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.