I agree with Sugarbrie, I've been down both roads and I think it's a synergestic thing between components. If you check with most audiophiles, I would think this applies to cables and components. I don't know many that have components from the same manufacturer. I've done the whole system with a certain brand of cable, but I prefer to have 'specialized' cable handle a 'specialized' application. For instance, while I may prefer one manufacturers speaker cable, I might not like the way their interconnect handles digital.
Be consistent with brand?
IMHO when choosing cables shouldn't we try the whole system with the same mfgr? When the mfgr. designed the cable do you think they threw in a bunch of competitors cables to "voice" thier new design? Isn't this like putting different tires on all four corners of your car in order to balance the ride out? How do you folks feel on this?