Comments

i too ran a high-end audio store, and worked the retail floor for years. in fact, one year i sold more monster cable than anyone else in the country. ;) yes, accessories and warranties are the most profitable items electronics stores sell. that does not mean they're not worth it, nor that they bring no value to the customer. ask anyone who's iPod died after a year if they're sorry they bought applecare? as to the specifics of whether one cable or another is better, why not let your own eyes and ears be the guide? if you can't see/hear the difference, don't pay for it. if your dealer won't offer you a refund, don't patronize them. there's a lot of high priced dreck out there. but there are a lot of very well made products that will provide a superior experience, and they're not necessarily the most expensive. for instance, i'm currently evaluating the SOUND of 4 different USB cables in my system (PC audio into an external DAC), raging in price from about $5 to $40. I'm as yet undecided which sounds the best, but they all unquestionably sound different. whether those differences are important to you is a value judgement. Monster makes some excellent products, although they'r enot to my taste for the most part. They are unfairly singled out in this regard, IMHO. your post, sadly, is misleading, and will likely cause some uneducated consumers to get less than what they paid for when they bought their flats creen TVs and surround systems. FWIW, i haven't been in the business for ten years.