Monster Jazz cable

[walrus]

Not sure where to post this, but it seems like "Tech Shop" works. Anyway, I tried a new cable for my T100D, a Monster Jazz cable. I was a little reluctant to buy it at first, it is clearly more expensive than a "standard" cable. However, it is definitely better. Not only is it quite a bit thicker and "tougher" than my old cable (a regular Monster cable, about 4 years old), the sound is definitely better. To be honest, I was surprised how much of a difference it made. The guitar sounds much more "aggressive" with the gain on, and the feedback is easier to control. Playing it clean it is definitely a cleaner sound - which is what I was looking for.

Just thought I would share this, as I said, it surprised me. I have included two links to the cable, I have no affiliation with the eBay seller, but that is where I bought mine - it is a very good price compared to Musician's Friend.


http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Monster-Jazz-In ... dZViewItem


http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=331649


walrus

 

[capnjuan]

Hi Walrus; this is as good a place as any. Stereophiles have been using Monster interconnect and speaker cables for a long time; my stereo gear is mostly gone but I still have some Monster interconnects. The stereo crowd is just as, or maybe more, obsessive than guitar players and ampistas - endlessly screwing with their stuff and one of the better bang-for-buck, non-technical upticks is/are cables. I didn't understand all the sales info in the link but I do understand shielding and oxygen-free, high-conductivity copper (OFHC) wire which is what they use.

I typically put a wiring strip next to the output transformer if there isn't already one there and add #14 OFHC wire for speaker drops; the speaker drops in Coastie's T1 RVT were +/- $3/foot. Can't say about guitars but in old amps, the speaker drops are cheesey little #18/20/22 gauge wires with a coat of corrosion on them. I guess you could say that crappy wire contributes to authentic 'vintage' crappy sound ... but high-grade speaker wire makes a difference in stereo and amp applications; I don't see why it would help w/ instrument cables as well. Thanks for the link. cj

 

[West R Lee]

I've been using "Monster Cable" for home stereo forever. I had considered asking you guys if it was still the best out there?

West

 

[capnjuan]

Hi West; there are several premium brands out there but unless you have reason to think your cables are damaged or have become unusually stiff from sitting in the same position for too long, I don't think I'd mess with anything else. If you're not sure, you can always swap them and see if anything changes.

One of the problems with these things is that it's either people raving on about how good something is or 'scientific' proof that no one can understand. If it ain't broke.... cj

 

[West R Lee]

Thanks John, but here's the deal. I'm breaking ground on "The Lazy B" next month, and was going to prewire for surround. I was wondering if "Monster Cable" would still be the way to go for speaker wire, or if there is something better out there? I bought the speaker wire I've got about 13 years ago, but it will be too short to wire the house with. I was just wondering if they've come out with anything better in the past decade or so?

West

 

[capnjuan]

Okay but you mean 'entertainment center' wiring not whole house, no?

Everybody's got their favorites but I like these people, they sell Monster and frankly, I'm not sure there's anything as good-sounding and reasonably priced. http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm ... oup_ID=376 but if you have runs over 20 - 25 feet, you'll have to concern yourself w/ voltage drop meaning up-sizing cables.

 

[West R Lee]

Got it stashed in my favorites John. Thank you sir. I was thinking of wiring the living, kitchen and game room for surround and general music and TV. My builder had mentioned just putting in conduit. He said that one day I may want to run Cat5....whatever that is?

I was a bit concerned about the resistance over such long runs, that's why I was wondering about Monster cable, knowing it was such heavy gauge, but wondering if it was the best suited for such an application.

West

 

[jp]

Hey West,
I tend to agree with the capn that decent cables/interconnects make a difference. With all the wireless electronic doohickeys we have nowadays, well-shielded cables will ensure a good clean signal. There are a gazillion cable companies out there who do it just as well, if not better than Monster. Zealous audiophiles will argue to death about whether one set of interconnects is better than the other, or whether the newest alloy-coated shielded foo foo sounds better than the other. I feel that it's smart to spend for better cables, but I'm not gonna pay $150 for (2) 3-foot Swiss cables.

