all or nothing

No it should not hurt, on the contrary, this way you are able to finely tune or voice your system. If you find for example, that in your room your highs are too pronounced, or vice versa, or you want to correct the sound of your bottom end for that matter, your use of the right cable ( ic or speaker) will compensate for that fault to some degree. Please ignore those voices, which insist that most wires sound the same. They don't. Rather, if you have a specific cable in mind, contact us here, stating your setup and collect as many opinions as you can about how its characteristics are. Regards and have fun builing!

Hoppr, Most AG members mix and match interconnects to achieve the best synergy between components, so that is not a problem. Many people find they prefer mostly one brand over many others in their system so they use a blend of different interconnects and cables from that manufacturer. I have a majority of Harmonic Technology wire, but am always open to improving my system if a different brand is clearly superior. I use an Audio One Reference for optical, DH Labs for .1 subwoofer input, and custom XLO Neutrik Speakon for REL subwoofer connection. Each cable was carefully chosen after auditioning 3 or 4 brands. I am sure that I could find a better match if I had 20 brands to audition, but since that is difficult to do, I relied on Audiogon members and Robert Stein of the Cable Company to steer me in the right direction, so that I could choose the most likely candidates for auditioning. Good luck...Martin

thanks for the replies. here is my system, i would love some recommendations. i am definately not in market for the very high prices cables. i would probably be able to spend about $100-$150 every other month and i don't mind waiting for the right cable at the right price. for some further information, i use my system for about 70% home theater and 30% 2-channel audio. i have tried to the one surround field that my NAD T770 has and i prefer 2-channel audio over that by far. my system is currently in my finished basement and the room is rectangular at 22'X 14'. later this year i will be finshing off the other side of basement and building a dedicated home theater and all this equipment will move into the new room, so i would assume that my fine-tuning will change. here is my current equipment.

receiver: NAD T770
fronts: B&W 605 s2
center: B&W CDM SE
rears: Mirage M-290 (will be replaced with B&W 602 s2)
dvd: Toshiba SD-1600
cd: HK FL 8400
interconnects: all monster low end
speaker cable: center-monster m500IS, fronts and rears-monster xp unterminated

once again, all help is sincerely appreciated

I have B&W speakers as well, and found that Harmonic Technology interconnects have excellent compatability.
Truthlinks are an excellent value for the money, and can be had for $150-$160 at Audiogon if you keep checking the ads.

Yes, I would also say, as Bmpnyc has pointed out, that Harmonic Technology ic's would be an excellent bet for you. They are often to be had at Audiogon at mostly fair prices. Regards,

Before spending huge sums on high quality cables, look into the DIY options if you are not intimidated by the process. There are well regarded speaker and IC cable "plans" available on the web. Look at tnt-audio.com and http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/cables/ as a start.