Monster Cable HTIB CV-KIT Home-Theater-in-a-Box Component Video/Surround Sound Connection Kit Review

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(More customer reviews)I remember way back when my father used to get his speaker wire, where everyone else did, from the hardware store on a giant spool right next to where you got your amplifier and your eight track tape deck and your wire cutters. Those were the good old days my friends when technology was affordable, wire was wire and what was good enough for your lamp was damn sure good enough for your speakers. Well times, they have a changed.

So you ask, is Monster Cable actually worth spending my hard earned money for? Is there any way I can make a common sense decision on what looks to be, from the individual price tags I am seeing, a couple of hundred dollars worth of Video Component cables and Fiber Optic TOS Link cables and even the lowly RCA Jacks, then add that 100ft spool of Speaker Wire and ?... What about that other brand of cables (Audioquest, Cobalt, Sound King) I heard about that goes for $1500.00 a pair? The sales guy says they will make my sound system better, richer sounding, with more presence... dang it! Is any of this really worth it?

It depends. Notice the use of the highly accurate verbiage "richer" and "presence"?

Let me be honest here. Go looking for a scientific, third party, Consumer Reports type, unbiased data extravaganzas on the differences between Monster Cable and Radio Shack and say, add in some exotic brand like Artic. Just try to find a double blind audio test with documented results, a reasonable common sense approach, and a perfectly good explanation to this quandary.

THERE ARE NONE! Zilch, zero, nada!
It all seems to be an out-right snake oil and con man game.

So what does yours truly do in cases like this. I swallow a ton of salt, a grain of truth, a hardy hi-ho silver, along with some idea about what I need and dive into this mess with the goal of connecting my Onkyo HT-S870 THX certified Home-Theater-In-A-Box together with my DVD player and my Sony KD-34XBR960 and do it for the most reasonable price. That's what I do. Interconnects - Where the excrement meets the whirling cutting thingy.

Out of all the places I feel you should spend your hard earned dollar and do a little testing is right between your DVD player and your receiver and the TV. This is where the smallest amount of interference and connection issues will cause the most damage to your audio/video experience and here is where I say make sure you have the best.

What is the best? Well from my reading everyone and I mean everyone points to Monster Cable and says they either suck big wind or they rock da house. You have your audiophile purist (men of golden ears) who swear on their graves that they found some guy who makes cables for NASA and sold them this or that type of cable and it's sooo much better than Monster Cable and then you have your standard cavemen (such as myself) still swearing that S-Video is da bomb (Boy did I learn my lesson). To my way of thinking this places Monster Cable squarely at the water mark of what is defined as good and what is said to be bad. Add the fact you can find it everywhere and you are more likely going to be able to find it on sale, well there you go. Try to mention the term "on sale" at a high end audio shop sometime, try it.

You would think in the realm of Interconnection cabling is where most audiophiles worth their snobby little Denons would be battling over the hard data of what is the best quality for the money. HAH! No such luck.

I personally think you can side step allot of issues initially by thinking all this through and by using the best connections you have available built into your current system. If you have the ability to use Fiber Optic Audio lines then save yourself allot of trouble and pump your audio through the fine tuned glass of Fiber Optic cabling. No signal interference, no electrical trickery, keep it simple!

If you only have Digital Coaxial check your receiver to see if you can connect that up. Look at your video, DVD player, satellite receiver etc... Can you use Video Component connections? There are some reasonable, scientifically provable, step-ups in the world of video and audio connectivity so remember that when you go shopping for deals for your whole system.

Well look at the Monster Cable - Component Video/Fiber Optic Audio Kit. See the price? Just go to your local Circuit City or Best Buy and look at the prices for the individual parts in this Kit. This is a steal! It's literally below half-price for both these connectors. This kit will single handedly connect your DVD player for one low price and if you get another kit you could connect your PS2 using Fiber Optic Audio and get an extra set of Video Component cables so you could run everything through your receiver... and guess what?

This is real secret to how I buy these things.

As I said keep in mind how you are going to connect your system together and then go shopping online. Look for these pre-packaged kits which Monster Cable excels in creating and then look for the best price. There you go, no muss, no fuss, no big arguments. But always, always test and make sure you are at least getting a better connection than the one you had before. I had a recent run in with an Acoustic Research subwoofer RCA cable and a radio signal that still annoys the hell out of me.

