee I can buy it for $20.

 

[hankdog]

I mean this tweeter has no monster cable speaker wire or interconnects and trying to get rid of the monster power centers and for irony they have a spool of monster xp speaker wire holding a shelf of audioquest speaker wire,I just thought it was funny, kind of trust tweeter have dealt with 3 area stores since 1982 now what. I have a best buy and circuit city within 20 minutes of me, i always thought they were a beter retailer with more knowledgable people.