Boycott Monster Cable

Read the page below, and if you're not disgusted with their business practices, I will send you a cookie.

http://www.monstervintage.com/#monstercable

Well, I read the message on the site and sent Monster Cable an email letting thme know they just lost a customer.

Oddly enough, I have been shopping for a new system recently and planned on using Monster Cable. They should consider the power of word of mouth. I may be only one customer, but that's how it starts.

Thanks for the heads up.

Ahu

I've never heard of Monster Cable before! I worked on a trademark infringment case before and in order to qualify, the 2 companies have to be in the same line of biz. That case should go nowhere. monster vintage could easily call the CA Bar (calbar.org) and get a pro bono attorney who wants the free press. There are a wide variety of tactics to make that case go away, the least of which would be to complain to the Bar for the attorney bringing such a frivolous suit, and an anti-SLAPP suit.

In general terms, boycott all cable. I've been cable-free for months and never been happier.

I think that in these cases, much like in their selling of their product, they are relying on people's ignorance. The average person doesnt know that a $10 cable will do the same job that a $60 cable will, just like they dont know about legal stuff and pro bono work.
They even went after Disney when they released Monsters Inc! Disney lawyers sent them home with their tails between their legs, but that alone should show you that they dont really care who or what is using the word "monster" in the name.

Monster cable is a joke product anyway.

Unlike my good pal DangerGirl, I can't be cable free, I use cables (just like the ones that Monster produces) in my work every single day.

Pros in the industry know that Monster is a scam to begin with. As noted above, they charge $60 for a product that should be $10, selling it to newbies and geeks at this inflated price by including some scientific mumbo jumbo that means nothing, but makes it seem like a superior product.

When my recording and producing students come into the studio for classes, they always ask me if they need to buy Monster cable for their home studios. I show them the $3,000,000+ recording studio next door to the room they are being taught in, and point out that if Monster cables made a difference, certainly the studio that Styx, Smashing Pumpkins, Ministry, R. Kelly, and Britney Spears have recorded in would be using these cables. Not a Monster in sight (except for R. Kelly's residual stink).

And they make your mai Tais taste bad too.

If it's good enough for Styx and Britney Spears....

never mind.

AND they bought Candle Stick /3 Com park and renamed it Monster Park. That's just stupid.
We use an iPod and Tivoli speaker, that's how sophisticated we are!

What a bunch of fuckers. To echo what JT said, I took a course in electronic sound synthesis at university taught by a musician with a PhD in EE, and he said that overpriced speaker cables are the biggest rip in the world. Slight degradation of the current only takes place after, say 100 or more feet. As long as it has a few filaments and some basic insulation, it's OK. Radio Shack cable is fine for almost any conceivable home use.

Hey, I used that f-bomb, and my post disappeared.

F-bomb!

TG

I learned that Monster cables were a joke when I bought my M&K Subwoofer. http://www.mksound.com/subwoofer.php
I was ready to pay about 120 for a "good" (yea right) Monster cable. I asked the salesman if I should use a Monster interconnect and he laughed and hooked me up with some regular cable coax with RCA plugs. The sound is great. They do professional installations and say coax is all they use for subwoofers, and told me that Monster cables were a rip off.

This is symptomatic of the litigious soceity we live in. I'd bet there are companies that make more money suing than producing their own product or service. Too bad though, I'll be this won't hold up in court.

Matty

On 2004-12-22 20:05, tikibars wrote:
Monster cable is a joke product anyway.

As noted above, they charge $60 for a product that should be $10, selling it to newbies and geeks at this inflated price by including some scientific mumbo jumbo that means nothing, but makes it seem like a superior product.

Hmmmm...

I'm trying to figure out whether my intent to buy monster cable for my stereo makes me a newbie, a geek, or both.

Perhaps a gullible jackass?

When it comes to audio I suppose I know just enough to be dangerous...to my wallet.

Ahu

I will never use that product again!!!!

On 2004-12-23 09:17, Ku Ku Ahu wrote:

Perhaps a gullible jackass

Not anymore!

See how much you learn reading TC?

:wink:

The world of hi-tech audio is full of scams. Lots of things "improve the sound" that really just come down to the placebo effect.

