Spkr cbls & IC's-must they be same brand

I see absolutely NO reason that all cables have to be from the same manufacturer. Firstly, your components are surely not from the same manufacturer, right? (unless you have an all Naim system or something, in which case I would say stick with all Naim wire too...). Anyway, consider the different "jobs" of the different cables. At the least, you will have CD->Pre, Pre->Pwr, Pwr->Spkrs. A particilar brand's interconnect may work best with your CD to solid state Pre, but the same brand's cable may not be the best match from the solid state pre to a tube power amp for example. Then, what if your tube power amp is running high efficiency speakers, or instead electrostatics? There is no way a manufacturer will ever convince me that THEIR speaker cable will work well for both combinations, just because I happen to like their interconnect for my cd player. I agree with Carl to the extent that when someone tells you to buy all the same cables, it is either an easy way out for the salesperson, or a built-in tactic for the manufacturer. Personally, I have never had the same interconnects and speaker cable, although I have on occaision used the same interconnects from source through to power amp.

Unless you have a strong reason not to, i.e. you really know what you're doing, stay with the same manufacturer. My only qualification to this statement is that it applies to "good" wire manufacturers. As a system gets more complex and moves towards statement status, it is more likely to require some mixing and matching. However, for a large percentage of listeners the mixing and matching of wire, will not yeild better results than going with single brands. Find a good dealer (probably the hardest thing to do in audio) and follow their advice. Yeah, the dealer is trying to sell you something, but in our capitalist world everybody is pushing something, if only an opinion.

Carl's experience, which I think was that Audioquest Diamond did not synergise with Audioquest Dragon, proves there are no "golden rules" in this game. But equally, on two occasions I have experienced systems suddenly coming right, when the final cable was changed to match the existing cables. I suspect some manufacturers deliberately voice their cables to work synergistically - but that equally they could not survive unless their cables could stand alone - since this is how they will be listened to very often. My point is that I reckon it is better to find a brand that has an even-handed presentation (in my case I like the neutrality of Wireworld cables) and try a whole set of them to see if they work with your system. As opposed to putting an interconnect cable in your system that is too [insert anything here you like] and then be forced to limit your choice of speaker cable or even components to items that provide the appropriate form of countervailing distortion. I certainly have found that there is a significant benefit from getting a synergistic relationship between interconnect and speaker cables which, if you do not get it, cannot be overcome by playing elsewhere with your system. I have not found the same to be true of digital cables (ie. no real synergy issues with interconnects, for example), and I have found that power cords need to synergise with the components they feed, rather than with any other cable in the system. Hope this helps.

Yes, Redkiwi. And, how very astute that you remembered which cables I thought did not synergize well. Of course it was in my system context (always must be taken into consideration...most of us know this, of course), and I suspect that in a laid back system with some unusual tonal things going on in the upper bass, perhaps those two would be the ONLY cables that would work. Also, I totally agree about the AC cord being tuned to the corresponding component it powers, moreso than to the cabling in the rest of the system. Very good points.

Definitly not in my opinion. I've never had the same brand until recently and I've been through lots of wire with some satisfying results and not so satisfying as well. I do believe a synergistic match can be made but it takes lots of trial and error and you must trust your own ears - you'll know when it happens I guarantee you. I think Carl makes a good point, interconnects should be a step up from speaker cables unless your budget allows otherwise. That's my current setup; MIT Shotgun IC's and MIT 750+ Series 3. It is the best wire I've had in my system. Good luck.