Skip the Fancy Cables and Save, How?

Save Gadget

My colleague Sam Grobart has posted a video explaining what cables you need for your TV. Now I am going to help you save some money on them.

As Sam mentions, you don’t need to buy the most expensive cables to get a clear picture or sound (or for that matter, a computer connection).

Twice last week, installation pros mentioned to me my own favorite source for cables, a company called MonoPrice. It sells good cables cheaply, and offers some excellent information, like a chart that helps you decide which cables you want to use.

To give you an idea of prices, I went to Best Buy’s Web site to look up prices for three-foot HDMI cables. The lowest-priced three-foot HDMI cable was $9, but it’s an outlier—the next least-expensive three-foot cable is $45. The prices go up to $170, although there is a 2-foot HDMI cable for $260. Don’t expect to escape most electronics stores without a salesman suggesting a premium cable. They are high markup, high profit items for retailers everywhere.

So how much is a high-speed certified three-foot HDMI cable from MonoPrice? $2.50. I have found their cables to be good quality, with a nicely flexible jacket that make them feel higher-end than the cheapies that come bundled with most electronics.

If you want to get fancy, you can even buy them in an array of different colors. I have wired my house with MonoPrice cables – I got 100 feet of purple Ethernet cable for less than $9.

There is other stuff to explore on the site, from wall plates to TV mounts. It’s worth a look if you are buying any sort of cable.

I apologize to high priced cable makers for this post. To readers, you’re welcome.