Soft, clean, well defined highs. Neutral, full body in the midrange. Articulate bass, precise, and realistic. These are very musical cables, I recommend that you at least try these.

I am not sure why they come in a plastic carrying case, I would imaging people would carry their speaker cables with them anywhere. Oh well, I quess it's better than coming in a brown paper bag.

I was delighted when I finally got to hook these up! At the time I had just upgraded to Adcom apmlifiers and decided to upgrade some of my cables as well. I was never interested in Monster Cable products before and never had experience with them, I always thought of them being overpriced low end cable. These M1.2s speaker cables certainly changed my mind. I borrowed a set from a local dealer after he repeatedly urged me to try them with my Energy speakers, I am glad that I did. These cables have a very neutral, warm sound to them. I was suprised how natural they sounded...so clean, without coloring the sound. I was previously using Audioquest speaker cables in my system and was pleased with them, they are also great cables. I decided to replace them because they were only 6 foot legnths and I needed to relocate my equipment. These cables are a supurb value. I could not have imagined getting such a quality product at this price point, afterall my Audioquest cables cost about three times as much.

Similar Products Used:

Audioquest Cardas

Interchangable connectors are nice. You can buy spades, bannana, pins, or pigtails for these wires. Thick heavy wire. Improved sound stage. Better high frequency response Clean midrange. Tight, thin bass response, not muddy at all.

I have no complaints.

I purchased these cables in May 2002. I noticed a instant improvement in sound stage depth and width with these cables. The midrange is smooth, balanced, and detailed. High frequencies are clear, defined, and smooth. After a few weeks of listening I was still happy with them. I again hooked up my old speaker cables so that I could do another A/B comparison...the difference now was even greater than before. Much better than my Straitwire cables and Monster XP wires. Equipment used in the system is: Onkyo TXDS797 receiver Mordaunt-Short MS902 speakers Monster cable IC's Philips DVD player

Similar Products Used:

Monster XP Audioquest Straitwire IXOS MIT

VERY open and revealing cable. Surprisingly taut bass and soundstage/air.

Absolutely none! This is a Monster product that is truly high-end in every respect. This cable truly rivals many that cost much more than this did ($5 a foot).

WOW...I am VERY surprised and at a loss here! I used to 'diss' Monster products (I have been partial to DH Labs speaker cables with my main high-end setup), but will do so no more. I purchased these cables for my secondary office system with the intent of just getting some mediocre (which I thought these were), fairly inexpensive simple cables that would sound just O.K. All I needed was a pair of 3 foot runs (my system sits a bit above me on an upper shelf on a huge L-shaped desk).

I am BLOWN AWAY at how EVERYTHING just opened up bigtime after connecting these cables... and all this on a mid to high-mid fi setup!!! The detail, imaging, and pinpoint instrument locations/separation just blossomed!!! Timbral accuracy noticeably improved on vocals, saxophones, violins, etc. to a point I never before knew could be possible on this spartan setup!!! It's as if a veil was lifted!!! I say with conviction that if you want to quickly and easily improve your system's overall sound, go with a run of these GREAT cables. They are THAT GOOD!!!!!!

BRAVO Monster for bringing these excellent and affordable cables to market!

My 'simple simon' secondary office system consists of:

AudioSource AMP TWO amplifier
Technics SL-PD8 CD changer (feeding amp direct with NO preamp- the AMP TWO has variable L and R volume/gain knobs)
JBL HLS-610 monitors
Straightwire Encore II interconnects
Monster M1.2s speaker cables with bananas on speaker ends

Similar Products Used:

Monster XP (on my secondary system previously); also use DH Labs T-14's on my main system

Incredible Highs, along with a tight base.

None

For over 8 years I have used the "original" Monster Cables and have been very satisfied.

This past holiday I decided to treat myself, and purchased all new Marantz Equipment (Mark II Series). The one upgrade which the salesman recommended was to get better cables. He suggested I try the Monster M-Series 1.2s.

Upon hooking them up I was "blown away". The "highs" that came through were just astounding, along with a tight "base". There was a big and noticible difference between the 1.2s and my older "originals". The other thing I like about the cables are the gold connector (bananna) ends, which "plug" directly into my reciever and speakers.
No more trying to jam twisted wires into a port hole.

Another cable which I did try briefly was tne MCX-2s (which I returned). Comparing these to the 1.2s, the difference was obvious. While the highs were good (MCX-2s) , it seemed to really drown out the base. For another $80, go for the 1.2s, you'll be much more pleased.

In closing, all I say is try the 1.2s and see (or hear) for yourself. Most good hi-fi stores offer a refund or exchange policy if you aren't satisfied...but after you listen with these cable you'll have no desire to bring them back.

D.C.

Similar Products Used:

"original" Monster Cable and more recently Monster Cable MCX-2s

The M1.2s strengths are many:easy screw on terminations w/o tools. I purchased two 15ft.runs. The cables come in a plastic snap mini attache' case. The sound right out of the box is incredible.They are open,dynamic & natural. A far cry from generic cables. The price with connections is a bargain considering the competitors cost far more. An all around gem.

None except for the size of the cable, but this is to be expected in a well constructed cable.

An excellent speaker cable bar none. This is my first experience with this model & will even improve in dynamics after break in. The easy mount terminals will fit just about any speaker,you can even buy bare wire ends to fit a speaker switcher.
Monster has hit the mark with this one,its bigger brother the 2.2s is great also but the added $300 cost can be alarming. Try this one first from a reputable dealer who will let you demo it in your system.

Similar Products Used:

Audioquest,Tara Labs,XLO,Siltech

Clear, detailed sound. Well balanced between trebble, midrange and bass.

None. The size is certainly "Monsterous"

More than a year ago I upgraded my main speaker cables from Monster XP to MCX-2s. Prior to that, I had always been a bit skeptical about claims for speaker cable being able to improve sound quality. I held the opinion that as long as the wire was sufficiently large, any wire would work as well as any other. Well, the MCX-2s certainly proved that wrong, and the improvement was immediately noticeable. Even casual listeners could easily tell the difference. I am using Martin Logan electrostatic speakers, which can make use of the improved wires. Recently, I added a Martin Logan Cinema as the center channel speaker and bought a 10 foot pair of M1.2s cables to upgrade the main speakers' cables. The little hard "brief case" in which the wires are packaged is somewhat bizarre, but a nice touch I guess. The net result of this upgrade, however, is that I really cannot tell the difference between the MCX-2s and the M1.2s. I left both wires in place and had a friend swap back and forth so I did not know which was in use. I listen mostly to classical music, and we repeatedly played a CD I know very well (a Wagner opera). Maybe if you intend to blast the music loudly there might be a difference, but at listening levels as loud as I care to listen, there is no discernable difference - or at least none that you can be sure you are hearing (and not just tricking yourself into thinking there is a difference). I guess I have gone from speaker wire skeptic to speaker wire "true believer" to speaker wire realist. Clearly there are improvements to be had by getting better wires, but you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear just with a wire, and the improvements have their limits. With hind sight, I would have saved money just getting a single MCX-2s for the center speaker. However, I will keep the M1.2s wires because they are still superb wires, and they match my carpet better! (The M1.2s is a dark grey while the MCX-2s is light grey) One of the old MCX-2s wires is now doing just fine on the Cimena, and I have no intention of replacing it. I note in some of the other reviews, there is discussion about the speaker wire needing to "break in." While I certainly agree that audio components with moving parts (like speakers) need to break in, and I also agree that some audio components and even solid state amplifiers sometimes need to get up to operational temperatures before sounding their best, I am somewhat skeptical about a speaker wire "breaking in." Maybe they do, and maybe some people can actually tell the difference between a broken in speaker wire and brand new one. I cannot.