I also belong to a forum of geeks who like to pick electronic treasures out of other people's garbage. Well, not really. . .we just like old stuff that's built to last, not black plastic junk. If you're not afraid to fire up the ole soldering iron, here's an easy DIY for making high-quality cables/interconnects without busting the bank--especially if you're gonna be doing a home theater setup. http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61442

 

[capnjuan]

My builder had mentioned just putting in conduit. He said that one day I may want to run Cat5....whatever that is? Hi West; Cat5 is high-speed data cable; if you are using a cable or DSL modem, chances are that the leg from the modem to your pc is Cat5 - typically has the big lumpy terminal on it with the little push-down-to-lock/unlock tab. It's designed for digital communications; server- or modem- or pc-to-pc, for example. If you want a home pc network and you want it hard-wired, then you loop Cat5 all around the house but this can now be done with local wireless modems; home networks don't need to be hard-wired anymore. But if you want to drive speakers that are not self-powered and don't have their own digital to audio converters, that means a pair of copper cables, not Cat5.

I was a bit concerned about the resistance over such long runs, that's why I was wondering about Monster cable, knowing it was such heavy gauge, but wondering if it was the best suited for such an application. Yes; the longer the distance, the more the cable itself starts to act like a 'resistor' no matter how high the quality of the cable. Unlike instrument or stereo interconnect cables, speaker cables are not shielded and can, under the right (wrong?) conditions, act like an antenna - you may recall the days of listening to your favorite tunes and then hearing CB radio traffic .... "Breaker Breaker ... this is BillyBob from Amarillo ..." Yes; metal conduit with husky cables not smaller than #14 if you are driving conventional speakers. The only drawback is that once the conduit is in, you are more or less 'stuck' with the placement of your gear and speakers - and then there is bi-wiring .... powered sub-woofers .... decisions ... decisions.... :shock: .

I still have a pair of late '80s Vandersteen 2Ci's that I drive with a 1970s Sony receiver and #12 Monster cables....that just lay on the floor; old stuff for old geezers :wink: .

 

[Graham]

Just MHO here but I think there are at least as good cables out there for much less $$ and from companies with a "nicer" business practice. Not that being nice gets you anywhere in the business world but, again IMO, Monster has as reputation of suing "everyone" that uses the Monster name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Cable
http://www.madmartian.com/legal/
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-42599.html

While some people say it's their right to protect their name I don't believe they have the right to take a name such as "Monster" and lay claim to it's use around the planet the way they have been alleged to by going after large and small business alike in court.

 

[capnjuan]

Hi Graham; as far as I can tell, Monster is just sticking up for its Trademark and, because litigation is inherently expensive, many of these matters are often accompanied by offers by the trademark holder to 'buy out' the problem. I don't know about Canada but, in the US and figuratively speaking, laying down in front of the bulldozer can be either lucrative or deadly.

My Monster interconnects and cables date to the 1980s and, as far as I can tell, work fine. The problem with audio/speaker cables is not too different from some of the things that come up here; which is the better strings/tonewood/capo/nut-saddle-bridge pin material/tuning keys/electronic tuning machines/recording software ... on and on. The 'standards' are either completely subjective; "Man, these are way better than those" or expressed as scientology: " .002% more reactive capacitance blah blah blah..."

The key to good cables is many fine strands of oxygen-free copper wire; the wire strands are like coffee grounds; the finer the grind, the more surface area the water comes in contact with, the 'stronger' the coffee. Audio signals run on the outside surface of the strands; the more strands, the more surface area, the more better gooder the transmission of the signal.

Monster was one of the first guys out of the gate w/ better grade cables but it wouldn't surprise me if there were as good or better cables out there that cost less than Monsters; I just don't know which ones. Thanks for the links; I was disappointed to find out that the MadMartian had alreadly Trademarked "The Toilet of Terror™" dang... :evil: I wonder if 'Painful Pissoire' is already taken?

