Are Name Brand Home Theater Cables Worth The Money?
14 Comments Published by Joel November 27th, 2006 in Gadgets. Share ThisCables are the worst rip-off in the entire electronics industry. I recently looked into starting my own line of cables to sell in retail; the numbers were staggering. A standard-quality HDMI cable, the sort that connects your HDTV to a DVD player or other video output, sells for anywhere between $40 and $100 in stores like Best Buy and Circuit City. They cost about $3 to $6 to make—no joke.
So where to go for cables? Monoprice.com, the American online retail arm of a large Chinese cable manufacturer. A standard 28-gauge, six-foot HDMI cable—standard issue home theater interconnect—sells for $6.37 at Monoprice (less if you buy more than one). The low-end cable option at Best Buy—same wire thickness—costs $63.99. Even if you factored in overnight shipping from Monoprice (which is usually very reasonable) you’d come out way ahead.
But aren’t those brand name cables better, you ask? In a word: No. Longer cable lengths can benefit from a thicker gauge cable, the same sort that is also available at Monoprice. (And I’m talking real long here, like 25 feet or more.)
Front Door [Monoprice]
HDMI is a digital signal, the bits either get there or they don’t. Greater cable thickness provides lower overall resistance which when dealing with analog signals is great because then the speakers get to move farther or more frequently or with greater detail. Resistance/impedance makes absolutely no difference however when dealing with digital signals. They either get there or they don’t.
Don’t dance around it, we all know what you’re saying. Monster cables are overpriced pieces of shit. I heartily agree.
Every single scientific and non-scientific comparo I’ve ever seen between high-end (Monster, etc.) cables and “Walmart” cables has conclusively determined that the amount you spend on a cable is inversely proportional to your IQ.
In short, the cheap cables are just as good. There is no discussion. Period.
I had just been thinking about this recently when I saw that the Monster HDMI cable Circuit City was selling as a PS3 accessory was $100, and I knew for a FACT that I’d seen one (not monster) for about $30 on amazon.com. Thanks for confirming what I’d always suspected.
Ya’ll are calling Monster “high-end”? If that’s what you call high-end then no wonder you are disappointed.
I imagine everyone agrees that cable is insanely overpriced but I don’t know of one high-end a/v tech, sales, aficionado or critic who doesn’t believe TRUE high-end cabling (Kimber Kable, Straightwire, Linn) is worth it if you are using high end audio product (NAD, Rotel, Macintosh, Marantz, B&W, Monitor Audio, Thiel).
Of course, I also recognize the huge amount of psychology involved in listening to music and, to a lesser degree, watching video.
I was taught and have practiced the following philosophy for almost 20 years. Your cable should be the best you can afford in relation to the equipment you are using. If you are using a medium priced theater in a box you don’t want to use Monster’s top end level. If you went to a specialty A/V store and came away with any of the brands listed above you don’t want to use Monster ANYTHING (except their surge protector, maybe).
A wise cookware salesmen told me when I hemmed and hawed about the price of good cookware: you think it’s expensive b/c it’s essential and ordinary or hidden but if you consider that it’s the most important thing b/t you and the raw meat and it’s something you will use for a lifetime it seems far less expensive.
having worked previously at Best Buy for over three years
I know for a fact that the employee price for $50-70 cabling is only $5
its one of their most valuble mark ups.
wonder why the printer doesnt come with a $4 USB cable ?
they have it marked up to $30, and you have to have one…
skip the cables at the retailer
plan and buy ahead
before you purchase that big screen.
[if your really a serious audiophile (your not shopping at best buy first of all) follow Jai's advice above]
Jai is absolutely correct that audio cables do make a difference, but only if your equipment is able to reveal the differences. I myself didn’t used to think that cables made much of a difference, until I auditioned four different interconnects on my stereo. Each cable sounded drastically different. Enough to justify a $1,000 interconnect? Not for me, but enough to justify a $100 one over a $5 cheapo. Of course, this is commensurate with the price of the rest of my gear (integrated amp, speakers, cd player).
Monster cable products are overpriced pieces of shit. Avoid them. If you have a stereo (or video system) with products like Sony, Technics, anything your mom would recognize, then buy the cheap cables like Joel recommends — you won’t be able to hear a difference anyhow. But if you have a quality system, use quality cables… but you already knew that.
Jai,
Marantz and Nad as high-end hifi ? no high-end a/v tech, sales, aficionado or critic who believe that high-end cables are a lie ? you’ve got to be kidding, right ?
Now, what’s more likely : That high-end audiophile gear coupled with gifted individuals reveals a hidden dimension of physics where immesureable differences suddenly become apparent, or that a lot of the audio industry, from the magazines to the retailers profit tremendously from the cable snake-oil salesmen ?
i’ll be happy to eat one of your esoteric cables the day a proper double-blind test, with multiple participants, comparing those to reasonably priced, properly made cables shows any difference at all in an analog interconnect, let alone a digital one which is what Joel is talking about here.
now,
stuff to read :
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/audioprinciples/interconnects/truthcablesinterconnects3.php quotes a NYT article…
“”What we do is kind of dirty and stinky,” he said. “We say we are starting with a 12 AWG zip cord, and we position a technician behind each speaker to change the cables out.” The technicians hold up fancy-looking cables before they disappear behind the speakers. The critics debate the sound characteristics of each wire. “They describe huge changes and they say, ‘Oh my God, John, tell me you can hear that difference,’” Mr. Dunlavy said. The trick is the technicians never actually change the cables, he said, adding, “It’s the placebo effect.”
