Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo interconnect worth all the money?

hello all,

As mentioned in an earlier post, I recently purchased a new NAD C 320BEE to replace my old AIWA bookshelf stereo. I thought that the amp would come with a pair of RCA cables, but to my great surprise when I opened the box, there isn't any. So out of desperation, I borrowed a pair of pretty old, skimppy tiny RCA cables from my roommate that was sitting in his closet.

The setup sounded fine, except that every now and then the right speaker would become muted. This could be solved by playing around with moving the cables a bit... nevertheless it was very annoying.

Today, I was browsing around the local stereo shop and there was a pair of monster ultra 600 thx cables on sale for $40ish(it was a returned/opened merchandise). So I thought I'd give it a try.

Having read all the posts about how expensive cables are really just a waste of money, I really didn't expect much from these cables. In fact, I really want to be able to say that "ha, these people were right" but I can't. The sound improvement was very noticeable as I can hear even more detail that wasn't there before.

Now I'm really begining to wonder maybe I should've dished out even more on the cables and maybe get the Monster ultra 1000 instead of these 600. I mean, are the effects I'm experiencing just results of lighter pockets or there really is some substance to these expensive high end cables?

Here's another question...

I've been trying to find specifications of these monster cables (ie, size, purity of the cables,etc) without any luck.

Anyone has any idea? Or does Monster Cables purposely hide these info? It'd be nice to be able to compare the real specs against the others...

I'd say it's a combo of lighter pockets and really, really bad old cables.

Also, what are you guys using for cables?

Try here... Great quality interconnects with very reasonable prices; unlike Monster cable which is bad cable for the price you pay. This lack of performance/price ratio in Monster cable can be seen in Audioholics cable tests. Keep in mind that these tests were speaker level wire tests, not interconnects. Thus, one can only assume and infer the quality of their interconnects as being at roughly the same performance/dollar ratio. (The point of the link is to show that the generic SoundKing wire from Parts Express, which many people on this forum use, is almost as good as Monster Navajo, yet it costs much less.)

you can also go to radioshack and pick up a pair of their Fusion cables.

Going from some old dental floss cables to the monster probbably did provide an improvement, but once you keep moving up from the monster you probbly wont notice as much if any improvement.

You could also build your own interconcts if you were into that kind of stuff.

Jeff, typically players come with cables such as this these days but amps and receivers generally don't come with cables, since the player has it included. That basic type of cable is adequate in most cases, but it isn't surprising that an old set that was obviously damaged and possibly corroded because operation was intermittant wouldn't be acceptable. Even if a coaxial cable more heavily shielded against interference was wanted(overkill in most cases)nothing more expensive than something like this would be necessary. Except for the possible interference problem in rare cases there simply can't be any audible difference caused by any of these cables, regardless of price. Don't be a victim of the exotic cable hoax.

I also suggest Blue Jeans Cables. Good stuff, and not too expensive. I'll never buy Monster Cables again, as they have a "grip of death" that I really, really do not care for. You'll know what I mean when you try to remove those cables you bought. (Be careful not to pull the guts out of your new amp trying.)

I have a RatShack cable that has this same GripOfDeath. I thought I was going to pull the entire back panel of my receiver out befoer the cable would come off.

Another vote for Blue Jeans. Lotsa research got me there and they have an excellent price/value relationship. Performance is excellent. The canare connectors are very forgiving and you won't be paying the Monster Price.