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Monster Sigma Mythology - Need Answers

Back in the mid 1990s I fell into spools of Monster M Series M1500 and M2.4 Biwire. The M2.4 does not have the network terminator and I had to terminate the M1500 (don't do this as it takes forever, and ever, and ever). Before I knew it I had an entire system cabled with the much maligned Monster products and there they've stayed all these years, but now I have a 1 meter pair of the mythological M2000 Sigma interconnect in route.

I write this due to the complete lack of information on the net about upper end Monster cables. The new retro cables actually have some discussion on the net, but then you'll see claims that the old M2000 Sigma was better. Similar controversy may exist with the speaker cables with the old M2 Sigma.

The M2000 Sigma interconnect I purchased in ignorance thinking it was using the newer generation, low capacitance PEX dielectric first found in M1000i and the M2.4s biwire Speaker cables (cables are nearly black whereas older Monster M Series is gray.) I’ll update the table below with its capacitance which is likely frighteningly high. In searching I saw an Ad for M1500i, but without visual confirmation I belief this is a myth. (Or does M1500i exist?)

I am hoping the Agon community will help fill out this thread with details on the various monster top offerings. I'd like to keep this to M1000 and above interconnects and M2.2s Speaker cable and above. So some tabular info follows including capacitance which is a big issue for tube equipment (we can update values if anyone can provide missing numbers by measuring with capacitance meter)....

Interconnect (1 meter pair):
MODEL VERSION YEAR PRICE CAPACI NOTES
M1000 Laboratory Ref
M1000 Sonic Ref. Std.
M1000 Mk. II Sonic Ref.
M1000 Mk. III Sonic Ref. $200 162pf Isotec
M1000i PEX
M1000i Ultimate (PEX) PEX
M1500 $400 278pf
M1500i
M2000 Sigma $800

Speaker Cable (8 foot pair)
MODEL VERSION YEAR PRICE NOTES
M2 Sigma $2000
M2.4s Biwire $800 Best?
M2.2s

Decided to leave out Retro in table. Please discuss your sound experience with these. Monster has a bad name with audiophiles, but these cables were designed with technology licensed from Bruce Brisson of MIT fame. The earlier interconnects are extremely capacitive and that would account for their dark sound with some tube equipment. You do not want excess length! All of these are well liked to my knowledge except perhaps the M1000i ultimate which an Amazon reviewer said sounded more rolled off then his old M1000. M1500 considered sizeable step up from M1000. M2000 is not as big a step up. Until the Retro Gold, I don't think Monster put out anything above M1000i with the lower capacitance PEX dielectric.

On the speaker cable front I left out the older Monster stuff except the outrageously priced Sigma M2. The M2.4s is really, really good even at retail and can be had used easily enough given the Monster reputation among audiophiles (most of whom would be embarrassed to have it in their system). Don't be shy Monster lovers!
meles
meles OP
42 posts
 
On the technical side. I have also discovered we now have six different style connectors: The early black, the pewter/chrome, the pewter/chrome with black band by the gold rca contact, and the pewter with grey shading (latest and nicest looking style). That is four standard connectors and there are also the "ground control" style connectors which look like a y connector and go on the amp side (I've seen these in black and pewter/chrome). The Y allows a spade to be connected from the RCA to the ground of the amps speaker terminals. (Does anyone understand what this is for and what it does, etc.?!?!?)

I now have in my hands three at least three different Sigma M2000 wires. They all have the same writing on the outer jacket below the mesh (see above). My pewter/chrome 1.5m cable measures 618pf (~410pf per meter) and my pewter grey shading 1.5m comes in at 483pf (~360pf per meter). That is a big difference. My original black band meter pair measures 370pf. And a newer shaded pewter pair comes in at 335pf. So for now I'd call that three types, the latest measuring 335pf per meter, then we have ~365pf per meter cable and then the ~410pf early cable. I will compare the 1 meter cables eventually.

Warning: the M2000 Sigma connectors are tight (I just ripped the RCA jack out of my Eagle 2a in rechecking measurements for this update.)
meles OP
42 posts
 
I am waiiting for the newer 1m pair to break in as it appears to be unused cable (I did not hear a massive difference between this and the older 370pf pair on the change.)
bo1972's avatar
bo1972
2,789 posts
 
Monster is by far not one of the best anymore in the world of audio. I sold it in the past, but I could not sell it anymore to my clients. It is not good enough, it is that simple!
theduke
372 posts
 
I think Monster isn't in the audiophile market anymore. I believe the M1000i is out of production. The rest of their stuff is barely mid-fi (if that) and is just product at various price points for the big box stores.
meles OP
42 posts
 
I don't see anything on their website close to high end (they like to use the M1000 and M2000 names on cables still). In the current landscape of megadollar interconnects, M1500 and Sigma M2000 used suddently seem like sensible cable purchases (1m pair of M2000 can be had for $200, $800 retail over 20 years ago, which might be more like $1600 in today's inflated dollars).

The Retro might work great with single ended electronics (as Monsters states) that already do not allow stellar ultra low or high frequencies. Sigma M2000 is the best by far on my system, but M1500 is a closer second as you move down the signal path.

The high end Monster sound is interesting. They talk time and phase coherence in their literature and it seems to work well with my Vandersteen speakers and the system takes a hit in this area when I've tried other interconnects. I particularly like the bass performance and its impact on soundstaging. I've been severly upgrading my power cables to some really nice low noise cables and the Sigma M2000 really seems to keep up well with the noise improvements and I suspect it has excellent shielding. The highs keep sound more and more real as I ad the Sigma to the system and the last vestiges of high frequency hash seem to disappear. I've always heard that Monster sounds dark. I suspect this reputation is from their excellent shielding not allowing any trashy noise in the highs. With the latest cabling now these old Monsters sound quite revealing in the highs.

I had the pleasure of trying some Stealthaudio metacarbon ($3300 per meter pair). We did not exhaustively compare as myself and the owner really didn't want to know the whole difference as I did not want to get a case of the willies for $3300 interconnects (my system takes 7 pairs of interconnects for phono and one line source.) The metacarbon was pretty amazing and had some breathtaking magic which is hard to describe. The M2000 sounded a bit coarse in comparision, but seemed to have an edge in the bass and coherency in the lower frequencies, but this is all truly mythology speak as no real comparison was done. (I highly recommend auditioning Stealth cables.) I want to hear these cables again once I've got the Sigma M2000 all in place. I may have the opportunity to bring the Sigma to an all Stealth system where it will be in the position of disrupting the Stealth sound.

The mythology continues, and once again I am gladly accepting donations of this cable to my museum (I am in the market to buy some half meter pairs in the later lower capacitance version and/or some Sigma RCA connectors.)
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