Customer Reviews

Monster Cable RadioPlay Car Stereo Wireless FM Transmitter (MBL-FM XMTR)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Now that my faithful old car cassette receiver won't stop reversing tape direction, I haven't been able to use a cassette adapter for my mp3 player. So I tried this Monster FM Transmitter, and I'm sorry to say the sound is nowhere near as good as the cassette adapter. The frequency response is good, but unfortunately there's beaucoup de noise and harmonic distortion as well. Loud rock music doesn't suffer too badly, but if you're a lover of classical music or acoustic jazz, I doubt you'll find this rig very listenable. For a company known for its high-end cable products, Monster also seems to have very poor customer support, if my experience is any indication. I am still awaiting a reply to my email asking how to improve the unit's reception to minimize distortion. Does any company make a car CD receiver with a stereo miniplug input for mp3 players? That would be ideal! Otherwise, if you have a cassette receiver, get a cassette adapter; if you have a CD receiver... well, the Monster won't make you very happy...

I was looking for an easy solution for listening to my MP3 player in my car. I had heard that FM transmitters are not the greatest solution so this item wasn't at the top of my list. But when I was at Best Buy the car audio guy insured me that he had tried and returned every FM transmitter Best Buy carries except for the Monster one. Of course, I took his word for it.

Then I hooked it up in my car and it worked! Sounded good and I was happy. The next day I used it and had to switch the station to get a better reception. This was not what I wanted to do every time I want to use it! But still, it worked fairly well. I was still a bit skeptical though because I live in a fairly rural area and there is not much to interfere with the reception. A few days later I drove to a more populated area and received static for about half the ride! Completely unacceptable as far as I'm concerned so I took it back to Best Buy and got my money back.

Overall, it worked about 80% of the time with no major problems but then again, that's in a fairly rural area.

I suppose if you have no other choice, this is a decent option. But I can't recommend it with 100% confidence!

I rented a couple of cars with standard whip antenna and it seemed to work ok - thought there was more background hiss than I would like though. Moreso than a cassette adapter.
My crown victoria, with antennain the windshield gives poor reception, compared to off-air radio. Since I listen to classical music (quiet passages) it's a bit tedious.
Aalso the restriction on number of tunable channels is less-than-desirable. In urban areas all the pre-sets may be taken.
If I paid about $25 forthe thing I'd say it was a reasonable deal, but not worth the $50 CompUSA price.
Sales guy recommended it - next time I'm buying where there's no restocking fee!

I sell electronics for a living and test FM transmitters on a regular basis. The Monster unit is what I personally use instead of the Irock, Belkin Tunecast, Belkin Tunecast II, and more.

Why you ask? Because it is easy to use, provides a wider frequency range then most others and is more compact. I can't believe the reviewer that "tested" the units with no live signal--he missed out the the difference in sound reproduction, something that my wife and I noiced right away when comparing units side by side--back to back of the exact same song.

The Monster scores with:

+ Easy to use (no LCD to "try" and look at while driving)
+ Provides a wider frequency range then others (more bass)
+ Is one unit (nothing to loose)
+ Very little drifting (loosing a singal from lack of a solid frequency lock.)
+ Takes up less space then other models


The Monster's weak points are:

- It is noiser then some other brands (I still use it because of the wider frequency range, which overcomes the extra hiss/noise)
- NO FM Transmitter will sound as good as a tape adapter or cd player
- All FM Transmitters will have reception issues in some areas, normally it is fixed by switching the frequency used.
- Can be somewhat expensive

So I recommend if you are going to use a FM transmitter, perhaps purchase 2 or even 3 models and compare them side-by-side while listening to the same source. I am guessing that many will hear what my wife and I did and keep the Monster.

Ever since Monster decided to mass-market everything that they possibly could, their quality has been steadily declining. This product doesn't even live up to what I expect from a budget brand.

The transmission strength seems very low, it seems very hard for the car's radio to lock onto the signal. Even after managing to get the car's stereo to tune in properly, there is considerable hiss and distortion. In addition to that, the sound level is very low, so you need to crank your car stereo volume way up, which only amplifies the background hiss and distortions more.

