Audiophiles have some very strong opinions when it comes to accessories designed (in theory) to improve the sound and image quality of their home systems. Over the past 40 years, a number of companies have made millions offering overpriced accessories for your home theater or HiFi system and many of us are still feeling rather dumb after spending our hard-earned money on them.
Most of us here at eCoustics do not use very expensive high-end cables because we’ve tried some of the most expensive ones and didn’t feel that they offered enough of an improvement to warrant the expenditure. We’re definitely fans of QED, Analysis Plus, and Kimber when it comes to their most affordable products.
The same applies to record cleaning solutions, equipment racks, loudspeaker stands, isolation devices, and power conditioners.
One brand that has become a go-to source for some items is Monoprice.
I spent my money on a set of Monoprice Monolith Speaker Stands and a very long set of SlimRun 8K HDMI cables that are running behind the wall to 2 different TVs on different floors. Both products work as advertised.
Monolith by Monoprice 24″ Steel Speaker Stands
A solid pair of loudspeaker stands are worth their weight in gold and over the past 24 years, I have owned multiple sets of 20-inch and 24-inch stands made by Sound Anchors and Gig Harbor Audio. When I was single and didn’t have a mortgage and children in college, I could justify spending $500 USD on a pair of custom Sound Anchors stands for my Spendor SP2/3e Loudspeakers back in 2000.
The GHA 24-inch stands also ran close to $350 almost 12 years ago and I’ve used them with every bookshelf loudspeaker I’ve reviewed since moving to our home on the Jersey Shore.
For people setting up a 2.0, 2.1, 3.1, or 5.1 system, a solid pair of 24-inch stands can solve some potential setup headaches.
But not everyone wants to spend that kind of money on stands and that’s why the Monolith by Monoprice stands are such a bargain at only $59.99 USD each.
Sturdy steel pillars provide incredible strength and rigidity to support a center channel or bookshelf‑style speaker weighing up to 75 pounds. The top plate features adjustable, padded screws to isolate and angle your speaker for proper alignment and positioning.
The pillars ring slightly so I would advise filling them with steel shot or sand (now you know why I live by the beach) to eliminate that and it does make these otherwise inert loudspeaker stands quite heavy.
The top plate is 12″ x 9″ which makes it work with bookshelf loudspeakers and smaller center channel speakers placed horizontally.
It doesn’t take very long to assemble them and they have worked just fine with the Monoprice Monolith M518HT THX 5.1 Channel Speaker System that is currently blowing my socks off in the basement home theater system for only $799.99. Now on sale for $439.99 (while supplies last).
Where to buy: $59.99 each at Monoprice.com
Monoprice SlimRun AV 8K Certified Ultra High Speed Active HDMI Cable
Readers lost their collective minds when I discussed the QED Reference Ethernet Cable, and venom rushed forth from their eyes when I even suggested that it could offer an improvement; bits and bits and unless my home router is crap — I should not hear any audible improvement.
The cable is currently running between our modem and ASUS router and I have not spent any time yet listening to it with any streaming components like my Roon Nucleus or the latest affordable network players from Cambridge Audio and WiiM.
I suspect that I will hear zero improvement, but I can report that the one iMac directly wired into the ASUS is experiencing faster download performance — which I know makes very little sense.
The build quality of the QED cable is excellent, however, and I wish every Ethernet cable utilized such quality plugs.
Taking a step back — better quality HDMI cables do make a difference but that has more to do with the quality of the termination, shielding, and when using really long runs.
You don’t have to go crazy with HDMI cables, but if you’re using them in very long runs from a switcher to multiple TVs across the home or from sources to a single AVR or A/V Processor — you might want to buy some that are UL-approved for those in-wall scenarios, and terminated with higher quality connectors.
All of our TVs are ISF-calibrated and most are connected to Roku boxes or video game consoles using HDMI cables.
Over the years, I have been sent endless iterations of “audiophile” HDMI cables that promise to improve the image quality in ways that would make an ISF Calibrator cry out in ecstasy. Hardly.
The Monoprice SlimRun 8K Cables use an active chipset and optical fiber to support uncompressed video at resolutions up to 8K@60Hz and 4K@120Hz.
None of us are using any 8K sources right now (unless you are shooting TV or movies with an 8K camera) at home, and I can barely get my Comcast 4K signal to work properly most of the time.
Doest this cable have any impact? Even when used in very short runs from 4K sources to a 4K LG OLED TV or last generation Panasonic Plasma TV?
Our Ethernet connection can be so spotty (and we’re paying for the 1GB download speed option here) that it is easy to see any form of improvement or degradation in the image quality.
Black levels didn’t improve at all on either TV, but the image is less noisy when watching Netflix or any 4K programming on the OLED TV. DVDs and Blu-ray Discs exhibit fewer artifacts; which is rather noticeable with older films from the 1930s and 1940s.
A few installers have recommended these to me because of the ability to install them in tighter spaces and because a really long run is rather affordable compared to other brands.
Where to buy: $115.99 at monoprice.com
Related reading: Pixelgen Introduces World’s First THX Certified 8K HDMI Cables
