Oh my God. You have openned up a Pandora's box. Did you solder or crimp the connection? Was the crimp tool certified? Did you trim the insulation with a knife or a special trim tool? Is the center conductor soldered? Did you perform a sweep test of the wire to see if all the proper frequencies are being passed? Did you pull hard on the connector to test the mechanical strength of the connection? Are all of the ground shield wires in the proper circular pattern? Did you use ordinary shielded RG/6 or Quad shield? Did you use the proper diameter connectors to fit the wire?

JJK

Ahh... the power of marketing. Didn't think this thread would cause so much interest. There is a difference between component and "S" video. That can easily be seen, even by someone with less than perfect eyesight, like me. So on the video side yes, good quality cables are important.

On the audio side not so much, at least not for the typical home user. The heavier the wire the better for the reasons already said. My view, 14-16 gage is fine. Anything lower is overkill and anything higher than 18 gage you probably will get a difference. You may not hear it, but you'll never know what you're missing. Brand doesn't matter. In a pinch a run of old extension cord with the plugs cut off will do, as will heavy enough wire sold at any hardware store.

Heck no! I smashed em on with a hammer, and stripped the wire with my teef (two front one missings now) :o)

A good thread. I would love to see a double-blind test showing Monster Cable to be superior.

What's even more interesting to me is that the human brain is such a good filter. How many of us have listened to a symphony on a truly crummy stereo, or even an LP recording of one? Sure, at the outset you hear all the crackles and pops, but 5 minutes into it you are listening to just the orchestra. The brain somehow "parts the curtain" of interface and you are left with just the music itself.

Most recently I noticed this effect in a new way: I am doing all my video now with 4 channel surround sound. Watch a bit of one of those videos, then take away the rear two channels-- Hey! What's going on? It sounds so unnatural! But that's the sound (2 channel stereo) that we normally perceive to be just fine.