So I finished installing infinty kappa 6.5" components in my car, along with rewiring my subs, and a new pioneer deck. I'm picking up a lot of alternator noise so I head to the local Fry's electronics to pick up some new RCA's. Despite many negative reviews about their overpricing, I decide to go with the Monster 304 (4 channel) XLN line RCA's to go to my new infinity 4 channel amp. I decided that before the install I would test run them to make sure they cancelled the noise I was getting. And hey they did a great job, cut the alternator noise completely and just about negated any speaker hiss. So I try to disconnect them from the deck harness and what happens? THEY PULL THE CONNECTOR FROM THE DECK OFF THE WIRE!! So I figure okay no biggie I'll take them back to Fry's get them to give me a new RCA harness, no problem. So I go to my amp to disconnect them. AND THEY PULL THE CONNECTOR OUT OF THE AMP!!! Bear in mind I am pulling by the monster head, not by the wire or anything stupid like that. So now, I have both end of this F*&^ing cable stuck in my amp and the RCA harness. Luckily the harness plugs into the deck and isn't wired in so I don't have to pull it out too. So my day tmw is going to include trying to get fry's to refund my money for the cables and fix/replace my amp and harness. so please DO NOT EVER BUY MONSTER RCA CABLES!

 

well your alternator noise could have came from multiple factors not just the type of wire or gauge of wire. it all depends on how the installer wire your car i know your suppose to separate the power and the remote to lessen the engine noise. so majority of the time it might be the installer rather then the equipment

 

I installed it myself, it was the rca's picking up noise. The power cable/turn on wire is down one side, rcas down the other, only heard whining when the car was running, not just with the stereo on and it went away/ lowered if one or more of the original RCA's were disconnected.

 

Quality control is no where near where it used to be. I've had the same set of Monster Cable RCAs since '96 and in 4 different cars. I've had no noise in any cars and I've had to have had pulled on the wires like 100 times +. Sorry man!

 

Well it's all working out in the end. Fry's took the cables back, but only after I pulled all the females ends out of my amp. Crutchfield is advance shipping a new amp and deck to me, should be here Thursday, complete exchange no cost to me. Just sucks that I bought all this stuff, spent the first 3 days of my spring break installing it, and now I'm still gonna be w/o music for close to a week. Oh well..

 

Sorry man! but good news on the exchange.

 

Monster cables are designed that way so they don't rattle off. For the most part all you have to do is twist while pulling and they come right off. But of course yours could have been defective. I do a lot of Home Theater wiring and use Monster cables all the time and they have the same type of connections on there HT cables as well. Sorry you had so much trouble though and good luck getting it all put back in.

 

yea monster cables have strong connectors. you sure you twisted the ends first before you pulled?

 

Yeah I'm sure I twisted before trying to pull them off, they didn't have the turbine cut like usual, just a straight cut head. I've done at least 10 car installs for friends using all levels of cables/connectors and never seen this kind of thing.

 

BAM /thread
also make sure never to pull rca connections off a pioneer deck WHILE IT'S RUNNING, or you could blow an internal fuse for the preamps.

 

Sounds like this guy didn't know what he was doing. Some moster cable end terminations can be loosened by turning the outer metal cover, that you normally grip when inserting or removing the wire, in the counter-clockwise direction. You then turn it in the clockwise direction to increase the clamping force. I have never had the problem with damaging the female RCA connectors on amps or headunits because I knew what I was doing beore hand.

All this talk of quality control, and monster not being who they used to be is rubish. PLEASE, someone tell me which company is still who they used to be? Which company doesnt have their low-end product manufactured in a sweatshop somewhere in southern Asia?

 

YES I TRIED TWISTING THEM OFF! AND UNSCREWING THE METAL JACKET BEFORE TRYING TO REMOVE THE CABLES!. Does anyone actually read these posts before responding? I said in three separate posts that I tried twisting the head off and it didn't work. What is with everyone in this forum not reading anything anyone writes and just responding to the first post?

 

You don't need to buy overpriced MONSTER cables. I bought some old school 10ft. Streetwires RCA's on eBay for $5 a set. I ended up buying a case of them. I've never heard of anyone breaking both sides of RCAs in an amp and a deck, especially some Monster Cables. But you did it.

 

Yup!!! The only mention of you twisting them off was in post #10. You didn't mention that in 3 seperate posts. Are you telling me that I can't read? And where did you mention you tried to relieve pressure on the female terminal by slightly unscrewing the metal jacket? It's clear that you meant to say something but forgot to say it. Say what you mean. I have 2 sets of the 300 xlns kicking around the garage and currently have a set of the older xln 6-channel units installed in two different vehicles. As I said in my previous post, I never had the problem because I knew what I was doing. When inserting these wires, I unscrew the metal jacket slighty (maybe 1 turn), insert into the amp or headunit with a slight twist if needed, then tighten the jacket. Same steps for removal. Contact resistance is a mother when low noise is desired.



As long as the street wires are of good quality (they did and probably still do make some good patch cables), then there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, I have heard of people breaking the Rca female connectors on amps and head units before. I have even seen an installer push the female rca terminal back into the amp during install. These occurances do not happen at the high end specialty shops. Common at BB and CC though.

 

Point taken, I did leave out the fact that I tried twisting. I figured it was implied that I tried twisting the cables to remove them because any rational person would do more than just try pulling on the heads and then giving up. I tried twisting clockwise, counter clockwise and pulling straight out using my hands (and also with pliers, but only around the base of the head). I also tried unscrewing the jacket both a little and entirely and still could not disconnect the male and female connectors.

My entire issue with this post is that I put up a warning about a problem I encountered with a product and it was met with rebuttals not about flaws in the product but that whoever installed it was an idiot. I would hardly believe that someone with enough skill to install 4 component speakers (which I stated is what I did) in a car not manufactured to have these types of speakers would at the same time be too stupid to do more than yank on cables to try to disconnect them. That is what has made me irritated with this and what I meant by "doesn't anyone read these posts."

Apparently this entire problem is my fault because I made the stupid assumption that other members would not think that every person that posts something is a complete moron. From what I see in most posts, there are a few members that essentially feel they know everything, and everyone else knows nothing and by this token should be treated/talked to accordingly. From now on if I do post I will make sure to include every intricate detail of my problem, in order to avoid being called incompetent b/c I did not include those details.