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

I understand your points Megasam. The issue of "components from one manufacturer" is interesting. In the case of Naim gear in particular I reckon you are wrong. Naim gear never sounds right to me except when everything is as per the Naim philosophy - but even then I am not a big fan. I have found that pre and power from the same manufacturer is usually beneficial, and while mixing and matching can be fine, that there are often problems. The caveat is that often manufacturers are good at pres and not powers and vice versa. But there is usually a synergy that is recognisable when both are from the same manufacturer. An even more extreme case is transport and DAC combinations where using the same manufacturer is almost always better. The point is surely a simple one - some manufacturers (but not all) will spend some time trying to voice their components together, and since they have more variables at their disposal, are likely to have some measure of success that is hard to replicate by random selection from the used components sites. But with the exception of say Naim gear, there is no "must be from the same manufacturer" about it. Carl, I wonder if you are so keen on the T2s because you are getting some synergy with your MIT interconnects (I'm not trying to wind you up, I am just intrigued by your reports on this cable), have you tried them in combination with other interconnects?

Redkiwi: I am about to try some Synergistic Research interconnects, yes...don't expect much, though. But, I don't see why it should necessarily be presumed that the speaker cables should "only" work with MIT interconnects (your'e thinking that only something very unusual would allow such high performance from such an affordable speaker cable? Guess I can understand that.).............................It's certainly not been the case with the MIT interconnects, which work with every speaker cable I've tried, and help even to point out the imperfections in those speaker cables (that I HAVE noticed with other interconnects a while ago, but it was harder to "see" those imperfections). If that's not "reference quality" (in my system anyway), what is? I'm sure there is some synergy, but these T-2's are making my brother's cheap Sherwood receiver sound very nice and "real" without loosing detail, and this is with NO interconnect (internal FM tuner)...so, unless it unusually also synergizes well with cheap and colored internal circuit board traces (besides "only" with MIT's interconnects), and NOT with interconnects from other manufacturers...then it would seem that these T-2 speaker cables might just be better than everything else I've heard!...........................Redkiwi, I'm more than happy to try your Wireworld Gold Eclipse 3 speaker cable. Just send it to me, I'll pay insurance and shipping both ways. I could send you the T-2's or T-3's to use in the meantime. Let me know...

Hi Carl,P.. mmk, I am considering the Synergistic Research analogue interconnects for CD output and would like to compare them with Harmonic Technology Truthlinks. I have H.Tech. Cables, interconnects and power cords and think it would be interesting to compare, except the Synergistic Research dealer here does not lend out a demo pair. Do you know of anyone who does lend them for auditioning?

I got the Kaleidoscope 2 from the Cable Company, but had to wait a while for them.

Carl, I have been intrigued to hear about the T2 and have been wondering about buying a set. Thanks for the offer, but I doubt you would be interested in the Wireworld cables as they are only about 30 inches long (for my mono blocks). But I need a biwire pair of cables for my other system, say 8 foot and the T2 may be it. I have heard the T2 are on the warm side, and this makes me leap to the conclusion that they will be warm in the way that the Cardas Golden Cross are - which I do not particularly like. I didn't really expect there was any unusual synergy going on, but wondered how a relatively cheap cable managed to perform so well for you. Every rave I have heard about a cheap cable has turned out to be disappointing when I listened to it - great for the money, but not great at all (eg. HT, DH Labs, JPS Superconductor). MIT is not common in NZ and my only taste was a pair of "330 Extended" (or something like that) interconnect, which I don't think you could give away - it was so lacking in coherence.