Yours for no more linearity than absolutely necessary,
Sancho Panza

 

[fronobulax]

He said that one day I may want to run Cat5....whatever that is?

Ooo! Ooo! I know! I can answer that one!

Cat 5 is one of the casual terms for the cables used in computer networking. If I were planning a new house and expected to have multiple computers or similar devices talking to each other, I might consider preparing for or installing Cat 5 (or "ethernet") cable. As a general rule, connections over cables are faster and more secure than wireless connections. If you go for a "voice over IP" telephone system or some of the digital video offerings they might also use Cat 5 if it were already in place and available.

 

[Walter Broes]

I don't know about audio cables and have a pretty nasty cheap old stereo that dates from my teens.

But guitar cables - I tend to steer clear of expensive ones with a lot of hype surrounding them.
The one and only time I ever had a guitar cable that I didn't like, soundwise, was a recent expensive D'Addario cable.
I thought I was getting a little anal about my gear, and tried to convince myself I was wrong about that cable, but I've been playing the same rig for a long time now, and there was something about that cable I really didn't like, I got a massive amount of lows, and the highs sounded funny to me.
Expensive cable with ugly molded ends, and it died a month after I got it. I got a replacement from the store because it had a "lifetime warranty", and hated that too. I lost that one on some stage.

I have george L cable on my pedalboard because it's practical, and a george L cable running from my pedalboard to the amp, and that's as far as I'll go with boutique guitar cables.
I once tried ALL george L's, and they were "too good" : I ended up with too much high end for my taste.

I think I actually like the capacitance effect normal "quality" (as opposed to "booteek") guitar cable has, the high end roll-off is musical to my ears.

 

[Default]

He said that one day I may want to run Cat5....whatever that is?

Ooo! Ooo! I know! I can answer that one!

Cat 5 is one of the casual terms for the cables used in computer networking. If I were planning a new house and expected to have multiple computers or similar devices talking to each other, I might consider preparing for or installing Cat 5 (or "ethernet") cable. As a general rule, connections over cables are faster and more secure than wireless connections. If you go for a "voice over IP" telephone system or some of the digital video offerings they might also use Cat 5 if it were already in place and available.

You'd want to use cat6 for upgradability. In a couple years, we'll be running gigabit ethernet and regular cat5 only supports up to 100mbps. It'll still be way faster than your isp's internet connection, but if you stream audio or video files from one computer to another on your home network, it'll be worth it.

$.02

 

[guildzilla]

Two more cents for you, West, re: surround sound speaker cables. If you are considering a Bose surround system, it will come with its own proprietary cable system. Other systems may have similar requirements, so it may make some sense to do some shopping and deciding at this point.

Frankly, for listening to music, good vintage 70's/80's stereo gear still sounds way better to me than surround systems.

 

[jp]

Oops! I just realized that without a login, you can't see the pics from the forum link I posted. Oh well, the most important part:

The connectors were 2.19$ each, and the cable was $0.36 per foot. The final price, for a 1 meter stereo pair: $10.92. How do they sound??? Well... They don't! Not to me, at least. They are very clean, reject noise very well, and make the component sound like I think it should. These connectors and cables are used by many high end manufacturers, and are sold by the gillions to the more lazy pro audio companies. Quite a number of HiFi interconnects use the same cable as well, hidden beneath the pretty tech-flex.
Pretty much the same for instrument cables, patch cords, speaker cable. Pretty easy to make good quality stuff DIY without too much trouble.

But really West, I'm sure your cables are just fine, and you don't at all need to upgrade.

Frankly, for listening to music, good vintage 70's/80's stereo gear still sounds way better to me than surround systems.

Like guildzilla and the good capn, I've got the latest greatest technology from 1970s and 80s.

 

[Guildmark]

Cat 5....whatever that is? West

BTW: Cat = category.

½¢