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ESP MusicCord

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#103
JAUQO III-X said:
Yes that price tag if hefty. But we all know that some one will spend the money.
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Years back when I worked in the TV industry, I got a chance for a private guided tour of the Monster Cable factory up by San Fransico. Nice folks, and I'm not knocking their products at all, because I actually use some of their stuff. Anyway, at some point I get taken to this room where the workers are making their ultra high end stereo cable line. All hand assembled from parts with more techno babble specs than an episode of Star Trek. We're talking $500 for a 18" RCA cord. Comes in it's own velvet lined, aluminum Halburton case, certificate, the works.

So, at some point I ask the rep "Can anyone really hear any noticeable difference between these and say a $50 Monster Cable cord?". He thought about it a minute and replied " Let's put it this way, as long as there are people out there willing to pay $500 for a cable, we are certainly going to supply a product to them".

After that, I got a tour of the private warehouse where the owner of the company keeps some of his exotic car collection. I think my favorite was the Ferrari F40, but then again the McLaren F1 was rather nice too.
 
#104
R Baer said:
Years back when I worked in the TV industry, I got a chance for a private guided tour of the Monster Cable factory up by San Fransico. Nice folks, and I'm not knocking their products at all, because I actually use some of their stuff. Anyway, at some point I get taken to this room where the workers are making their ultra high end stereo cable line. All hand assembled from parts with more techno babble specs than an episode of Star Trek. We're talking $500 for a 18" RCA cord. Comes in it's own velvet lined, aluminum Halburton case, certificate, the works.

So, at some point I ask the rep "Can anyone really hear any noticeable difference between these and say a $50 Monster Cable cord?". He thought about it a minute and replied " Let's put it this way, as long as there are people out there willing to pay $500 for a cable, we are certainly going to supply a product to them".

After that, I got a tour of the private warehouse where the owner of the company keeps some of his exotic car collection. I think my favorite was the Ferrari F40, but then again the McLaren F1 was rather nice too.
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he can have all the cars in the world but he's still a scumbag as far as I'm concerned. If the ridiculous lawsuits weren't enough to prove it, this is.
 
#106
R Baer said:
Well, it goes to show you the power of marketing. At the time I was up there Candlestick Park had just been renamed Monster Park!
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So did Monster Cables sue them for copyright infringement? I wonder how this guy feels about Monster Cables propensity for litigation?
Frankenstein.jpg
 
#108
I spent a bunch of years working in the high end audio industry and I was never impressed by Wilson speakers. I've listened to a bunch of them and they all have a bit of a boxy sound to my ears. Other than the active speakers we designed, my favourites were probably the high end B&Ws.

As for expensive power cables, I've auditioned loads of them costing up to $6k (:eek:) and none of them made any audio system sound any better than regular IECs. And we're talking gear with a lot better resolution than 99% of bass rigs. My boss, however, swore they made big differences. Yet, I could reliably hear (and measure) the difference in the system that a critical resistor in the crossover circuit made if it was 10% out of tolerance while he could not.

I've been tempted to audition (and run some tests on) one of the ESP cables because they're not outrageously expensive.

I did debunk one of their claims though and I think I posted it here. They asserted in a white paper that one of the causes of distortion in regular power cables was physical vibration of conductors under heavy current because of the magnetic fields involved and that their geometry/build stopped this from happening. Their claim was that this was much like a transformer vibrating. Of course the problem with that is that the phenomenon that makes xfmrs buzz is a characteristic of iron and doesn't exist in copper (google magnetostriction for more info).

I was working in a power systems lab at the time so I decided to test some IECs to see if this was a real effect anyway. I tested the cables at up to 150% of their current ratings by attaching a very sensitive accelerometer to them. None of them exhibited any physical vibration. That's not to say that the construction of those cables is not resistant to vibration, but it's a typical ploy of the high end cable folks. Correcting for problems that don't really exist in their applications. Skin effect in power cables is another example of that.

I notice that there's no longer any mention of the physical vibration stuff on ESP's site.
 
#110
Bob C said:
That's pretty much what PT Barnum said too, right?
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Actually it was gambling kingpin Michael Cassius McDonald who originally coined the phrase. There's a sucker born every minute. He's also credited with coining the phrase "Never give a sucker an even break"


P.T. Barnum was known for saying

There's a customer born every minute
 
#112
JAUQO III-X said:
P.T. Barnum was known for saying

There's a customer born every minute
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And for "No one ever lost a buck underestimating the intelligence of the average person".
Not that falling for snake-oil pitches is reserved for the unintelligent. Just the uninformed. While it may not be true that you can't cheat an honest man it's far more difficult to cheat one who is well informed.
 
#113
cybersnyder said:
(Addressing Bill Fitzmaurice) Aesthetics are important. Your speaker designs, for example, are not very appealing to the eye. If you put more thought into the visual you would sell a lot more. I've never seen your cabs played anywhere. They probably sound good but the visual is more akin to a worker droid from Star Wars, IMHO. Perception is reality.
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I have a pair of Bill's Jack10s which I use as a small PA-on-a-stick.
I like the out-of-the-ordinary appearance. I'd never consider covering them with grill cloth and making them ordinary looking.
 
#114
R Baer said:
...So, at some point I ask the rep "Can anyone really hear any noticeable difference between these and say a $50 Monster Cable cord?". He thought about it a minute and replied " Let's put it this way, as long as there are people out there willing to pay $500 for a cable, we are certainly going to supply a product to them".
Click to expand...

Bob C said:
That's pretty much what PT Barnum said too, right?
Click to expand...

I do have to throw in one comment with regards to my earlier post. I don't mean for my post to imply that Monster Cable is "ripping people off" by selling $500 cables. The rep also explained to me that these products are hand made, with top quality, all custom designed components and are sold, for the most part, to the same people who don't bat an eye at dropping $10,000 for a turntable, or $50,000 on thier speaker system.

Do I buy all that marketing speak about quantum aligned dilithium conductors, or whatever? Uh...no. But, then again, there's something to be said for being a savvy businessman and supplying very expensive, high quality products to a market segment that has both the desire and the money to buy these products. I'd also be willing to bet that 90% of these customers are quite happy with their purchases.
 
#115
Bob Lee (QSC) said:
The PL380 does now. It's detachable with a Neutrik powerCON. The amp's power cord was originally non-detachable because the necessary powerCON hadn't yet completed UL testing.

Typical power cords suitable for typical power amps are actually pretty good, and most are certainly equal in performance to a $100+ power cord of comparable length, perhaps not in appearance. It doesn't cost much to make a really superb power cord; it can be done for less than $5 each, and less if they're mass produced. ESP and some other companies tout magical properties of power cords, and they snag the wallets of a few believers. It just goes to show that knowledge can have financial benefit for even us bass players.
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PowerCON is great. And myself, I just like the twist lock over friction fit. I have experienced these things not getting push in far enough and just sliding out.
 
#118
#119
Paullee01 said:
I've been looking at the Music Chord Pro, it seems a lot of top players are endorsing this cable.
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The number who do so who are not paid to, or at the least not provided free product, is what counts. Do you really think everyone you see on TV commercials actually use the products they endorse and would be in those commercials if not paid?
 
#120
The number who do so who are not paid to, or at the least not provided free product, is what counts. Do you really think everyone you see on TV commercials actually use the products they endorse and would be in those commercials if not paid?
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Bill have you tried the cable?????

I don't know if these endorsers get paid by ESP to have their pictures and cable reviews on the ESP website. Maybe they actually like the product and are giving an honest opinion about the power chord!
 
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