[Captain_Hair]

So, I'm sure that anybody who has bought a new TV or DVD player from a big box retailer in the past five years has been assaulted with a salesman trying to sell you expensive Monster cables. Chances are, if you aren't technologically savvy, you probably acquiesced to the suggestion to buy Monster and added more than a hundred dollars to your final bill.

The sad truth is, Monster cables are indistinguishable from a coat hanger. Yeah, that's right, they're an enormously profitable racket that sells horribly overpriced cables you don't need. As it turns out, any cable in a Best Buy or Fry's is going to be horribly overpriced (seriously, grab a $10 cable of Amazon or something), but that's not what got me all riled up today. Capitalism at work makes me smile, even if it is taking advantage of the inherent lack-of-knowledge in the average shopper.

No, it's Monster's latest legal maneuver. The company is ridiculously protective of their trademark and has attempted to sue several outfits in completely unrelated industries for daring to use the Monster name. So, just who has dared to infringe on Monster's precious trademark?

Snow Monsters, a kid's skiing group.
Monster Vintage, sellers of vintage clothing.
Monster's, Inc. You know, the Disney movie.
Monster Garage, a TV show about crazy car builds.
Monsters of the Midway, popularly known as the Chicago Bears.
Monster seats at the Red Sox's Fenway Park in Boston.
Monster.com, as in the job search site.
Monster Balls Paintballs. They're paintballs, what more can I say?
And my personal favorite: Monster Mini Golf, operator of 22 glow-in-the-dark mini golf franchises.

The Monster Mini Golf case attracted a lot of attention and Monster Cable received some 200 complaints from people attesting to the stupidity of the whole deal. While the case dragged through court starting in 2006, Monster Cable tried to publicly strong-arm Monster Mini Golf into a settlement, with the Mini Gold paying a $100-per-month-per-franchise fee (that's $52,800 a year). Early this year, Monster Cable relented, paid $200,000 of Monster Mini Golf's fees, and vowed to change their ways.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, as the saying goes. Monster Cable is back at its old game, this time targeting Monster Transmission of Florida for infringing on the Monster Cable name. Noticing a trend in completely unrelated companies here? To make it even better, Monster Cable is suing an American automotive manufacturing company in the middle of a recession. Brilliant move there.

[/rant]

http://www.audioholi...s/monster-cable

[Terilynn]

THEY took on DISNEY?

what praytell were the result of Monster Cable's efforts? I can assume not much as those entities still exist?

[Captain_Hair]

Terilynn, on Apr 9 2009, 03:04 PM, said:

THEY took on DISNEY?

what praytell were the result of Monster Cable's efforts? I can assume not much as those entities still exist?

Yeah, they did. They've also sued Monster Energy Drinks and Bally Gaming Technologies for having a line of slot machines called the "Monster Slots."

It seems a lot of these (Disney included) end with confidential settlements just to make Monster Cable go away.

[Barbara]

I use their cables for my amps and I can really say there's a difference in quality. I also have a lifetime warranty, which I've never gotten from an inferior cable. It was worth the cost. My original cables are still going strong and they've lasted years.

They may be overpriced for tvs, but for music equipment, I wouldn't use any other cable.

[fastillion]

God...Monster is stupid.
I hope they get theirs, and then some. Wish somebody would countersue.

[WeatherManNX01]

Excuse me, I need to go sue anyone who shares my first, middle, or last name. And everyone who calls themselves "weather man". Or "Murray". You're all going down!



Monster Cable needs to die. Yesterday. When I got my new TV and DVD player, I went to Amazon and bought a six-foot cable for like $5. And that was after shipping. Works fine. It amazes me that the only cables you can find in stores these days are the horribly overprices ones.

[Barbara]

Like I said, for tv stuff, the cheap ones are fine. For performance - I wouldn't buy anything else. They are the best, most reliable, professional cable out there. No hiss. No sound flux. They are great cables. Maybe a bad company - but great cables for high performance rock bands.

[Captain_Hair]

WeatherManNX01, on Apr 9 2009, 03:34 PM, said:

Monster Cable needs to die. Yesterday. When I got my new TV and DVD player, I went to Amazon and bought a six-foot cable for like $5. And that was after shipping. Works fine. It amazes me that the only cables you can find in stores these days are the horribly overprices ones.

That's because they have to discount TVs so much to stay competitive that they use the super expensive cables to make some quick and easy money.

Thankfully for me, I've got so many cables of varying types lying around my place that I needn't worry about being conned. "While we're hear, you're going to need these cab–” "Already got 'em."

