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Quality of Component In Cables?

612 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  PooperScooper
Can anyone actually see the quality between Monster Cables and some generic Component in Cable? I am trying to figure out if it is worth the extra $40-$50. I do have a HDTV. Anyone?? Thanks!
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Some people may be able to but can you? For a cable that is 3ft or 6ft long I doubt there's any difference at all. Go with Acoustic Research if you want good cables without the high markup. You could also get both and return whichever one you don't want.
Or even better buy Recoton cables for less than half the price of the AR's. No loss of PQ for me using two different DVD players.
I suggest you try and see for yourself. Some retailers have a pretty liberal return policy. If they don't, tell them they're losing your business.
If you know what you are doing, you can make your own cables from RG6 and 75ohm RCA

connectors. :) Me, I prefer to let somebody else do it. With Monster cables, their huge marketing

budget gets factored into the price. There's usually nothing wrong with their cables, but you can

always find equal or better for cheaper.


larry
I spent hours A/B comparing a 26 foot Monster M500V to a 6 foot, much-more-expensive-per-foot Audioquest S2 cable. I never was able to identify any specific visible differences between the two cables, so I couldn't justify paying the additional premium for a 26 foot Audioquest cable. Don't get me wrong -- I wanted to see a difference, I just didn't.


Associated equipment: NEC HT1000, Panasonic RP-91 DVD player


-- Chouca
Are the ones from ramelectronics.net not that good?? When I see people recommending cables I rarely see their name mentioned. Their prices seem pretty good.
Chouca, until you said 26ft Audioquest at the end of your post, I was

puzzled. And, yes, there are more expensive cables than Monster. :)


Cable quality could make a difference depending on on what

is on either end. DVD players don't generate that much video bandwidth

and there is other gear than can generate better video and at higher rates. Also, certain

dislplays are better at discerning/displaying subtle nuances in video

than others. It's all very subjective. Everything in the path from the power socket

to your eyes (and ears) has some effect on PQ (and AQ). :)


larry
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Monstermile, actually the Ram Electronics cables seem to be well regarded on this forum. I recently ordered 30' DVI, component, VGA, and composite cables from them. I'll report on their quality when they arrive!


PooperScooper, I needed the longer length, but had a 6 foot Audioquest handy to demo against the Monster Cable. My logic was that if I couldn't discern a difference under such favorable (to Audioquest) circumstances, there'd be even less of a difference given equal cable lengths. I wanted Audioquest to win because I'm not a fan of Monster Cable, but given my test results, I had to put aside my cable snobbery. :) I'm curious... what was initially puzzling about my post? The different lengths in the demo?


-- Chouca
Chouca, I understand now. Yes, 6ft, then 26ft Audioquest statement

caught me the wrong way. :)


larry
Does anyone have any insight as to how the quality of the output from a VGA cable will compare to component or DVI? Source material is a high def receiver, and am already using the DVI input on my projector with my Bravo DVD player. Will VGA be any better than component, and will it be noticeably worse than DVI?
Smath,

The answer to your question depends on what is on either end of the cable(s) assuming

the cables are not "broken" somehow. In your case it seems to be VGA vs component,

the D1 is only usable with DVI. My guess is that the VGA and component will look

the same. Whether or not it looks better than DVI depends on your PJ. The Bravo

is about equal to all the hi def receivers I've seen wrt PQ.


larry
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