Monster Cable Doesn't Make Speaker Cables or Wires Anymore. Why?

February 12, 2025

#506

 Gentle reader,

I had replaced the Monster Cable and other brands of RCA cables, XLR cables and speaker cables of the Listening Room system lately with ALL WBC aka: Worlds Best Cables and the results of the change have been very positive, with a noticeable improvement in clarity and soundstage. Here is a link to the previous article which also has links to the two WBC trading prior to it: The Robb Collections: WBC Worlds Best Cables 7 Gauge Speaker cables Trifecta of WBC Cables! Part One.

This image is a comparison of the Monster Cable Z-Series Z1R speaker cables which are nominally 12 gauge with WBC's Ultimate speaker cables which are also 12 gauge.

Some years ago, I attempted to have TWO systems in my modest listening room. One for stereo (and mono) recordings and a completely separate system for SACD multichannel recordings. The stereo system, except for the power amplifier, was off to the left.

This was back in the halcyon days when one was constantly finding new donations at the local thrift stores to buy and try. Thus, there were many iterations of what you see above, especially speakers and subs. For a look at the changes in the room starting in the beginning: The Robb Collections: The Transformation from Den to Audio Man Cave. In many crazy steps!

Finally, in 2015, I came to my senses. This pile of speaker wires and cables shows the variety I was using then. I believe that most of them are Monster Cable brand.

Image courtesy of cncablesuppliers.com

First, a quick lesson on what makes something a wire and another a cable. The image above is an example. It comes down to this: If two or more insulated wires are within more insulation, it is a cable. Lamp cord is a wire. Power cords can have two or wires separated from each other by the same (outer) insulation, which makes it a cord. If something you plug in has a three prong plug plug and it is round, with no externally discernable wires, it is a cable.

Power cable, above. Power cord, below.

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, let's proceed with the story of Monster Cable, a US Company. For their official story go here: Monster Cable Products, Inc. -- Company History

This is an image of my humble living room "home theater". It has always come second to the listening room and the "office" which has a Yamaha stack of components and four speakers (two on the floor, two above them, near the ceiling). The office is where I spend far more time than the living room and yes, even the listening room. And, no, I don't work from home, that is what we designated this room for when we moved in in 2001.

I was using these Monster Cable wires for all three speakers, which have the official name of: Monster Cable XP Compact High Performance Speaker Cable. The rear speaker I supply sound to them with cheap thin speaker wires which came with the tiny five speakers and subwoofer I bought when setting up the den. For movies and TV, they are sufficient.

But, by definition, it is wire. The central section (below) is just a separator, nothing is inside of it.

These two pink background pictures are from an eBay auction. I had thrown away all the Navajo White Superflat 16 gauge speaker wire when I replaced the front and center speaker's wire with Monster Cable Z-Series Z1R speaker cables which for many years had supplied excellent sound to my ears in the listening room. It did not occur to me to take a picture of them. Their service was over.

Why the loops? It's easier to make a wire (or cable) shorter than to make it longer.

Below is one of the two Radio Shack Minimus 7W speakers I decided to completely upgrade. Were they cars, they would be called: "Restomodded".

The audible improvement by making the switch from the flat 16 gauge wires to round 12 gauge cables was instantly evident. And now, if I'm in that end of the house, I WILL be listening to music CDs through the left and right front speakers and the subwoofer, instead of cranking up at the music from the opposite end of the house. My neighbors will be happy. The  music's sound improvement was that dramatic! To learn more about the speaker's modifications, see here: The Robb Collections: Converted my already upgraded Minimus 7 speakers to ribbon tweeters!

This is the wall opposite of me right now. Yes, those ARE BOSE 301 speakers. My wife bought them for me many years ago, when the stereo was still in the living room, hoping that I would use them instead of the large (15" woofers) speakers I was then using. I did not use them then, but later on, I came to appreciate just how good they sound. Look closely at the picture and you can see the Navajo White Superflat Monster Cable wires going up the middle of the wall to the BOSE 310 speakers. They are perfect for a situation like this. The Klipsch KG4s which are directly beneath them BOSE's have Z-Series cables going to them.

Monster Cable has probably sold more of this pink colored speaker wires than any other kind or type the used to sell. In researching this article, I found out that they made way more varieties to send the music to speakers than I knew about. 

14 gauge "easy strip" type.

12 gauge pink wire! Who knew?

And 14 gauge too!

There were a variety of M-Series wires and cables.

Don't you just love advertising?

Now, these, the MCX-Series. I learned my lesson when I tried out these! I thought it was time to spend a little more money and gave these MCX-Series a try. To quote the Governator, "Big Mistake!" The bass had disappeared! I am not kidding! I hopped on the ol' Internet and sure enough, buyer after buyer was complaining about the SAME thing!

These black 12 gauge Superflat wires surprised me. I had never heard of them before today.

I don't remember when I made the switch to Z-Series Z1R, but, I bought them all used, via eBay at various lengths. 

Spades above, someone put on that cable. Bananas below are their weak spot in my opinion.

See how the copper bananas have flattened out, above? Plus, the rubber deteriorates over time.

And just what is this fat thing for?

One could, on this type of ends, unscrew their pins (shown) and screw on their bananas or their spade lugs. 

But wait, there's more!

These are called "twisted pair" wires and they supposedly reject AC (50 or 60 Hertz) interference to prevent the dreaded AC hum. 

I had used ones made by a different maker for many years. 

And here is a photo of them. One brand on the left and another brand on the right. In fact, I still have a pair of the blue/clear ones in the attic, from the dining room, where the stereo once sat, to speakers in this room, the office. It's a real pain to strip off the thick clear outer insulation. Which makes them cables, not wires!

So, why nowadays, do we start sentences with "So"? I do not know why one of the pioneers of speaker wires and cables decided to stop making them. The do make CAT cables and HDMI cables and a whole lot of other audio related products, however.

Prior to buying the glass and steel components shelf (table? I never know what to call it!) I had them all in this wheeled rack.

This shelf, I bought at Best Buy. It was made to hold a large screen HDTV and a lot of components. Nothing there then still lives with me. All went, like hundreds of other things in our many collections, to others, via eBay.

Quite a difference between then and now. I added heavy casters to make it easier to move.

And this image shows all of the WBC cables I have replaced the many different brands I was using before. Not shown are the WBC speaker cables. You can see them in the previous articles which are right below this one.

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read this article and view my photos. Writing it is one of my passions. Feel free to comment below or on Facebook.

Scott Robb

February 12, 2025

#506