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Topic: Monster Cables Twisting in the Breeze |
Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 7:10 am |
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Squirm, Baby
This company has gained a reputation for suing anyone who they think they can extract a bit of $$ and fear out of. This time they sued a company owned by a lawyer with years of experience in trademark infringement litigation. He recognized their ploy of scaring other companies into submission with fancy legal talk, even when there was no legal ground to stand on. He has turned the tables on them and probably has the owner screaming at his lawyers to do something!! Now!!
All of the lawsuits claim to be about protecting their brand, their name. I hope this backfires enough to turn their name into mud.
Meanwhile it's fun to think about Monster squirming while the world watches. |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 8:39 am Hooooo doggies
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That was fun.
Thanx! |
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Cal Sharp
From:
the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 9:13 am
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| Monster is a rip-off, anyway, a big mark-up item at BestBuy etc. A cable either conducts a signal or it doesn't. On or off. You get the same signal with any other cable. |
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Pete Finney
From:
Nashville Tn.
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 9:43 am
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I don't understand what kind of a person would read a long letter from a lawyer, full of legal jargon and detail, and find it funny and entertaining...
But I did!  Thanks for the link...
Last edited by Pete Finney on 20 Apr 2008 10:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 10:02 am
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I read the letter beginning to end, every word. Very entertaining and a good education for any lawyer to be. Sounds like it would be hard to design and sell any cable and not be sued. How much of what is patented today represents something really novel or creative? Minor changes to the art are routinely patented to keep other companies from competing. Monster cables suck. As an electrical engineer I find their website lacking in any real discussion of relevant technical facts. Many of their cables are very stiff and thick. Their audio cable are very high in capactance per foot compared to a good cable like George L's. Not to mention their exhorbitant prices, huge retail markups and the pitch I am forced to endure every time I buy a piece of gear at an electronics retailer.
Anyhow,....... I am mixing up a MONSTER song right now so I gotta go finish the beast!
Greg |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 10:33 am
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Yup, I read every word also - very entertaining, but more importantly, he's right on the money. I think this extends way beyond Monster - in fact, the guitar biz and many others seem to be wallowing in this kind of mentality now. Anybody remember the trust "robber barons"? How does it go - those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it?
Unfortunately, as Denke rightly points out in THIS INTERVIEW, there's no incentive for anybody to really go after these kinds of frivolous litigators. I agree with Greg that there is very little out there which really represents new creation. Which brings me back to my continuing view that there needs to be radical change of so-called "intellectual property" law. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 11:29 am
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John,That's just great..I wasn't familiar with Monster until Cal mentioned Best Buy,I couldn't believe their prices.
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Chris Bauer
From:
Nashville, TN USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 11:44 am
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Bravo!!!
That was one of the best documents I've read - of any type - in ages! I'll look forward to seeing how this plays out. |
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Webb Kline
From:
Orangeville, PA
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 12:45 pm
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Four different musicians in my sphere each purchased a monster cable, each from separate stores and all four of them failed at the first gig they used them at--honest to God truth.
Meanwhile, I bought 15 cables at 6 bucks a shot 9 years ago from a guy who makes them up to order--Belden Cable, Switchcraft connectors--no big deal. Out of those 15, only 2 have failed to date. I bought a whole new supply of them years ago, so I had spares and they still sit there in my case.
Oh well, can't blame Monster cable, I guess, when one considers that the entire record industry makes a living selling crap that cant hold a candle to half the bar bands out there.  |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 2:58 pm
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| Cal Sharp wrote: |
| A cable either conducts a signal or it doesn't. On or off. You get the same signal with any other cable. |
Yes, just like with amps and guitars... same signal, on or off. 
| Webb Kline wrote: |
| the entire record industry makes a living selling crap that cant hold a candle to half the bar bands out there. |
Not that I'm a big fan of a lot of the new stuff, but I can't even think for a moment that that session players on the recorded stuff "can't hold a candle to half the bar bands out there".
I honestly don't know where some of you guys get this stuff.
As for Monster cables, their product is known to be inferior, their company attitude stinks... what goes around, comes around.
Last edited by Jim Phelps on 20 Apr 2008 3:07 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 3:03 pm
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I have worked around and for lawyers for some time, and the serious ones refer to ones who pursue this line of work as "the vultures." There are now firms of patent lawyers who's full time job is scouring the online patent applications and records, and trying to invent lawsuits like this. They then approach the firm who they think might have deep enough pockets to afford a bunch of lawyers, and point out to them the newly-discovered "revenue stream."
