IF YOU PLAN TO BUY "MONSTER CABLES", Don't Get Scammed- Read This First

[krowten_hsid]

" The more I read up on Monster Cable, the more outraged I become. Seriously, some of the stunts Monster Cable pulls off are borderline fraud. Below is a summary of the sleazy things Monster perpetuated:

Retail Product Displays Designed To Trick Un-educated Customers To Buy $100 Component Cables.

This was a Side by side demo that has "Monster Cable" video cable vs. Competitor video cables on separate TV's. The TV using monster cable looked amazing. The TV using a competitor cable looked like crap. However, if you looked behind both TV's, the competition was a 49 cent composite cable and Monster used component. If you didn't already know, composite cable provides the lowest picture quality and component cables generate excellent picture quality . If I used $1 RCA cables from a looney store and used them as a component cable, I guarantee that it would look better than composite.

http://www.theguruguys.com/news/xmas...o-video-cables


Monster Cable Demo That Uses Only One Video Source

Again, it was another side by side comparison. But this time the Demo didn’t even have separate video sources. Both poor and superior images shown in the side by side test patterns were coming from a single video source using stock composite cable. How asinine is that, the freaking demo didn't even use “Monster Cable”. It was basically just playing a DVD video of a test pattern. One side was all distorted to represent the competition and the other half had a crystal clear pattern to represent Monster. From the photo, you can see the DVD player and the lone composite cable.






2006 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) Demo With "Monster Cable" Brand Speaker Wire

Monster put up a speaker wire display at the 2006 CES Show in Las Vegas. It had a single light bulb that was connected to 2 spools of wire and the same 12 volt source. Spool#1 was Monster and Spool#2 was a competitor. Monster told everyone that a brighter bulb meant the speaker cable would perform better at delivering better sound. So when they ran the test, the Monster wire generated a much brighter light compared to the competition. People in the audience were captivated as you could hear OHHHH and AHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!

Here’s an actual photo of the setup they used:



Can anyone take a guess why Monster’s speaker wires out performed the competition from what you see in the photo? Keep in mind that both spools are the same wire length.

The Monster wire was several times thicker than the competition.

Thicker Wire = More Electric Current = Brighter Light Bulb

If Monster repeated the test wth competitor wire of the same thickness, brightness of the bulb would be identical to Monster speaker wire.

Here’s a couple of links describing the 2006 Monster Display:

http://www.theguruguys.com/news/the-...d-cables-again

http://www.audioholics.com/news/trad...nd-other-goofs



Monster Cable Fires 120 Employees, But Still Overcharges For Accessories

So Monster Cable fires 120 workers and moves operations to Mexico to reduce costs. Too bad the consumer doesn't see this cost savings.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/13...-for-accessor/



Here's the Icing on the cake. I saved the best for last !!!

Monster Cable Files Law-Suit for unauthorized use of the word “MONSTER”.
Defendants include:

Monster Garage (Discover Channel)
Monsters Inc (animated feature)
Monster House (animated feature)
Monster Park

Freaking unbelievable. If they win, Saseme street's Cookie Monster will be renamed Cookie.

Coincidentally, the law suit propelled Monster Cable to several "Hall of Shame" lists.

links:

http://monstervintage.com/Monster%20...20products.htm

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/...terCable.shtml




One final note on Monster's $2200 AVS 2000 Voltage regulator. This is on page 4 of the user manual:





So you spend $2200 on some BS device to protect your system, and Monster makes sure their A$$ is covered just in case lightning destroys your system. Don't you think with all the money you spent, shouldn't it really protect your AV system.

Please share this info with Monster Fan-boys you know.

[prying eyes]

Who buys monster here, esp in RFD???

Irrelevant and wrong forum to post...



.
J/king..thanks for the info

[Shar]

The legal crap is pretty incredible. Monster Cable pretty much sues anybody that uses the word "monster" in their business, and the worst part is that in some cases they've actually won or come to settlements.

