Is cable synergy important?


I ask this because for a long time I didn't think it mattered much if you mixed and matched cables.
You know, use brand A company for the speaker wire and company B for interconnect etc.
However my recent experience with Clear Day cables has got me convinced that if the cables do what you like then stick with the same brand and cable up.
I had puchased the Clear Day cables and really enjoyed how they cleaned up the sound of my SET amp and Tannoy speakers.
So much so that I thought I would audition the Clear Day IC with the very nice xhadow xlrs, just the ticket for my new Red Dragon Leviathans.
It was a very nice match and strengthened all the good things that the speaker cables did.
My system is now the most revealing it has ever been and not in the least bit etched or zingy.
So at least with my positive experience in using speaker wire and interconnect from the same company(Clear Day)I would say that cable synergy is important.
lacee
Well I used to be a firm believer in seasoning the taste of my system with mix and match cables.
The cables as tone control type that some here seem to feel is the path to sonic nirvana.
Been there, done that, have a box full of cables, cheap to expensive that I have collected in the 35 years at this hobby.
Are you surprised, did you think I was newbie?
Just to this site not to the hobby.
Got a moving coil cartridge that is tipped up in the treble?
Use some Cardas IC to tame it down.
Got a tape deck that is a little bland sounding? Spice it up and go with some PBJ and add some zip.
It is unfortunate that all components do not sound the same from system and room to room.
It would then be very easy to just wire the rig up with the cables that came in the box and be done with it.
As I am sure there are many in this site who laugh at all the ink spilled over cable debates.
The point that I was trying to make was that in my situation with the cables that I most recently tried,it was the first time that all the components jelled together.
I never felt the need to add more or less of anything.
I would probably say the same if I had a full set of Kubala Sosna, or Nordost.Maybe not.I would have to try those cables,as others would have to try my cables to really be able to express an opinion.

But I didn't have any of the really expensive above mentioned cables lying about. I just had the Clear Day.
It was reasonably priced and seemed to do the things in my system that the big boy cables are said to do in the big boy systems that I have read about.
If I bruised a few of the egos of the big boy crowd, sorry about that.
I hope I have "hammered home" my views about cable synergy and "nailed" it for those who didn't understand the first time around.
Maybe I should be more specific about what I am trying to describe and submit a theory I have about what I think is going on in my system.
A few years ago I used all Cardas Gold Hex 5c in a syatem composed or Sonic Frontier electronics and Mirage M3si speakers.Nice sound, but sometimes A different IC could change what I felt was too much of a good thing.
Later I had Atmasphere MP3 and S30 power amp driving stacked Quad 57's.I used a custom made Canare wire system, all balance XLR IC using Canare wire and Canare speaker wire.Again I felt the need to play around with wire as tone controls.
Another system with Martin Logan CLS11z,Classe DR 8 mono blocks, and Blue Circle BC3 Galatea mk11 pre and Shunyata Aries IC and Orion speaker wire.I felt the need to play around with different IC to tune the system.
The system that I have now is a pair of Tannoy Arden, Red Dragon power amps and Audio Aero cd/pre.
I use the Clear day balanced IC and their speaker wire.
The sound with the Clear day is more cohehrent than when I used the Shunyata or my Cardas Golden Ref IC.
Before I tried the Clear day IC I liked the extra crispness of the shunyata and other times I lked the darker tones of the Cardas.
Now on to my theory.
All the cables except the Clear day are constructed differently.The wire content and strand count is different from IC and speaker wires.
By that I mean that the Cardas IC use different guages of wire and purity and geometry than the Cardas speaker wire.
You can see that the speaker wire is much thicker.
It is the same story with most cable companies.
The IC and the speaker wire are not identical in construction, content or strand count.
The Clear Day IC is made from the same wire as the speaker.
Each solid core strand is identical in constuction and content.
This I feel, is why I think my system sounds more like it is one component than a series of components.
Yes I have substituted the Cardas and Shunyata and everytime I preferred the Clear day IC.
So IMOP, even if you are using all the cables from the same company,there is a lot of variation going on in the structure and content of those cables.
And if some think those things don't alter the sound of things, then why do people feel the need to mix and match?
I don't know why the same gauge would be better or worse. Different things are happening when the signal passes through the components. It's not like the signal rides on the same gauge all the way through the system. It all changes flavor once it hits the first power cord. Uh oh did I just say power cord? Are these all the same gauge too? Who here does not think the power cord affects the power supply which in turn changes the flavor in the components signal? I think what Lacee is hearing is good synergy in his system with the same gauge wire. Nothing more and nothing less. Or maybe it just corrected a problem in a power cord or something. We have all been there in the combined tens of thousands of years experience in this hobby. I always chuckle, and have at my self, when coming up with theories in these forums. What theory works for some does not always work for others.
Good luck to all in there journey through cable theory. I know I am not done and never will be. Satisfied for a while but never done. Lets mix it up now! Now if I could only find that thread on impedence matching again. I just get lost in here sometimes.
All power cords are Shunyata Annaconda Helix vx.
Dedicated 30 amp line into a Furman IT 1220.
A Hydra 2 for the power amps.

The last two( or the first two, depending on how you look at it)wires are my Ic and speaker wires,my speaker wires are soldered direct to the Tannoy crossover,but a captive wire of unknown quality takes the signal to the tweeter and woofer sections.

Cable debates go on forever, I'm not trying to change anyones mindset.
You believe what you believe and experience what you experience.
My experience is that the sound is more unified with the new cable runs,why this is so is just speculation on my part.But that's just human nature, trying to understand why.

But it is rather more common sense than theory to assume that if two wires are of identical contruction and material that they will share similar sonic characteristics.
More similar than cables made from unlike substances,designs and wire thicknesses.

In my universe I believe all cables have their own Sound,all wires have their own sonic characteristics.
To avoid all the sonic variables inherent in mix and match,it makes sense to me to keep as much of the wiring the same.
To rewire my whole system and hardwire everything with the same exact wire,from panel to driver would be the ultimate fruition of this.
Your question could have been asked and answered without allusion to any particular brand.

Members here are a bit touchy about using this forum as an advertising platform and appreciate disclosure of distributor or vendor affiliation when a one brand is praised over another. It lets members know that the poster has a "dog in the fight" and that should be considered along with the opinion offered.

The pointed reference to a particular brand four times in your short original post does make us suffering audio-paranoia wonder. I note in all your follow up posts you never confirm or deny an affiliation with that brand.

Hmmmmm.....