Happy to find this very old thread on exactly th point I was looking for, and even happier to find your conclusions support my observations. I have always bought into the primarily British idea of the cable loom, and throughout the last 30+ years, I have tried to keep my ic’s ans speaker cables from the same manufacturer, even when phono cable and power cords were from different manufacturers. It was easy to get decent sound that way, convenience and expense made it simpler and, frankly, the ocd portion of my brain, which often gets involved in audiophile decisions, likes the idea. More recently, some system reconfiguring and a whole boatload of quick cable left me with multiple options in each spot. Much to my surprise, I ended up getting the overall most musically engaging results with one brand of ic for my sources, and another brand for speaker cable, even though I was able to do matching full looms to compare. I long agobdecided that power cords did not need to match signal carrying cable, so I’m leaving that aside for this discussion.
Anyway, I popped on here to see if anyone else was “breaking the rules” like this and, lo and behold, I am gratified to see that there is a whole thread, (mostly) thoughtfully devoted to the very subject and drawing the same conclusion. While it is easier, perhaps, the get an acceptable result sticking with one manufacturer, and perhaps just as easy to get a very bad result by haphazardly mixing different brands/types/materials, I do believe the BEST results can only be achieved by carefully selecting each cable for each position as a part of the overall system into which it is being placed. Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky, but by being patient and paying close attention, I believe I’ve been able to put together an overal cable loom which allows each piece of equipment to perform at its best, specifically because each cable was selected for each spot both with respect to its effect on the components to which it was connected on either end AND it’s overall effect on the system and, while I probably would have been very content sticking with one manufacturer had I not been given the rare opportunity to do the experimenting, now that I have, the difference is stunning - and not just “hmmmm, maybe it’s a little better this way” but more like “Wow, I had no idea how great my system could sound!”
So, although I came here looking for an answer, and found one, I’m joining the “no rules” crowd with the caveat that mixing and matching is riskier than going full loom, but if you are patient the results can be stunning.