Once a company wins a lawsuit or two, it's like crack cocaine - free money, with no work invested, no pesky product to make or guarantee.... Obviously somebody got Gibson & Monster going down this path, but unfortunately so many Americans really do believe that you "get what they pay for" and insist on giving away their money to "brand" marketers that honest companies can be victimized by the vultures easily. |
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Webb Kline
From:
Orangeville, PA
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 5:51 pm
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| Funny Jim, I can't for the life of me find anything in my post that says anything about session players. Gosh, if it did, it would include me. But alas, if you didn't get what I said the first time, I guess there's no sense reiterating the point. |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 5:53 pm
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..
Last edited by Jim Phelps on 20 Apr 2008 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 5:54 pm
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| Webb Kline wrote: |
| for the life of me find anything in my post that says anything about session players. |
When you said "entire record industry", you are certainly including session players. Who do you think plays on most of the stuff? You're in Nashville... how many recordings of the "name" acts come out of there without great session players? PF, Brent Mason, etc... Guess you have a higher opinion of "half the bar bands" than I do.
| Webb Kline wrote: |
| But alas, if you didn't get what I said the first time, I guess there's no sense reiterating the point. |
Yeah Webb, you're just too smart for me.
By the way, I didn't see a discography of your master recording sessions on your website... did I miss it? |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 20 Apr 2008 7:21 pm
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Wow! It's amazing how quickly a thread can go "off topic".
Thanks for posting this, Jon. I, too, read the whole thing, including the link to the original announcement of Monster's cease and desist order.
CLICK HERE
The bass player in our band at church has had to have both ends of his Monster cable replaced on numerous occasions. He stands about 3 feet from his amp. Plugs it in before the service and unplugs it after the service. That's it. And he has still had to have it repaired several times. The only thing Monster about it is the amount of money he spent purchasing it and the amount of money he has spent having it repaired.
I hope there are some follow-ups to this story. |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 21 Apr 2008 2:19 am
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| Monster needs to back off and put their efforts into building high quality cables and connectors if they want to be in the "audiophile" market. I too scoured their site for real technical specs on their cables and couldn't find any. Just "marketing hype". |
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Ray Minich
From:
Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra
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Posted 21 Apr 2008 6:23 am
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Maybe their insulation is so much thicker and their conector shells are so much fatter that it keeps any wayward electrons from migrating to the surface and floating free and combining with cosmic rays and gravity waves to interrupt the free flow of speaker cone expression...
Can your ear hear the dropping of one electron? |
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Ron Page
From:
Penn Yan, NY USA
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Posted 21 Apr 2008 8:28 am
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| Cal Sharp wrote: |
| Monster is a rip-off, anyway, a big mark-up item at BestBuy etc. A cable either conducts a signal or it doesn't. On or off. You get the same signal with any other cable. |
I think C# is correct. You have to keep in mind we're talking audio frequencies here. If I recall, "skin effect" only applies when you get to RF frequencies. You need a conductor large enough to avoid signifcant power loss. So unless you're running speaker cables in inordinately long distance or driving them with high power, most of the Monster cables are overkill.
_________________
HagFan
Emmons Lashley LeGrande II |
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P Gleespen
From:
Toledo, OH USA
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Posted 21 Apr 2008 8:37 am
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| Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it. |
That line is pure comedy gold! 
_________________
Patrick |
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Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 21 Apr 2008 10:23 am
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Monster is well known and despised for their proclivity for unwarrented litigation. I would never purchase one of their products because of it..and more importantly because their product sucks.
Just read about a pro audio test in which a monster cable was beat out by a coat hanger.
Some companies you WANT to see fail. Monster is deinfetly one of those for me. |
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George Redmon
From:
Muskegon & Detroit Michigan.
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Posted 21 Apr 2008 5:38 pm
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| I think it's funny how Monster cables makes a different cable for different instruments and style music. Do these cables really make a piano sound like a piano? and what would happen if a country picker used one of their cables made for Rock? maybe he would play "Country Rock"??? |
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 21 Apr 2008 7:29 pm
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| The latest issue of Guitar Player has a play test comparison of dozens of guitar cables across all price ranges. Monster did not fare well, except in their highest price studio line. George L cables compared very well, especially price-wise. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 22 Apr 2008 3:40 am
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I plugged in one of them "directional" cables backwards one time and I've been sterile ever since.  I was gonna sue my momma for making me stupid but she's broke so maybe I'll sue Budweiser for making me confused... the cable worked O.K. though.  |
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Cal Sharp
From:
the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN
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Mark Lind-Hanson
From:
Menlo Park, California, USA
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Posted 22 Apr 2008 7:50 am
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| I owned three or four Monster cables over time- I used primarily the phone-jack type, usually 18 or 20 footers. With the exception of the very first one, (when their company was new) every one of these cables twisted into unmanageable kinks, which only stiffened over time, rendering them nigh impossible to properly wrap or store them- in addition, they nearly always developed a short, someplace within the kinked-out regions. I'll never use them again, and that was a decision I made years ago. |
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