I know audio engineers that have a big red knob on their mixing board. If the client says to change something that sounds perfect already, they'll turn the big red knob, hit a couple of dead switches and say "How about now?" Invariably the client will say it sounds much better.

James Randi, the famous magician and skeptic has gone toe to toe recently with the editors of Stereophile magazine. They frequently run glowing reviews of equipment that couldn't possibly work, but are conveinently also advertised in their magazine. I'm not just talking about cables. But "quantum purifiers" which are just magnets wrapped around cables for a mere $1200. Or "cable cookers" which "warm up" your monster cables for a warmer sound. And then you get to the really wierd stuff like putting "Shakti" stones (yep, just plain rocks!) on your speakers to "align" the sound. http://www.tricell-ent.com/Shakti.htm

It's wacky stuff. But remember, if you can't tell the difference when someone randomly switches it on and off and you have your eyes closed, it's just the big red knob effect.

Awesome, good to seem some people getting on board with this :D

Just sent those bastards an email.

Yes, Monster Cable is one of the biggest hoaxes around. There are certainly differing levels of quality in audio cables, but MC is overkill.

That said, I think this should rank pretty low on the "consumer outrage scale". The biggest ripoff of all to consumers is the "service contract" you are asked to purchase on top of any piece of electronic equipment you buy. I almost laugh out loud when some sales monkey tries to tack a $7 "policy" onto a $20 item. Most all products are adequately covered by the sellers' return policy and/or the mfgrs' warranty. Sorry if this applies to you, but you are a sucker if you pay for this. It's a well-documented, legal scam and results in nothing but pure profit for the seller.

Merry Christmas!

Hey, ya know this whole thing reminds me of anither scam. Does anybody remember the guys who would sell speakers out of white vans back in the eighties? They had all this material written up showing how good the speakers were, audiophile quality and such.
But they had to liquidate them or some such bs.

We bought a pair just so we could hook them up to some premium amps and blow them up in front of the scheister who was selling them, and a whole bunch of customers.

I remember seeing these guys get busted for some form of fraud.

When in doubt about a product that tells you that you need it, ask around. Nine times out of ten you don't.

TG

Tiki-bot, my outrage and disgust comes not from monstercable's marketing of their product, but from the strong-arm tactics that they use to bully small businesses into giving them money.

Frankly, I dont care if someone gets conned by a smooth talking salesperson into buying their overpriced cables. But when you have "a whole room" at the recorder's office dedicated just to monstercable filings, I think thats an indication of a problem.

On 2004-12-23 11:22, BarkerBird wrote:
I know audio engineers that have a big red knob on their mixing board. If the client says to change something that sounds perfect already, they'll turn the big red knob, hit a couple of dead switches and say "How about now?" Invariably the client will say it sounds much better.

I do this DAILY!

People laugh when I tell them about it, but it almost always works!

Tiki-Bot: A friend of mine in high school and I used to be really into walkmans- all the features, options, brands, models, etc. (lame, yes- and also pre-CD!). We would buy them at Good Guys and always get the extended protection plan. Back then, the protection plan meant no questions asked if it broke- bring it back for a replacement. We'd watch the new models come out every six or 12 months or so. So when our model got replaced by a better one, we'd just smash them on the sidewalk and take the pieces in for a cooler one. It was sweet!

Other than that, yeah, it's a rip-off.

Found this artilce linked from Randi's website:

http://sound.westhost.com/cables.htm#intro

I didn't realize Monster Cables were no different than any other cable. I've never purchased them, but thought I would eventualy get a Monster Guitar Cable. Now I won't.

Tikigardner, those speakers to which you refer to are usually printed with the name In-Line Monitors. The story my roommate in college (Tempe, Az)got (from the "Irish Traveler") was that the recording studio he worked at received an extra pair of speakers that were shipped to them that they did not need, and his boss told him to run out that day and try get some quick cash for them. My roommate paid about $80 for them. They blew a day later. When you opened them up, you found they used heavy wood and really tiny crappy magnets, thus thinking the weight from the speaker gave you something of quality. Next time somebody tries to sell you speakers out of a van in front of a wall-mart, kick him in the nuts as hard as you can.

Those speaker guys drove me nuts! Usually a deal that good always comes with a price...