Audio Critic Magazine’s fall 2000 ten biggest lies in audio : http://sonido.uchile.cl/articulos/tenbiggestliesaudio.pdf
“In basic electrical performance, however, a nice pair of straightened-out wire coat hangers with the ends scraped is not a whit inferior to a $2000 gee-whiz miracle cable. Nor is 16-gauge lamp cord at 18ยข a foot. Ultrahigh-priced cables are the biggest scam in consumer electronics, and the cowardly surrender of nearly all audio publications to the pressures of the cable marketers is truly depressing to behold. “
Cable thickness affects attenuation rates; if there is too much impedence the signal will die out or not be able to hit the signal thresholds at the receiver.
Proper sheilding is important because as frequencies get higher (and HDMI runs a couple hundred MHz) the transmission line model becomes more complex and capacitance and inductance come into play and can cause problems.
Digital signal transmission isn’t neccesarily straightforward, especially when it depends on voltage levels, its not a simple “0″ or “1.”
That doesn’t mean that you need to buy expensive cables, just that using ultra-cheap wires might not work so well.
I tend to agree with this artticle too… Another place to buy your HDMI cables is Sam’s Club. Not quite Monoprice, but I think I paid $15 for a cable that was $65 at Best Buy.
I used to install home theaters and can give you a little finalization on the thread. Most people care but not enough to make a difference in their experience. People have always heard that gold plating and thicker wires are better so if they care, they will pay the extra money to purchase them. The issue is that the wires you might buy at radio shack are not visibly better than those which are generic. Shielded wires are very nice especially around CRT’s, cell phones, computers, and speakers. I am currently using a THX (I know, THX is bullshit but we will just use it to show the probably quality of the unit) pre amp and amp with .005% Total harmonic distortion at reference level. To recreate a higher quality sound, i would want to have higher quality speakers. Now, assuming that I had spend all my money, I would probably have home depot speaker wire at this point. One think which is grossly underestimated is custom wiring. Cut your speaker wire to length. One additional tip which is time consuming but rewarding is braiding with a neutral or ground wire. When a customer wants that an interference free and clean audio system, we price out wire that in some cases costs more than the rest of the system. Computer calibrarted, custom cut, braid wire with shielding and maybe even line cleaners if the customer cherishes the sound that much. We also condition their power source with a professional surge protector that warrantees their equipment in power surges and keeps a very steady sine wave of power. You will be amazed at how much this improves your system. For the person with a system that retails for under $1500, this is not nearly necessary. But i do recommend braiding your own speaker wire and component video cables if you have the gumption and buy the surge protector that costs a the same as a dvd player because you will most likely have richer color and better sound and heck, what did it hurt to upgrade that much. If you are looking for more technical reasoning for these choices, i can talk your ear off, but take it from someone that does this for a living and a hobby.
Jay, a surge-protector is a good investment since power spikes can certainly play merry hell with electrical equipment, but what you’re saying about power conditioning makes no sense.
1) Devices such as stereos and amplifiers have an in-built or external transformer that converts the AC power to DC. This process will deliver the appropriate level needed by the components. There is absolutely no reason to ‘condition’ the AC voltage before it enters the transformer of your equipment. If you are a competent electrician and have the equipment, I suggest you carry out the following test.
Connect your stereo directly to the mains power. Use an oscilloscope to measure the waveform of the output from the transformer.
Now connect your ‘power conditioning’ equipment and carry out the same measurement. You will see no appreciable difference. You can apply this same test to just about any cabling. All you need is an oscilloscope and a signal generator.
2) A surge protector will not result in richer colour and better sound for the same reason outline above. You may as well claim that higher-quality Ethernet cabling will make web pages appear more crisp, with defined hues and a rounded chrominance.
Jay, without being nasty here, if you sell this kind of junk for a living then you are in the same business as mediums, psychics and snakeoil salesmen. I’m sure people are happy with what you’re selling them but it simply doesn’t work. You’re selling placebos, very expensive ones at that.
Jay and Andi,
Could you read and respond to what Matt wrote? People are very suggestible. Tell them something sounds better and they’ll hear the difference. But is the difference real? The only way to tell is to conduct a simple test in which you determine if the listener can tell which cable is which without knowing ahead of time. I’ve never see a test in which anyone could– even with the most expensive equipment. Have you?
Even if very sensitive instruments show differences in electrical properties of cables, it does *not* mean that the human ear can discern it.
So, if you have some actual evidence, rather the hype that self-styled experts write in “audiophile” magazines, please link it– I’d like to see it.
M. Y.
Wow, you folks sure know alot. Glad you validated the result of my gut instinct this afternoon at Fry’s when I paid $30 total for four different RCA-brand ordinary AV cables for my new HDTV setup needs. If I had bought even the mid-range priced Monsters or other brand names with plastichrome-plated ends and fancy packaging, it would have cost me $200.
Ciao.