I replaced with with a Belkin Tunecast II. The signal from it is clearer (almost as clear as a regular broadcast radio station), stronger, and louder. All around a better device.

This thing is really, really lame. The signal is extremely, extremely quiet. I have to turn up my stereo twice as high as normal to get the music 2/3rds as loud, with a bunch of static (on every station I try) to boot. If I'm using this thing, and I switch to a normal radio station or my CD player without turning the volume back down first, I have no doubt that my speakers would be blown. Monster Cable is supposed to be high quality (although waaaaaaaay overpriced); this item is just another knock in my declining perception of the company.

This is the second FM transmitter I've tried with my iPod, and they've both sucked. I'm pretty much convinced that I have to either get a tape adapter (which means getting a new car stereo that has a tape deck...) or find an iPod-integration solution like what's available on BMW's (which also means getting a new car stereo...) if I want to get decent sound from my iPod to my car stereo.

I got the Monster transmitter specifically to listen to audiobooks and podcasts on a 1500-mile round trip through the Southeast. I have a Sandisk MP3 player, not an iPod, and found the output volume to be just fine. FM transmission strength is pretty good: it "outcompeted" external signals to provide an acceptable sound quality most of the time. Lack of a power-off switch is a minus; it means that if you start getting interference and need to switch stations you must (1) unplug the unit from the 12V DC outlet, (2) tune your car's FM receiver to an unoccupied frequency, (3) plug the Monster back in, and (4) press the frequency switch on the Monster until it is transmitting at the frequency found in step #2. With practice you can manage this while driving with only a couple of glances at the Monster, but it's still an awkward procedure.

I'm a Monster Cable fan from their early days. I decided to try this item for my new 2005 Subaru Legacy because I'm not ready to take apart the center console to get to the radio to install a permanent hardwired FM modulator.

Prior to trying this unit, I bought an I-Rock clone unit called Si-Link that only runs on 2 AAA batteries. That $20 unit worked better for me than this unit did.

Here's how I determined which unit I was happier with:
Match the frequencies on both the modulator and the radio. Plug in the source unit (an MP3 player in my case) but leave it off. Turn the radio volume up all the way and move the unit around until noise is eliminated as much as possible. Repeat with other unit but be sure to test only one unit at a time.

I never could get the Monster Cable unit as quiet as the Si-Link unit. There was a noticeable difference with the Monster Cable unit never seeming to really lock in to the desired frequency. A slight hiss is to be expected, but this unit was noisier and less "stable" it seemed.
I also noticed a tendancy for the audio to have more low frequncy bias than the Si-Link. The Si-Link sounded cleaner even though I suspect that the Left and Right channels are reversed.
Regrettably, I'm disappointed in the Monster Cable unit.

Tonight I'm trying an XM Universal Audio Adaptor and found that it's doing fairly well. $30 for the XM unit and about 15 minutes to modify it for use WITHOUT an XM receiver. (Involves soldering a wire between two points on the circuit board.)
It's nearly as quiet as the Si-Link but is powered by the Cigarette lighter. I might have found the unit I'll stick with for a while!

I have tried 3 different fm transmitters and this was one of the worst. A waste of money. Just like a previous review stated the salesperson at Best Buy swore by it based upon personal experience and the return rate of other products - BS!

It ALWAYS faded in and out - poor reception no matter where I put it in the car - it doesn't matter if it sounds good in the store where the display has it set up perfecty, if it can't lock cleanly into a station.

I have an ipod and wanted to get an fm transmitter for the car. My brother had a great Monster ipod transmitter so I purchased this transmitter only to find that it was very different. This one has only 8 preset stations in the 80's (bad if you live in DC) and does not charge your ipod. Monster does have a GREAT transmitter made specifically for the ipod that gets better reception, allows you to charge the ipod while driving, and offers much more tuning flexibility. Worth the extra 20 bucks, and I feel stupid for having purchased this one first because I didn't understand all the intracacies. Don't make the same mistake.