Monster M1500 IC How good are they?

While I would agree with most of the statements regarding Monster's cheaper cables, the M1500 is in a different league of its own. In fact, one of its strengths is actually the connector. It uses a solder less design that was employed on the Sigma. This is the same cable that Thomas J Norton has used to review audio equipment in Stereophile magazine.

I personally have been very disappointed with monster cable. Their business model seems driven by marketing, not engineering. That debate aside, for the price of those cables you should get WBT connectors, instead of turbines. Both are RCA's, but the wbt's tighten up for a much better connection. I use Siltechs, which have wbt's, but most high-end brands use them or similiar design. To get an idea check out this link:
http://www.siltechcables.com/home/home.html

With all due respect to the first two people who responded to your inquiry about the Monster Cable M1500 interconnects neither addressed your question about these specific cables. I own two pairs of the M1500's, and they have been integral parts of my system at various times and in different places in my system. I have also owned Monster's M850i, M950i, and M1000i cables. My system now uses Audioquest Lapis X3 and Emerald X3 cables.

The M1500 cables are in a different league from their much cheaper brethren. Their build quality is substantially superior (they have very sturdy yet flexible outer jackets) to the M850i, M950i, and M1000i cables. They were also much more expensive new.

As for sound quality, I would say that they are a fairly good and neutral cable. When used between my preamp and amp, they gave the best results: neither adding nor subtracting much from the signal. I would say that they compare rather favorably with the Audioquest Emerald's that now reside in my system.

My only complaint with the M1500's is the turbine connector. While they are designed for a very tight fit, they must be carefully detached in order to avoid damage to the RCA jacks on your equipment. This is a problem that I have found with all of the Monster cables listed above.

These cables can be a bargain at their current used prices. In the same price range I would also recommend the Audioquest Emerald (either in the original or X3 variants).

Hi!
I have Monster's M850i interconnect cables. Paid $90 or so for it. It's a very average cable - reasonable mids, bloated bass & rolled of highs.
For less than $100 you can get some very nice cables from DH Labs - BL1 Series II. This is a silver clad copper cable & I have this cable as well & it sounds infinitely better than the M850i for about the same price.
http://silversonic.com/docs/prod/

When you compare the BL1 Series II to some higher priced silver cables such as DH Labs own Revelation or to Kimber's KCAG or KTAG or to any Silver Audio's interconnects, the BL1 falls short in that there is some graininess in the sound probably from the copper-silver interface. However, compare the cost of the BL1 to the others & you'll see that this short-coming is "justified".
* There are some excellent cables (recommended from a person I trust very much) from Analysis Plus.
* From personal experience I recommend TARA Labs Prism series interconnects. Go up the Prism ladder as high as your budget will allow. For the money, these cables are excellent sounding.
http://www.taralabs.com/catalog/catalog_categories.asp

Avoid Kimber Hero - I have this cable. Bloated bass & it seems to be "slow" overall. It works fine in my HT setup - it's been demoted to this position!

Ive mostly used monster just because it is readily available.
I think they sound fine, but the build quality on them sucks. They look and feel pretty solid, but for some reason they just seem to be prone to breaking.

For cheap cables, monster is not a bad way to go, but if are looking to spend a few hundred bucks for a set of cables, try cardas or AQ