I was just reading the other lawsuits that Monster Cable has filed.
They're going after "Monster Garage" here's one of 7 suits filed
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=76442577

the "Monster Mash"
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78297680

and my favey
Boudreaeux's Cajun Kitchen "The Home of Monster Shrimp"
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78329124

Just recently I was a victim of something similar, I was turned over to eBay by Von Dutch Industries for listing an item by the pinstriper Von Dutch. Apparently they have licensed his name and by using said name one misrepresents the consumer that they are buying a Von Dutch Brand product. My listing was cancelled and my fees were refunded before anyone contacted me that I was somehow in "violation." All Von Dutch Industries had to do was e-mail me but noooooo....

In the words of Donald Trump, "You're fired!" :P

O.K....laugh at me. I got a couple of people DVD players for Christmas. You know the $25 buck ones with a rebate everyone had for sale this year. Anyway, the instructions say that the component cables give the best picture. I went to Radio Shack first and they were selling a fat looking set for around $35 or $40. I said they look just like fat patch cords with RCA plugs. Got a story about them being better shielded or something. Went to Best Buy and got the same story. Went to Good Guys and got the same story again. It was the day befor Christmas and the Good Guys guy would knock off $15 since I was getting a couple of sets. So I got the Monster Cables!
Picture is better, but the thing was I couldn't find any regular patch cords with RCA plugs at these places. Think they removed them to sell the monster cables? Cables cost more than the DVD players. And there were different "levels" of cables. I got the cheapest, but the pricey-est was $160 or something!!!!!

I'm been told that the Big Red Button trick also works great on theater patrons who come up to the sound engineer to tell him/her that its too cold. One good friend of mine goes to the extend of asking them their seat number, to pretend its being dailed in just for them.

Well it will be a pleasure to stop using Monster Cable products, geez, their so frickn expensive anyways.

I just wanted to add to my post above that I had NOT seen the info about the Monster legal crap or I would not have bought them. So There!

Oh please! I want to jump on the slam Monster cable bandwagon too! Let me on, let me on!

I don't know about its home audio or other uses, but for guitar, they are a superior cable. There are other superior cables and they are all around $50 to $60.

The ends are gold plated which DOES reduce corrosion and DOES allow for a stronger signal.

They DO have less 'noise' in the line. And keep in mind:

Once you possess (you don't even have to be the original purchaser) a Monster cable, you NEVER need to purchase another cable for the rest of your life (or the companies). I've brought in a damaged cable to Guitar Center and they handed me a brand new Monster cable - no questions.

Now I know my 30 years of recording a musicianship pale in comparison to someones home sound system or computer whatever, but I know they are a quality product.

If you really want to bitch and be disgusted with business practices, why don't you just go visit you medicine cabinet and whine about pharmaceutical companies, or drive your GM vehicle, or open your fridge and be ashamed of beef and poultry producers.

Get real.

I think the original complaint was not of the cables themselves, but how Monster Cable is litigating against any other enterprise which uses the word "monster". Bong, when you look in to the details, I'm sure you also would agree that it is not right and it is a total misuse of the judicial system. As far as the cables themselves, they do have an excellent warranty and they are good cables, just overpriced for what you get. And of course Monster Cable has the right to set whatever price point they want.

[ Edited by: Hakalugi on 2004-12-29 11:55 ]

'Overpriced' is a funny word. It means whatever fits your wants. What some women pay to get fake nails put on a couple of times would easily cover a Monter cable. Now, which do you think will last longer.

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2004-12-31 10:29 ]

I think in this context it means you can get the same performance and the same warranty for less if you go with another manufacturer.

On 2004-12-29 10:18, Tiki_Bong wrote:
If you really want to bitch and be disgusted with business practices, why don't you just go visit you medicine cabinet and whine about pharmaceutical companies, or drive your GM vehicle, or open your fridge and be ashamed of beef and poultry producers.

Damn Bong, thanks once again for the education. You know, if it wasn't for all your insightful recommendations, I wouldn't know what is right or wrong in the world.

Thanks again for "keeping it real" for all us naive halfwits, Ignatius Reilly.

Bleh.

Ahu

On 2004-12-29 14:40, Ku Ku Ahu wrote:

That's what I'm here for Ma'am.

Bong is the man.

[ Edited by: net-tiki on 2004-12-29 19:15 ]

I wonder if they went after Monster Drinks you know like the red bull drink.

