Small is OK (better value for $$), but make sure it is a reasonably WELL KNOWN small company. Otherwise you WILL suffer on resale! Personally, I'd rather buy big, well known names on the second hand market. Your loss on resale is far more contained in that case.
Big name company or smaller company?
I am looking to replace my cables and it seems here on Audiogon a lot of smaller cable companies like Zen and Coincident (and many more) are recommended. I currently have MIT Terminator 2 and was not sure if I should stick with auditioning the better MIT's, or Cardas', etc. If I buy from a smaller company I could be stuck and have no resale value to fall back on. Do these smaller companies offer that much more value? Don't the larger companies have more resources, etc...? I notice most of the people with "better" systems use big name cables, including reviewers. Of course I would like to get the most for my money. ???