Running All Your Cables with The same Brand

Mix and match: Cabledyne for speaker cables, Audio Art for interconnects, and Shunyata for power cords. When my mood changes I change it up with other brands of cables on hand like Nordost and Siltech.

My entire house uses solid core...except my audio AC cables.

"On a related subject, how come they always use stranded wire for power cords? That's what I'd like to know about.
Geoffkait (Threads | Answers | This Thread)"

I'm pretty sure they use solid core in my ESP PC's. JPS does also.

Wolf, was the reason that solid core seems like a good idea because stranded wires all bunched together tend to interfere with each other? I like that reason, too, even though it may or may not be true. On a related subject, how come they always use stranded wire for power cords? That's what I'd like to know about.

Solid core makes sense to me (can't remember why) so my rig is mostly AQ solid core and it works. Electrons flow along carrying digits, speaker current, signal, and small bits of meat, which makes no sense....but still sounds great.

I agree with Barto. For many years I've struggled to find a full loom that satisfied me. All cables have their own strengths and weaknesses. I have found that the affects to be additive, meaning that the more cables of one line that I added the easier it was to hear their strengths and weaknesses. Most times I've had more success in balancing the sound to my tastes by using cables from different manufacturers.

I think it is dependable on the situation and total sum of all cables and gear used.
Some brands certainly have a cumulative effect on certain qualities when used as a complete loom and there are always cable brands that won't combine well with another specific brand.
But using only one brand in your system does not mean you will end up with all the desirable qualities you would like although you might have fallen in love with the cable brand, thus some mixing will be needed.
Besides that some brands that make very good signal cables are not very adapt at power cables and vice versa imo.

I prefer all cables being the same brand. My brand is Acoustic Zen though.

Yep DNM HFTN all around :)

Signal cables and power cables from the same brand as well? How about this: all signal cables are the same model (IC and SC)?

I found the synergy of same brand to be most important with I/C's and speaker cables as they are the most "Intimate" with the signal. I am a big believer in after-market power cords as well but find that since they are delivering their "signature" before the component does its job, then they are less needed to synch with the output of that particular piece...For example, I too am a huge Harmonic Tech fan and have been moving up their line for well over 10 years and currently love the Pro 9's with the Magic 2 I/C's (also their Magic Digital Link between transport and Dac), but after some experimenting with their power cord I have found other [brands] that work better in my system.
Good luck and enjoy,

Zyac39-

not a bad thought in theory. Yes you could run all cables/cords w/ the likes of Transparent, Cardas, Kimber, Nordost just to name a few.

Cables/power cords (especially) are my 1st love and facet of our hobby. My reference power cord, at this juncture, is the Stage III Concepts. My 2nd choice would be Silent Source Musical Reference. 3rd choice would be a Wireworld Electra 7. You can deduce how this list would carry on...

Keep me posted & Happy Listening!

I have my system wired from Wall Plug to Speakers with one brand and have been very happy the results. But my components are a mix of brands, purchased according to the individual sonic performance they offer.
So to the question of synergy, yes is my answer.
To the question of component benefit, I doubt it.

You don't necessarily need to use the same brand but I found out it works to use the same approach to cable design.
In my case, I use Darwin silver ICs and Clear Day SCs and if you look into their design philosophy, they both are quite similar and give excellent synergy and results.

All the best,
Nonoise

I have been an audiophile for quite awhile. After many years of using an assortment of pieced together brands I opted for one brand. This decision was helped along especially after buying new speakers. The speakers are "voiced" with this particular brand and it made a huge difference in the overall presentation from dynamics to lower noise floor, better detail and soundstaging..

Can it benefit your gear? No, using all of one brand of cable will not make gear last longer or otherwise benefit the equipment. The equipment will not know if you are using one brand or different brands.

Can you enjoy the sound of one brand of cable? Certainly, many do, while many others like to mix and match. There are no absolutes.

Cheers,
John

This question has been discussed at length in a number of past threads here, and as is often the case in audio opinions diverge and there has been no consensus. See this thread, and the links to other threads which I provided in my post in that thread dated 1-19-15.

Regards,
-- Al

When you first think about it, there does seem to be more sense in using all of the same brand cables. Most manufacturers will tell you this, as well. But I don't think its necessarily true. Its like saying that you have to use components from the same manufacturer for best results. We all know that's pretty rare. Most manufacturers don't even make a full line of components. So I would just pick the cables that sound best in the system and leave it at that.

Same here....to the greatest extent possible, this is the best (IMHO) approach sonically and for synergy in the system. Obviously there are exceptions around available budget at the time that compels a staged upgrade and cases where a manufacturer does not make a specific type of cable (in my case 110ohm AES/EBU and 75ohm digital/clock) that will have you looking for compatible alternatives...

All my cables are the same brand. Whenever I install another brand (any brand) in with my brand it disrupts the synergy/consistency of the sound not to my liking.

I always running all my cables and components with the same brand as mush as possible to match their synergy. My end result is wonderful sound without tweaks.