THX is a group of technical standards from Lucasfilm that covers home theater equipment. The basic idea is a good one - make certain that a movie sounds as good in your home as it did in the theater. What's covered, mostly, are speakers and amplifiers. There's some security in knowing your gear is certified to play loudly enough (and without distortion) to blow you and your easy chair into your neighbor's living room. For the consumer, THX is a sort of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on home theater equipment.
Well, it had to happen. Monster Cable announced THX certification for sets of interconnect cables: "Cable products with a high degree of reliability, user friendliness, and performance." Talk about a marketing-driven claim. There is a cable standard, says THX's chief techie, for "normal electrical properties plus color coding." Today, almost all cables meet the first criteria, and color-coding is easy. Monster Cable does offer highly reliable cables, but it's quite kinky to me to think of cables as user- friendly and performing. Same performance at extra cost? Thumbs down. Buy generic cables for your home system and save yourself the hype, and the cash.
Interlink 206 HT cables: US$129.95. Monster Cable: +1 (415) 871 6000. Lucasfilm: +1 (415) 662 1800.
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