Sure enough! It looks like Monster Cable has a number of cases pending with Hansens and their Monster Energy drinks!

http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pnam=Hansen%20Beverage%20Company%20%20

Yeah, all of the lawsuits sound super frivioulous, but seriously, how can they win any of them? Do they own the trademake to the word MONSTER?! Other than that nonsense.... Bong's right, the quality of guitar cable and their warrenty plan is untouchable. I've never hear of another company taking back their defunct product with no questions asked and no need of a proof of purchase only to give you a direct replacement. That is how business should be done. The lawsuit stuff... I don't know. I guess you take the good with the bad.

Edited to remove various and sundry talking points.

Reduced to the salient point that the whole gripe is frivolous lawsuits.

TG

[ Edited by: TikiGardener on 2005-01-05 22:41 ]

Gosh this posting drunk thing is fun...

TG

Any Mac people pissed off that Mac seems to sell Monster Cable exclusively for iPod users? Monster Cable is everywhere.

Maybe they're a subsidiary of that company in Silent Movie ENGULF and DEVOUR?

tg

Hey, maybe if they didn't have an army of suits trying to fleece any company or product with the word "monster" in its name, they wouldn't have to charge so much for their product! But who would want that?

tg

On 2004-12-29 21:43, Luckydesigns wrote:
the quality of guitar cable and their warrenty plan is untouchable.

But Lucky, remember that the quality of the product is NO bettter than any other costing 1/3 the price.

As for the warranty, any monkey with a quarter ounce of grey matter and a $5 Radio Shack soldering iron can fix a guitar cable in less than five minutes. In 99% of all cases, it is the solder point between the wire itself and the connector that goes bad - beyond simple to fix. Only in rare cases, like if the cable itself is severed, do things become more complex.

It's actually cheaper and less hassle to fix it yourself than to make a drive to the music store for the exhange... so their warranty is pretty worthless.

On 2004-12-29 10:18, Tiki_Bong wrote:
The ends are gold plated which DOES reduce corrosion and DOES allow for a stronger signal.

I have been working in pro audio for 20 years and I have never seen a 'corroded' audio cable. Please produce one so as to demonstrate how buying a cable that supposedly reduces corrosion is worth the extra cash.

I'd also like to experience a blind listening test with you in which you could demonstrate your ability to tell the divverence between an audio signal transmitted through a gold plated connector versus a regular one.

An audio signal's integrity is only as good as the weakest component in the signal chain.

Therefore, unless the enitre signal path was gold, then making the ends of a connector gold makes NO DIFFERENCE.

On 2004-12-29 10:18, Tiki_Bong wrote:
They DO have less 'noise' in the line.

Cables themselves produce no self-noise.

Any properly shielded cable will block outside intereference. By putting way more shileding than is needed in their cables, Monster perpetuates thair false claims that their cables are quieter. They could use a faction of the material they use, and the cable would sound no different.

Again: I challenge you to a blind listening test.

On 2004-12-29 10:18, Tiki_Bong wrote:
Once you possess (you don't even have to be the original purchaser) a Monster cable, you NEVER need to purchase another cable for the rest of your life (or the companies). I've brought in a damaged cable to Guitar Center and they handed me a brand new Monster cable - no questions.

See my above post.

Even for a complete half-wit, resoldering the connector on any audio cable is less time spent and less money spent than a trip to the music store.

On 2004-12-29 10:18, Tiki_Bong wrote:
If you really want to bitch and be disgusted with business practices, why don't you just go visit you medicine cabinet and whine about pharmaceutical companies, or drive your GM vehicle, or open your fridge and be ashamed of beef and poultry producers.

...because THAT has nothing to do with TIKI!

:)

Well put, tikibars, very well put.

On 2004-12-30 11:05, tikibars wrote:

On 2004-12-29 10:18, Tiki_Bong wrote:
The ends are gold plated which DOES reduce corrosion and DOES allow for a stronger signal.

I'd also like to experience a blind listening test with you in which you could demonstrate your ability to tell the divverence between an audio signal transmitted through a gold plated connector versus a regular one.

Hmmm...Maybe Bong's amp has one of those red knobs that improves the sound quality when you turn it.

Or even better, a gold plated monster knob.

Ahu

Can you imagine how good a gold plated monster knob would sound? The mind boggles.