Double check the real world sound and quality of picture and do not just rely on a brand name.

For a complete listing of all the different types of video connections be sure to checkout my review of the Sony KD-34XBR960. Now About Speaker Wire - Once more into the breach!

THERE HAVE NOT BEEN ANY CREDIBLE SCIENTIFIC STUDIES CONDUCTED BY UNBIASED THIRD PARTIES THAT COULD DEMONSTRATE A STATISTICAL DIFFERENCE IN DOUBLE BLIND TESTS OF TWO SIMILAR GUAGE SPEAKER WIRES!

Am I making myself clear? Will the fan boys from all those audiophile web sites please refrain from flaming me if you have no honest to god hardcopy. Thanks, move along.

So what do I do when I go shopping for speaker wire? I for one always keep an eye out at Radio Shack for the prices on 16 gauge wire. That is debatable but I personally think 12 gauge is ok but not necessary and as a rule of thumb I then follow my three little rules to live by. 1) How much can the pig spend without facing the night on the couch, other wise known as the wrath of the other half?

2) How much work will the pig have to do to install it?

3) How durable does it look to the pig? Well just look at this
Monster Cable HTIB CV-KIT Home-Theater-in-a-Box Surround Sound Connection Kit / Component Video

Yep another kit, I got dem there expensive brand wires for my Onkyo HT-S870!

Two 20-foot front speaker wires, One 10-foot center speaker wire, and Two 35-foot rear speaker wires and One 10-foot Monster subwoofer wire that I could not use, but oh well.

The kit also includes adapters for Sony Dream and Kenwood systems.

And the biggest selling point to me that cinched the deal?
Monster Cable not only measured and cut the wire but then they clamped on some 24k gold-plated connector pins for the ultimate in piggy convenience.

That's right folks, it all came down to not having to break a sweat or use a pair of wire cutters. I hate using bare wire with the typical speaker clamps, bare wire tends to fall out of whatever you used to clamp it down with faster than a tampon out of Paris Hilton.

Oh did I forget to mention the Monster Cable 8-foot Component Video cable that also came in the box?

All for a extremely reasonable price around $100.00, not bad and even my other half thought it was a deal, and then all I had to do to show the world how thrifty I am was recycle one of my Acoustic Research speaker wires for the rear center speaker. I might get around to buying a single speaker wire pack from Monster Cable someday when they go on sale, like around January.

So be careful out there and do not buy the hype!

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Product Description:
Today's All-In-One Home Theatre Systems Require Higher Quality Connectors for the Best Possible Picture and Sound
Today's all-in-one home theatre systems can deliver high definition picture and larger-than-life surround sound in compact, convenient packages. Keep in mind, though, your system is only as good as the cables you use to connect it. If you're using the cables that come in the box, you're not getting all the performance you paid for. And, some of the cables you need don't even come in the box, including component video and S-video connections.

Get All the Performance You Paid For with Monster Home Theatre
Monster's Home Theatre connection kits feature cables as high quality as the system's they connect. With Monster's advanced technologies and high quality design, you'll always get the best possible picture and sound.

Monster's Color-Coding Makes Life Easy, Eliminating Hookup Guesswork
With all the connections you need for home theatre, it's easy to end up frustraded with a tangled mess of cables. That's why Monster developed a unique color-coded cable ID system that allows you to easily hook up everything once, the right way. Just pop in your favorite DVD, grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Monster Component Video:The Highest Quality Video Connection Available for Your Home Theatre System
If your TV features component video, S-video, and RCA composite video connections, the performance choice is clear: component video. Component video splits the video signal into three channels for ultimate performance picture quality that is even better than high performance S-video.

Unfortunately, component video cable is not included with most home theatre systems. And, the RCA composite video cable that often comes free in the box just can't deliver all the incredible picture quality that DVDs offer. Using Monster component video cable ensures you get the best picture possible.

Monster Speaker Cable Delivers Greater Power Transfer and Simplifies Hookup
The ordinary speaker wires that come free in the box can't deliver the power your speakers need for higher quality home theatre sound. And, when you're hooking up five or more home theatre speakers with look-alike wires, getting every connection right can be a confusing chore.

Monster Home Theatre speaker cables have three times more copper content than ordinary cables.* They transfer all the power your home theatre speakers need to deliver every nuance of sound from your favorite movies. And, each cable is color-coded for simple, error-free speaker hookup.