back in the late 80's, every cable manufacturer was into double, and triple shielding, shield drain wires, huge conductors...RCA cables were getting out of control. Some of them were around 3/4 inch in diameter, an cost a fortune.

About 1990, Richard Clark showed up at one of the big events, IASCA finals, I think, with a demonstration. He twisted together a pair of simple speaker wires (about 18 ga, from memory), and soldered on some ends. Then, he put them through all sorts of EMI rejection testing, both on the bench and in the car. They were every bit as clean, or cleaner, than all the major big time cables, which were of a coax design back then. Twisting the wires has the effect of cancelling the interference.

Guess what...everyone went to twisted pairs. For a while (and some still today) that's all they were...two twisted wires. Now, due mainly to marketing, folks are adding back all sorts of 'flux drain shielding' and the like, and the cables are getting fat again.

For my money, its not necessary. Once you find a cable with good quality ends, and a twisted pair construction, your search is over. Any upgrading at this point should be for cosmetics (color) or construction (more flexible, thinner or thicker jackets, etc.).

Why does Monster sound better than the shack? Well, if you are comparing two twisted pair products with decent ends, I'll venture to say you won't hear the difference. Most likely, if there is a noticable difference, you're comparing a good quality twisted monster cable to a junky coax radio shack.

Don't get sucked into the marketing hype.

Toby