Barbara, on Apr 9 2009, 03:37 PM, said:

Like I said, for tv stuff, the cheap ones are fine. For performance - I wouldn't buy anything else. They are the best, most reliable, professional cable out there. No hiss. No sound flux. They are great cables. Maybe a bad company - but great cables for high performance rock bands.

Self-professesed audiophiles can't tell the difference between Monster cables and a coathanger. That's not to say that for performance purposes I would use cheap $5 cables - but I still believe that Monsters are not worth the price.

[fastillion]

Reason why cables are overpriced. Along with all that other junk.

When I worked at BestBuy, we called it the basket-sales approach.
Basically, stuff like their computers, the TVs, Appliances, all the big stuff? They sell for a tiny, tiny, tiny little profit margin. But we were instructed to try and sell stuff like Cables, Services like GeekSquad and Warranties, and stuff at the checkout line like candy and drinks. That stuff has like a 400% profit margin, usually more. So when you buy a TV, a DVD player, a universal remote, and a bunch of cabling for it all, the majority of their profit comes from the latter two items.
Most other businesses do something similiar, but BestBuy practically lives by that stupid code. I almost got fired once because I told a customer that buying an extra ink cartridge with his printer was unnecessary at that time, since the printer came with two for free.

[Barbara]

Captain_Hair, on Apr 9 2009, 02:41 PM, said:

Self-professesed audiophiles can't tell the difference between Monster cables and a coathanger. That's not to say that for performance purposes I would use cheap $5 cables - but I still believe that Monsters are not worth the price.

I'm active on that forum and we had a discussion on audio performance but it was in a room with a cd player ... NOT ... on a stage in front of a crowd of people with amplifiers and monitors etc. There is a HUGE difference. Shielding is an issue with live music. Hiss - distortion - not to mention the cable failing at a crucial time during performance..... I could name a lot of problems with cheap cable.

But the diff is this ----- you are using for a tv set in a home in a room - simple environment.

I am using it on stage, sometimes outdoors, with multiple amps and monitors and other instruments and pedals etc. There is a difference. And I love my warranty that came with the cables. And I love the sound. And there IS!!!!! a difference.

[Apocalypse]

Barbara is too rocking for normal cables. They just melt from the sheer ROCK.

[fastillion]

Yeah, Monster cables actually arent overpriced if you need shielding pretty bad. My neighbors are in a band, and for the several hundred thousand dollars of equipment they use, they only trust Monster for their hookups. Might be spendy, but I've seen the difference, believe it or not, between a cheap cable you might find at a Guitar Center, and the M-Cables.

[Barbara]

Apocalypse, on Apr 9 2009, 03:06 PM, said:

Barbara is too rocking for normal cables. They just melt from the sheer ROCK.

you sir, are amusing....

[sevnson_71]

If you want to get Monster performance for short money do this; jot down the gauge of the monster cable, go to Home Depot, Lowe's, hardware store of choice, and get LAMP CORD. Seriously. It is the same base material, same gauge thickness, same impedance at one fifth the price. I have seen so many car audio installs done with that it isn't funny and have always seen very consistent results provided the installer isn't a monkey.

[fastillion]

But the shielding S-71....You want that sheilding, especially for band gigs and whatnot. For home theater stuff too, unless its a real highend one and you're the type that hates any type of hissing or the like.
When you've got 6 audio cables, 24 lighting cables, and 5 power cables all bundled together in a cable-chase run, they tend to create EMI in each other, a big no-no when you're band is performing at an event where they're earning a few thousand dollars easy.

[poko]

There are plenty of online retailers that will do your fancy, shielded gold plated cables for a fraction of the price...

and they offer plenty of options on length and connector styles.

http://www.bluejeans...annel/index.htm

[fastillion]

*shrug* I dont use shielded cables. Have no need of them, really. I use headphones 90 percent of the time, so....woohoo?

[poko]

fastillion, on Apr 24 2009, 12:22 PM, said:

*shrug* I dont use shielded cables. Have no need of them, really. I use headphones 90 percent of the time, so....woohoo?

Well if you don't have monster cables then clearly you need to buy bose headphones then. If you don't have one over priced product you should buy the other.

[Captain_Hair]

Oh please, you can buy Monster headphones. They even use out of context quotes to prop up their product.

[fastillion]

Actually, the headphones I use are surround sound headphones.
Best damn headphone I've ever used, without a doubt. Lol