[Frankie3s]

I've seen these so called "demos" at Futureshop in the past and have wondered just how reliable are their claims? What a rip.

[Cam_86]

Its the digital ones that piss me off the most... I mean an argument could be made, that you were getting higher quality analog cables with monster(negligibly better, and by no means worth the 5x more they charge over other reputable brands) But with HDMI/DVI/Spdif/optical, there is NO difference what-so-ever, in terms of quality, between a $300 monster cable, and a $6 one from monoprice. The signal is digital, so it either works flawlessly, or it does not work at all.

[Jon Lai]

Who buys monster here, esp in RFD???

Irrelevant and wrong forum to post...

+1

RFD doesn't like Monster, everyone here is smart enough to not be tricked.

[FlintBlade]

Monster is for the rich and the noob and the nooby rich.

[ramaslamma]

Monster is for the rich and the noob and the nooby rich.

I got rocket fish.......

[007craft]

The signal is digital, so it either works flawlessly, or it does not work at all.

Thats not true at all. Different signals require different ammounts of badnwidth and some cables are not built to carry it etc etc. If you use a 1st generation hdmi cable today on an hdmi 1.3 device i gauruntee you will run into problems.

However it is true that monster cables are a BS overpriced waste of money. Monoprice has the same quality cables for like $20 vs monsters $300. And the also sell cheaper hdmi cables for $5 vs monsters for $120

[krowten_hsid]

Its the digital ones that piss me off the most... I mean an argument could be made, that you were getting higher quality analog cables with monster(negligibly better, and by no means worth the 5x more they charge over other reputable brands) But with HDMI/DVI/Spdif/optical, there is NO difference what-so-ever, in terms of quality, between a $300 monster cable, and a $6 one from monoprice. The signal is digital, so it either works flawlessly, or it does not work at all.

The best info I've ever gotten from Red Flag Deals was learning about Monoprice. Purchased 2 6ft HDMI cables and a vga to component cable adapter for under $20 including shipping. When I picked up my order at the post office I received an additional bonus, no taxes or customs fees. It took 2 weeks but it was well worth the wait. When I tested them, there was absolutely no difference between the 6ft Monoprice HDMI and a 3 ft Monster HDMI (cost me over $69) on a 71" 1080p HDTV with a 1080i feed. I figure the larger screen would help identify any detrimental effects (if any) in PQ by going to a longer non-Monster cable. Honestly, no difference whatsoever.

[naxos98]

I remember a while ago, when researching cables for my system, I wondered whether Monster cables were worth the money. My research lead me to find that as long as you have a large enough diameter wire, it will be able to get the signal through without a problem (you need to get a decent cable though ie. dollar store ones probably won't cut it).

If your eye can't pick up the difference between a regular cable and a Monster Cable what are you really paying for? Probably their lawyers

[BobW]

The legal crap is pretty incredible. Monster Cable pretty much sues anybody that uses the word "monster" in their business, and the worst part is that in some cases they've actually won or come to settlements.

This is actually not necessarily Monster Cables fault (crap..I'm defending them....). Under US trademark law, a company has to vigorously defend its trademark in order for the trademark to be upheld. If they don't defend the name, it can easily become public domain, so they sue Monster anything; not expecting to win them, but it is required under trademark law. Mattel has gone through tons of lawsuits on Barbie. Any store, etc that uses that name gets sued. It can take years and thousands of dollars to work through the law suits.

edited to add: Friends don't let friends by Monster (tm) brand cables!

[trixR4kids]

i rmb a few years back mcdonalds had sued places that used any sort of "mc" in their names, same idea no?

[honest thief]

Actually, I think the moral of the story is not to buy any expensive cables cables with a designer name attached to it. Go to your dollar store or home depot or buy Monoprice ones.

[nsr250]

I remember many years ago when my mom got a new DLP tv and DVD player from Futureshop the salesman sold her a friggin' $80 Monster component cable, god I was so pissed when she came home with it and she wouldn't return it either.