Which cables go with what?????

In response to the original post, cable differences go deeper than coloration. Two cables can be equally neutral on chromatic scale, yet differ greatly in macro/micro dynamics, noise floor, speed, clarity, detail resolution versus smoothness, and quality of imaging. Assuming that you can locate neutral cables, there is still a wide variety of performance attributes to consider in system balancing.

Sean, If I understand correctly, the bottom line and simplicity of your question is how do you determine a cable is, in and of itself, neutral enough to have no discernable signature of it's own given the current resolution that can be obtained with electronics. If that's your question, it does need an answer.

The only way I know how to answer that question at this point is to work with my clients on a case-by-case basis and tell them what my experience tells me they should hear with our cabling in their particular system. It's time consuming but, so far, that has worked very well.

What that requires on my part is that I have to have a pretty good scope of how different gear sounds. That has taken me years to learn and is an on-going process. In case you're wondering if I've heard almost every piece of gear there is to be heard, the answer is no but I've had the opportunity to hear a lot. I have enough experience to have a good clue about how different topologies sound, how different capacitors, diodes, resistors, ICs, transistors, tubes, wire, and etc. sound. Given this experience and what I believe makes for a neutral cable, I believe I've acquired enough knowledge and credibility to make the claims that I make about our products. I'm confident enough to risk being fool enough to let others purchase our offerings and welcome they're judgments. So far, we're still here and I trust we'll be around for the long haul.

If this seems like a pretty cumbersome answer, it probably is. I wished I knew a simpler way to answer it but this is the best, however awkward, I know for now. I think I should say thanks for bringing up your question like this because I’ve not really entertained to any real degree your question. I am now entertaining it seriously…if there’s a simpler answer that is still helpful to our clients, it sure would save me a hell of a lot of time!

Kindly and Sincerely,
Robert

Ridgestreetaudio's way of making the "neutral" is based on data you collected and not based on physical property of the cable you make. This is a good approach and I've done the same myself to determine what's "neutral" to me. What you're doing is helping your clients learn how to match their system (As I mentioned in my previous post.) On behave of your clients I would thank you for your effort(I actually never audition your cable before) of making everyone enjoy their system. This is exactly what Sean said:

"If both systems are deemed to be "accurate" and / or "musical", etc..., then it really doesn't matter HOW we got there. The end result is the same, we just took different paths."

In another words, a cable doesn't have to be neutral as long as the system is neutral.
This is the my first thought when I became an audiophile and it is still my strong believe. Regardless of what speaker, amps, preamps, and cables you have, as long as the source is the same then the output should be the same with slight difference is detail and presentation.
i.e. A violin should sound like violin but detail and imaging can vary. However, many folks disagree with me because they believe in component dependent rather than end result.

S23: Since each component will influence the sound, both on its' own and due to the inter-action with other components, everybody is right. That's why i have a hard time writing reviews for equipment i.e. change the combo of equipment and you'll change the entire presentation. We are not hearing any specific aspect of any given component, but how that one component responds and causes responses with the other components in that system. That is why it is called "system synergy" i.e. we hear the entire package as an end result. If we wanted to be fair, we could also call it "component compatability" since one change affects the whole system but those changes are directly related to that one component swap. By "component", i'm including ANYTHING that signal passes through and even the AC supply to some extent. Sean
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PS to Audioengr: If you can perform the tests mentioned above between an amp and preamp with the amp driving highly reactive speakers, you'll really see what i was talking about in terms of the load "modulating" the source and different cables and length of cables compounding or buffering this effect. Given the amps that you have, it may do better than others with this though as i have a good amount of confidence in the designer of these specific products.

Sean, have you demonstrated the dynamic loading you describe? Have pictures(not those kinds:))?

One other point is many of the sonic qualities used to describe the differences beteween cables are identical to those you would expect to describe the sound between a system in and outside of an rfi environment. Terms like "dynamic compression, zippy-highs, no bass" etc. probably mean that rfi to some extent is entering or overloading the input stage or even causing oscillations in an output stage. That would explain why some cables work in some systems and not others, it depends on each components resistanse to environmental factors which will change depending on the loading to each other.

A cable with good shielding may have a higher capacitance that the output stage doesn't like, that's why a good component should be able to drive significant capacitance, then differences between well sheilded cables will be negligible. So in difference to these cable manufacturers claims, picking a good component first will eliminate the never ending cable search, just find one with good sheilding and construction.

steve