I have a Sony wega 50" Denon receiver, TiVo(not HD yet) and Sony 400 disc. DVD I want to upgrade all the video cables with the ability to be current when I eventually upgade to a HD receiver. Currently I only run S-video to receiver from TiVo, and Component from DVD to receiver. I have talked to a rep at monster and I have some ideas. I guess I just want advice to what is the best Component and S-video cables to buy. I would imagine that the more $$'s the better the cable. But I don't think it is quite nessesary to spend top dollar for what I want. I will also be getting a Monster HTS 3500 power unit per the advice I got from the Monster rep. So which do you think I need, cables that is, THX certified, Ultras, or M-series.

Any advice would be appreciated.

TJLMBKLR

Oh my!

Quick get KY. This might hurt!

I am as ready as I'll ever be I exspect to spend quite a bit of money. I knew when I was to upgrade the TV, all else would have to also. I just upgraded sooner then exspected (break up with girlfriend old TV was hers)

You might want to consider a top notch power solution. Same for cables. Your Monster rep probably won't be able to help unless he reps Kimber, Audioquest, Straight Wire, or any other brand but Monster. As for power, Surgex, Furman and Panamax are a few that come to mind.

I wish I could sell my brand as well as munster sells its brand. :rolleyes:

it may not...the snake oil is pretty slick stuff...

Answers man, answers.....!

ever see vegas vacation? give me half your money and i'll kick you in the nuts and we will call it even..

thats what you get with monster....lol

Ok what is wrong with Monster. Am I on the wrong forum, On a scale of 1 to 10 10 being what the best system on is of annyone who would like to claim theirs as, to one. And 1 being a 19" TV with a combo VCR/DVD and the video running through a RF mod. my is about a 5.5 SO I'LL ASK AGAIN ANY GOOD ADVICE TO MY QUESTION OR SHOULD I LOOK ELSEWHERE.

Looks to me like you got good advice, you didnt like it so go ahead look elsewhere!(it wont hurt my feelings)
Maybe "I love monster.com"
Personally I use straight wire, or kimber, panamax and richard grey.
my 2 take it or leave it

This reminds of the the guy who goes to the doctor:

Guy: "Doc, I don't feel well, what's wrong with me?"
Doc: "You have apendicitis, and need surgery."
Guy: "I don't want to have surgery, so I'm going to go to another doctor who will tell me what I want to hear."

You came to a PROFESSIONAL custom installers forum asking for advice. When we told you you should look at brands OTHER THEN MONSTER, you took it as us bashing you. What we are doing is telling you that just because Noel Lee is good at marketing his cable and power surge products doesn't mean it's quality product.

You also mention that you 'spoke to a Monster rep', but don't mention how you came by speaking to one....are you in the industry, did you meet him at a C-City during a demo day, or did you call Monster and ask for some info? Of course the guy at Monster is going to tell you his product is the best...what's he going to say? "My stuff really sucks, don't waste your money."

As for which line to buy, you hit the nail on the head with the 'more money = more quality' analogy. You want quality, you're going to have to pay for it.

The brands mentioned above (along with Tributaries, IXOS, and others) are going to be a better choice if you want to get your 5.5 system up to an 8. Monster cable in and of itself isn't horrible, but it's not the be-all and end-all of cables either.

If you don't like the advice professionals are going to give you, then don't ask for it.

My $.02 worth.

Fred Forlano
Higher Definition

tjlmbklr,

The best systems tend to use custom made cables. Cables made on the job site, of quality components. The truth is that good quality coax, and good quality fittings will get you performance at or above the "snake oil" that is sold by many cable manufacturers. Quality Belden Cable correctly chosen for the job at hand, and good connectors like Thomas&Betts Snap-N-Seal are very versatile.

[Link: tnb.com]

There are other cable manufacturers, and other connector manufacturers who are excellent as well.

If you want to buy in to Strand Jumping, Exotic descriptions of Insulators, etc, open your wallet and type some of the snake oil terms into your browser. You'll get plenty of manufacturers. Good quality Belden Coax or Wire, and good quality connectors will get you equivalent or better performance at a fraction of the price.

If you wish to buy premade cables, I've used Blue Jeans Cables in the past. Good service, no hype, fair prices, excellent products. You'll notice they use quality cable, (Belden in many cases), and quality connectors. Canare connectors are very good, but the tools are quite pricey, and not really made for hand use.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

I wouldn't bother worrying about the S-Video cable. You're going to need to swap it out when you upgrade, why spend good money on something you're not going to need.

You just need to get cables that are better than what comes in the box.
If you like Monster, then great. Many people here have a ton of experience and have opinions that Monster cable is over priced. There are a lot of other cables out there. Video performance is important and shouldn't be neglected. I am sure the Monster power center is very nice, same thing here, there are a lot of companies making power conditioners/surge protection units.
Unfortunatly you are a consumer, and will be subjected to typical retailer sales pitches that are usually lined with a lot of fluff to get you to buy very profitable accessories.

YES, you need better cables, NO you don't need a $200.00 video cable to connect to a $300.00 video source.
YES, a good power bar with surge protection is nice to have, if it also has electrical conditioning and other features, and your willing to pay for them, it ain't going to hurt your system.

You could trade all your existing AV gear for the BEST Bose product, and then add on the BEST Monster Cable products too...

Then you'd have the BEST according to BOSE and Monster.....


And you know that you can believe them, because THEY told you their stuff is the BEST.....

Their's nothing wrong with Monster Cable, but their is a lot of brands out their that are just as good for the same money or less. If your equipment isn't extremely high end, don't go all out on extremely expensive cables. Also remember HDMI is going to give you a better picture 90% of the time for HD over a Component cable. I have used both Panamax and the Monster Power. The Panamax is a better piece of equipment. You may think about getting a panamax line conditioner with a battery back-up built in, especially with your TIVO's.