Cable Price and Quality?

[dlaraman]

Does it make a considerable difference in which sets of cables below I purchase for my Toshiba 65H81 HDTV & SD3750 PScan player? Big price difference, but for standard 12 volt power and 1/2 amp current components both sets of cables should perform equally fine if NOT over a vast distance like 100 ft or more, correct? Or is there something more to cables aside from a bunch of hipe?


CRUTCHFIELD, CIRCUITCITY or 800.COM:
#119MV3CV4M Monster MV3CV-4M, 13.2 ft. Video 3 Component Video Cable
$119.95
#119ILS1M Monster ILS100-1M, 3.3 ft. Optical Digital Audio Cable
$39.95

Total
Merchandise Total: $159.90

Standard Shipping Shipping Charge:
Alternative shipping options available before final checkout $9.95
Order Total: $169.8


BESTBUY.COM:
Acoustic Research 12' Component Video Cable AP092 $39.99

Acoustic Research 6' Digital Optical Cable AP081 $24.99

SubTotal* $64.98

[mikebaker]

I think the answer to your question is can you see and hear the $100 difference. Personally I think monster cables do increase performance but they are way overprices for what you get.

[tomdkat]

I use Monster Cables (level 3 'Ultimate' video) for my component and S-Video connections. There have been MANY debates over which cables to use.

I chose Monster because I've heard the name a lot and decided to give them a try. Yes I probably paid WAYYY TOO much for them, but what can I say... I'm happy with them thus far.....

Peace....

[Wirehed]

There is a huge difference to me. I use all Transparent Cable. And I have thousands of dollars invested in them. And when I get a better job I will upgrade them again.

It's only worth the money If you think it is. Many audio shops will lend you cables for a few days to compare. I always suggest taking them up on this.

[Templar]

Still the funniest cable related site on the web.

Too funny.

I, personally, have found interconnects to be...less important than most people here claim. I have 2 $3.50 12' RCA cables (from Radio Shack) connected together with a $0.93 adapter, hooked up to my Velodine sub, and the sub sounds better now than it did when connected with one 6' "subwoofer interconnect" from Monster.

[tomdkat]

Originally posted by Templar:
Still the funniest cable related site on the web.

Too funny.

I, personally, have found interconnects to be...less important than most people here claim. I have 2 $3.50 12' RCA cables (from Radio Shack) connected together with a $0.93 adapter, hooked up to my Velodine sub, and the sub sounds better now than it did when connected with one 6' "subwoofer interconnect" from Monster.

Oh yeah? Well, I use Glide mint flavored dentotape to connect my 10' subwoofer to my 10 GigaWatt receiver and the Earth moves when I watch movies.....

So there....

Peace.....

[This message has been edited by tomdkat (edited 11-27-2001).]

[Templar]

Jeeze, I just sounded like an asshole didn't I?

Sorry 'bout that tom I didn't mean to put down Monster...just that my particular equipment (a whole room full of HT for $3,500, not really expensive in the grand scheme of things) isn't likely to see much improvement when I use $100 ++ cables...you know?

------------------
I stumble in the hallway outside her bedroom door;
I hear her call out to me, I hear the fear in her voice;
She pulls the covers tigher, I press against the door;
I will be with her tonight...

[tomdkat]

Originally posted by Templar:
Jeeze, I just sounded like an asshole didn't I?

Hey... no you didn't... no need to apologize... I just saw your post as a chance for me to embellish on your post a little.... I was just trying to "do you one better"....

All in fun.....


Peace....

[dlaraman]

O.K. now I have mixed feelings on this subject. I guess I am going to be sensible at first and try the AR wires. AR isn't a bad brandname although they are not famous for audio&video cable wires, but rather speakers...Bottom line is that one can not be sure w/out actually comparrison testing the two different sets of cables to see which ones performs better or even if there will be a neglible-noticeable difference. I don't have real high end equipment, but its not exactly low end either. The Toshiba 65H81 Widescreen HDTV is, by my standards, a very nice TV and the Toshiba SD3750 is a nice pScan DVD player w/ much bang for the buck. Actually the only reason I got a cheaper DVD player is because it was free and I couldn't pass it up to pay $1000.00 for a better Toshiba or Sony pDVD player. It will probably produce a very good picture anyhow and has the features one generally looks for in a pDVD player. i. e. 540p, colorstream connects, optical connects, highest possible frequency audio and video DACs currently avail, zoom etc...My Sony STR DB940 Receiver isn't bad either, just not quite ES series quality, but it does actually borrow the aluminum front plate and beefed up power supply features (oversized elec pts) from ES resulting in the best of both worlds for less money. So I am going to probably go w/ the AR cables as opposed to the Monster cables because I don't see how there can be a huge difference given component distance and general rules of electricity for video picture. Optical light transfer cable technology I am not familiar w/ so I am not sure if there will be an audible difference based upon cables being used. Even so my ears aren't sensative enough to probably detect it. Another consideration is that I don't think my component input and output jacks are gold plated, so it would probably be better if the male plugs weren't gold plated either if there is anything to the like-metals rule of thumb. Both AR and Monster are gold plated, which could conceivably cause problems due to metal breakdown in the future, way in the future, from what I've heard unless the like-metal theory is a bunch of hipe. If anybody has any more thoughts please post them. Thx for your help and happy holidays to all!

[Taxi]

For an overload of opinions do a search in the Hardware forum on the word "cables".

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Taxi - DVDFile Forum Administrator
Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one

[45]

For video the MV3 series or above is the only way to go! They look really good in component svideo or composite. Mv1 and Mv2 look the same as a cheap cable. So my advice is unless you use mv3 products, just use the cables out of the box

[dlaraman]

What about AR Master or Pro series cables, some of which cost more than Monster MV3? What is the meaning of interconnect?

[Taxi]

Interconnects are just about any cable that you use in your system, except for your speaker wire.

They're "interconnecting" two pieces of equipment, usually something to your receiver/pre-amp, but not always.

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Taxi - DVDFile Forum Administrator
Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one