Monster Cable was simply heavy gauge zip cord. Did they make things sound different. Yes and for easily explainable purely scientific reasons. You could achieve just about the same effect or maybe better by running down to Home Depot. But irrespective of that, silver cables can sound different though they measure identically with known measurement methods. That only indicates that the measurement method is at a loss. Do we know what we are measuring? Or do we think we know. That is weakness of the scientific method in some cases. It reinforces the bias.
The solid state amplifier typically has a low output impedance. Putting a complex load on its output downstream simply meant that a few things would change the response of the load at the end. For starters..bass. If the speakers used to demonstrate was a bass reflex fourth or higher order type enclosure, the resistance of the cable in series will affect the low frequency response (f3) ( bass) not only in how deep it will go but also the boominess (Q) as well. Second order enclosures are less sensitive to this. This was disclosed actually ( Rodbam ) by an Autralian (Thiele) researcher and is shown in mathematics when simulating damping systems. I read most of thiele's papers in the late 70s. For what it was worth, at the time Monster Cable came out, many speakers through the design of the crossovers before computer simulation ended up creating very low impedance and complex loads at some frequencies without their designers knowing it. ..series impedance could help or hurt depending on whether the amplifier was stable into these loads. Carefully choosing a CERTAIN model of speaker in a demo, one can easily make Monster Cables sound better than ZIP cord. That will explain why different people with different systems come to different conclusions. But the You Tube types don't know or understand the details.
Toe in...and speaker height, angle and position even front to back by a 1/2 inch can be discernible in a room because speakers always become part of the room and vice versa. Without any added costs...that's consumer ignorance when they pay to get "differences".
Another thing to consider is that those were the early days of solid state. The world was just getting past tube outputs and transformers and in those amplifiers, cables played a much smaller role because of the resistance in the output transformers being much higher.
Good high end is not snake oil but there are a lot of snake oil products to prey on the ignorant. You can design good high end gear scientifically but to reach above that requires some luck or serendipity. Mass market stuff is designed with known limitations due to budget with hardly any testing to what it sounds like....just what we can put on the brochure.
Just for example I can make for myself a 3.3 Volt DC circuit for less than one dollar. However if I make a good one myself again for a DAC it would exceed $40 in cost. They both will output 3.3V DC very stably but the more expensive one will make a noticeable difference. The less than a dollar one is found even in receivers exceeding $1000. Now you should understand what real high end is like...it is cutting edge. Too costly even at times for commercial high end.
Last edited:
