Cables - When Did it All Start?

I remember buying a pair of "Cobra Cable" speaker wires back in 1976. (I'm not sure if this was the actual name of the cables.) They were multi-stranded thin gauge lacquer insulated wires (green and orange to represent "+" and "-") woven in a 90 degree multi-layering patterning. The construction was supposed to reduce capacitance. Looked real cool, too, since the outer insulation was clear! I was into pretty good mid-fi, back then, and these cables made a big difference in the fidelity of the mid's and hi's, over lamp zip cord!

For me it was AudioTechnica interconnects in 1977. "....whadda mean they'll improve my system?" Yikes!! I wish I had the money I have spent on wire. It would probably pay for half of my new PT Turbo.

FatParrot: The "Cobra Cables" were the Polk's that Viridian mentioned. Their design reduced inductance, not capacitance. This design was VERY high in capacitance per foot and sent many an amp into oscillation and an early death.

As to who actually "started" all of this, i really don't know. I want to say that Bob Fulton was at least partially responsible, but i really don't know for sure. I've got a 12' pair of the 4 gauge Fulton Gold's. If you want to see REAL "monster" cables, there you go : )

As far as the Polk's go, i think that they were made for Polk overseas in the Orient. As such, they might have been available in Japan, etc... quite a bit before making their appearance here in the USA. Monitor Audio out of the UK also sold some similar cables back in the mid to late 1970's if i remember correctly.

I've also got a pair of the Discwasher "Smoglifter" interconnects that Rock mentions. These were also made for Discwasher somewhere in the Orient from what i can remember and were probably available there prior to finding their way onto our shores.

As far as Noel Lee / Monster Cable goes, from what i can gather, Noel saw an opening in the market and went for it. I don't think that any of his designs were ever original or innovative. He's just good at marketing and knowing how to turn a profit. Maybe J-10 can fill us in with a little bit o' "Monster History" if he checks out this thread. Sean
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Thsalmon: No wonder that the wire / cable industry is such a rip-off. The guy that you claim started the industry ( P.T. Barnam ) was nothing but a pale imation / con artist working off of the name of someone else that was famous ( P.T. Barnum ) !!! A crooked industry started by a fraud !!! There IS a sucker born every minute : ) Sean
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