Monster Cable StudioLink 500 Interconnect Cable with 1/4 Inch Stereo to Male XLR Connectors (Black)

The StudioLink 500 interconnect cables come in high-visibility colors for speedy and easy-to-spot applications. The cables also incorporate 2 multiple-gauge Bandwidth Balanced wire networks for clarity and punch with extended frequency response.

Features
High performance, great sounding audio interconnect cables.

Multiple gauge high and low frequency wire networks for accurate, natural sound reproduction.

Precision wound Time Correct construction provides extremely accurate musical reproduction.

Open soundstage, precise imaging, tight bass, and smooth highs.

Ultra-flexible, durable jacket for ease of use and prolonged life, even in the tightest situations.

Available with 8-cut patented Turbine RCAs or 24k hard gold plated 1/4 in. connectors in several configurations.

6 easily distinguishable colors (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black, and Ivory) for quick assignment identification.

Amplitude Balanced Multiple Gauged Conductors
Selected based on the depth of penetration of audio frequencies into the conductor material (in Monster's case this is high purity OFC copper), different sized conductors are optimized for certain frequencies, and the calculated combinations help determine the frequency balance, the sonic energy capabilities at those frequencies (ability to drive current in the case of speaker cables), and phase characteristics of the cable.

The parameters for this type of design vary with interconnect cables vs. speaker cables. In interconnect cables you want… read more to accurately pass voltage, and in speaker cables you want to pass current. In interconnect cables you are driving high impedances, while in speaker cables you are driving complex low impedances, creating severe limitations in a speaker cable's ability to drive current at low frequencies. Since typical interconnect cables are low inductance and higher in capacitance, current leads the voltage by 90 degrees, causing time domain distortions. In speaker cables, the opposite is true: inductance is higher than the capacitance and speakers require current, not voltage, to drive the bass energy, especially where the impedance of some speakers is very low at bass frequencies, causing a loss of control and more time domain and amplitude distortions.

A good example of the validity of this approach is the popularity of solid core cables and the concept of bi-wiring: cables that are biased towards certain frequency ranges. However, a non-scientific, haphazard approach to Amplitude Balancing will produce mixed and unpredictable results, and focus typically on a limited frequency range. Monster's Amplitude Balanced constructions are calculated and modeled by computer, and then verified by careful listening tests.

Amplitude Balanced construction is used in Monster's highly acclaimed New Monster Cable (frequently referred to as Monster BiWire), which features separately insulated networks for the high and low frequencies. Monster's Custom Installation Series actually incorporates a solid core along with multi-strands, and the new M Series cables use multiple solid core construction along with time compensated conductors.

Time Correct Windings
While effective in lower cost cables, Amplitude Balanced construction does not complete the whole picture. Time domain distortions can be improved, but cannot be accurately controlled to give us the sonic attributes that are related to phase as described earlier. In interconnect cables we correct these time domain distortions by creating a longer path and higher impedances for the higher frequencies. We cannot speed up the lows, so we must delay the highs. By winding the high frequency conductors to create inductance at those frequencies, we delay them in time to pass through the cable at the same time with the slower lower frequencies. This develops the ability to capture lost phase-related information such as dimensionality, soundstage, imaging, and depth.

This technology places great demands on our manufacturing processes to precisely wind the wire, control the number of turns for the different conductors — which is especially difficult because the smaller high frequency wires need to be more precisely and tightly wound than the low frequencies, and to delicately handle varying gauges of conductors that are wound together without breakage or waste. The complexity of the windings increases the cost proportionately since machine time is very expensive. The complexity of Monster's constructions in our higher priced cables is apparent to the eye, but it's the audible results of Time Correct construction that are well worth the cost and effort.

Turbine Design RCA
This is truly the highest quality RCA connector ever made. If you think about it, the connector is also a cable, and whatever attributes are important to cable design, also apply to connector design — and more.

That's why Monster's Turbine is made from a single slug of material that is machined out to maintain its mass (other connectors are simply folded over sheet metal), and then each cut is made on an indexing cutter to maintain a precision fit and maximize the mass of each "finger." There are 4 features important to the audibility of connectors: Contact Mass, Contact Points, Contact Area, and Contact Pressure.

The Turbine excels in all of these parameters, especially contact pressure, which is important with heavy cables. This means that bass, dynamic range, smoothness, and coherency are audible in an excellent connector design. Car stereo applications are also extremely important when it comes to contact pressure, since nearly all car stereo installation call-backs have to do with wiring-grounding, intermittent channels, noise, distortion. Remember, even though it sounds good today, will it sound good tomorrow? read less