Similar Products Used:

Monster MCX-2s

Sounds great, looks clean and not overly gaudy

none really

I come from a family of engineers, all of who have always told me that speaker wire is irrelavent, 16 awg or higher for short runs should sound identical. I believed this for many many years, until my ears told me differently. I am not an engineer, so I can't tell you why or how, but when I first went from monster xp (14awg I think) to these cables I was very impressed. The bass--where I expected the hear no difference--really opened up, and there was just more coherent detail. It was a surprise, but a very nice one. I won't go back to my old wires, and wonder what kind of improvement I would hear with the 2.2s--I can't imagine, since the sound is so clear now.

Associated Equipment:
Rotel RCD-991 AE HDCD Player
Denon PMA-2000R Integrated Amplifier
Monster I-950 interconnects
Monster M1.2 Speaker cable (bananas for Amp, spades for speakers)
Vienna Acoustics, Bach Loudspeakers (filled and spiked)

(occasionally a Technics SQ-33D turntable)
On a Salamander Archetype 5.0 rack

Similar Products Used:

Kimber Cable, 12awg wire, Monster XP

My previous cable was some "no name" 10 guage cable which I lived with since I bought my first system. However, my new home presented some wiring challenges and I had to purchase some longer cables (of course I figured this out in the middle of setting my system up). I ran out to the only stores that were open at 3:00p.m. on a Sunday and grabbed a 10' pair of these cables; it was that or settle on some large guage wire at Home Depot. The salesmen said I could return them if I wasn't completely happy so I tried them.After comparing my conventional wires and the new Monsters I was very pleased to say the least. Yeah, I know cables can't make any difference right? The difference was much more than I expected. These cables seem to be much more open with significant improvements in soundstage. Also, the noise floor seems lower, maybe superior rejection of hum or other interference from the tangle of wires, cables, etc, from the back of my system. I didn't notice any significant anomolies - no rolloffs or emphasis (very neutral), and after reading the Stereophile review of the M1.2S's bigger brother (M2.2S) I would have to agree with their conclusions (my opinions were formulated long before I read the article). I just can't see spending that much more on cables, at least on my budget.

One complaint, the supplied bannana plugs were too large to easily fit into my Carver TFM-35 binding post. I actually had to do some minor "filing" to get them to fit. Monster seems to be taking the "tight connection" theory to extremes. If it wasn't for the great sound quality I would have returned them, however, with this caveat, I give them four stars. Construction quality is good to very good. Why spend more? Give them a listen.

Review System:
Polk RTA11TL Speakers w/Teknasonic C-10 & C-12 vibration absorbers
Rotel RSP-960AX Preamp/Processor
Carver TFM35 Amplifier
Pioneer Elite PD-54 Compact Disc Player
Monster 400MKII Interconnects

I started with ordinary Monster cable with Boston Acoustics VR 20 speakers. I quickly upgraded to Mirage OM 12's and when I did I changed to Monster 2.2 speaker cable. Well, I was not impressed with the sound of the speakers when I hooked them up. I brought the 2.2 cables back, spent more money for the 1.2S and the difference was incredible. They sound better all the time. I couldn't compare these to cables like DH Labs, Kimbercable or Audioquest, but I think these are fine speaker cables for the money. I also happen to get them for 150.00 for 15ft pair.
System

NAD 214 amp

NAD 1600 pre amp

NAD 505 CD changer

Audioquest Turquoist interconnects

Mirage OM 12's

After many years of listening to my systems with 12 ga. standard cable- I decided to buy the 1.2 set. I am pleasantly surprised! The sound is improved in the hi end as well as possibly better sounding bass. Averall the music seems more full. Now I will wonder if upgrading will give me even better sound???It seems this hobby isn't very good to a man's pocketbook..
system:
Harman/Kardon-Avr-65-used as pre amp in 2ch mode
Adcom 555 amp
Toshiba 2109(just ordered 3109)
NHT 2.5i
Energy rvs center and rears
Monster 350 interconnects and 1.2 cables