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Who or what is Monoprice?

Michedelic

Michedelic

MId-Century Modern
Jun 18, 2013
29,405
72,105
Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree
#1
I was shopping at a damaged freight/overstock/close out store that has a small music gear section, and out of curiosity, picked up the two 10" quarter-to-quarter cables with the Monoprice brand they had for $3 each, I thought, "what the hell"; it's not like I needed them(got plenty of George L's), but I could always find a use for them. They give off the appearance of a Monster cable, but from my experience with the Mooer psuedo-Georges, I know looks aren't everything, get what you pay for, etc. What is this company(Chinese, of course), they seemed to have come out of nowhere, and are everywhere now. Quality(or at least decent)or Junk?
 
#6
For what it's worth, I'm in the HDMI industry. The certification houses that I deal with use monoprice cables. In fact, I found out about monoprice at an HDMI Plugfest.

We now use their HDMI cables in our labs. I don't have any experience with their other cables, but might try.
 
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#13
smeet said:
I got some nice-looking 1/4" guitar cables from them. They were so unbelievably microphonic I just threw them in the garbage. Unusable.

Maybe microphonic is the wrong word. If you touched the cable, or walked on the ground near where the cable sat, you heard it through the amp, nice and clear.
Click to expand...

You got SPEAKER CABLES, they have no shield on them and will be microphonic. You need to read the Mono Price description very closely, it must be shielded to use as a guitar or line cable. Their HDMI cables are very good as well as their trs insert cables and ADAT cables.
 
#14
Perhaps I'm an idiot.

This is what I ordered:
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Are these really speaker cables??? Yes, it says 16AWG, which is big for instrument cable.
But it also says: "It uses 16 AWG stranded, pure copper conductors and employs copper braid shielding with 97.5% coverage to ensure that stray radio frequency and electromagnetic signals do not degrade the audio quality of your performance."

It also says this:
Note that this cable is intended for general audio use. For high-end, low-noise performance and recording use we recommend our Cloth Series cables, PIDs Invalid Link Removed, Invalid Link Removed, and Invalid Link Removed.
Click to expand...
Which points to links that clearly say "instrument cable".

So, what did I order, and how am I supposed to tell if it's speaker cable? From the comments on the site, other people also think they are guitar cables.
 
#16
smeet said:
Perhaps I'm an idiot.

This is what I ordered:
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link Removed

Are these really speaker cables??? Yes, it says 16AWG, which is big for instrument cable.
But it also says: "It uses 16 AWG stranded, pure copper conductors and employs copper braid shielding with 97.5% coverage to ensure that stray radio frequency and electromagnetic signals do not degrade the audio quality of your performance."

It also says this:

Which points to links that clearly say "instrument cable".

So, what did I order, and how am I supposed to tell if it's speaker cable? From the comments on the site, other people also think they are guitar cables.
Click to expand...

They're referred to as "audio cables" and the first part of the description says "Connect speakers and other audio equipment...".

I'll say they're NOT guitar/instrument cables. Then again, what the heck is an "audio cable"?
 
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#17
It's a confusing description. It says it is a "TS audio cable" and at 16 gauge, that's a pretty standard speaker wire size. Only way to tell for sure is to unscrew the strain relief on the connector and look at the wiring inside. If shielded, and the shield is tied to the sleeve, it's an instrument cable. If it is two separate wire conductors, one connected to tip other to sleeve, it is a unshielded audio/speaker cable.
 
#18
OK, I'm chatting them at the website, and they are NOT instrument cables. But I had to ask a few questions for them to tell me that. First they said "these cables are intended for general audio use."
Apparently "general audio use" means "from power amp to speaker".

Yeah, it was my mistake and I'm an idiot. But it's still poopy website design.
They say they can send me replacement speaker cables, but can't swap them out for instrument cables. Oh well.

So... if I were smart enough to order the correct product, are they decent cables?

EDIT:
Here's an even more confusing description:
Invalid Link Removed

"8-inch Premier Series 1/4-inch (TS) Right Angle Male to Right Angle Male 16AWG Guitar Patch Cable (Gold Plated)"
These are obviously the same (speaker) cables, but they even say "guitar" in the description.
 

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