It is the “same technology” part that i do not understand.
I understand that harmonizing materials can lead to synergy. I.e. if your power cables are all made of the similar copper quality or have similar silver coating etc. But different levels from the same brand means you are mixing different types of copper or silver coating from the same brand. What type of technology could “override” this difference to achieve synergy nevertheless.
Full loom makes sense to me if you combine the same or very similar quality cable from the same brand.
Of course, that’s, a great sales pitch for the brand you invest in ‘oh it will sound better the more of our products you buy, which, by the way, are utterly incompatible with anyone else’s, and you don’t want to compromise your replay by mixing and diluting the synergistic magic of our products because you don’t understand how we create the magic in the first place, the details of which are a closely guarded intellectual property secret, lest the competition use it to make their products sound as good as, but never better than, ours. You are an ignoramus, and we’d like to keep it that way, by the way the price is indicative of quality.’
Apologies, I have come over all ‘2300hrs cynical’!
To be more concrete with an example: Nordost cables have a particular isolation and vibration control and no shielding. AQ cables have an electric noise dissipation system and are shielded.
I dont believe that these factors are enough to override any conductor material differences and that therefore it should be fine if your cheap cables are AQ and expensive ones are Nordost, or vice versa.
Obviously my technical understanding is limited and I am looking for insights.
I’m not sure where supposed synergy comes in as opposed to just having components that match/complement each other.
E.g. if someone likes a “bright” sound then choosing components that sound “bright” could be good, unless that is too much (bearing in mind that the room can be very significant here), or if multiple “bright” sounding components is too much overall then complementing something “bright” with something “dark” might sound great to the individual in their room. Or from a different angle, some speakers are simply good, and paired with an also good amp capable of adequate control it is unlikely that the product would sound other than good provided the listener likes the sound character.
Synergy implies that the combination is better than the sum of the parts, but is that ever really the case? PMC speakers are often said to have srnergy with Naim amps - but I feel that PMC speakers are generally pretty good, and may sound great with any decent amp with sufficient grip to control them.
Same here. NAC A5 worked for 7 years with 202/200. It was when I upgraded to Chord cables in several stages when I reached 282/250DR level from Epic to Signature XL and finally Sarum T, I found that the NAC A5 is not very good.
In my limited experience and opinion, NAC A5 suits brighter sounding speakers and equipment as it’s a warmish cable. If the amps(and/or speakers) are lean and thin sounding and people want a fuller and warmer sound, NAC A5 will bring you that.
I presume we are focusing on CABLE and not equipment synergy here since some people have talked about synergy with amp and preamp.
I don’t have the time and money to try everything out there and don’t have the experience of a ‘full loom’. The cable inventory in my system was built up in stages for many years, some bought used and some new. I have invested a lot on cables although it’s considered small change when compared to the cables in @naimophile system. These days I don’t usually sell hifi gear and cables when I have bought them due to the current market condition (as described in the Vintage thread) and tend to keep them for a long time, likely for life. Hence, it is unlikely I will pursue a full loom of cables although there might be advantages.
Although I do not have any experience, I am guessing that full loom will only work if the particular brand is good in producing all types of cables which include speaker cables, interconnects, digital cables and mains power cables. There are certain companies which produce good digital cables but mediocre interconnect/speaker cables and poor mains power cables. Instead of going full loom with a some of these cable companies, better results may be achieved by having a ‘mixed loom’.
It can be any products .. not only cables we are talking here.. your recent buy of the furutech ncf-n1 definitely will be a good buy for your system I believed . Enjoy!!!
I think a good example of why brands do this is in non brand standards like THX. This doesn’t actually provide a seal of quality (though it is mistaken as such) but a guarantee that all components certified for THX will behave and interoperate in a controlled way. It doesn’t mean it’s the best, it means there are no nasty surprises. Gain, frequency response, crossover, 100 other things are pre determined.
And because it isn’t aimed at ultimate quality so much as consistency, there are plenty of manufacturers of high end AV gear that won’t design to the standard.
As there is no similar thing for stereo playback, the nearest approximation is a single brand solution where everything was designed with a similar set of parameters in mind. It might not be the best, but it works and usually to a reasonably high standard with minimum customer effort.
I have many systems but am very much not up for the trial and error at this stage in my life. So while I have many non Naim bits, most systems are heavily weighted to single brands. The results are good.
Yes absolutely correct. I think people conflate one with the other. As mentioned I don’t believe a single brand end to end provides maximum synergy, only compatibility. And that might be enough.
People talk about a system performing how the manufacturer intended. But honestly who cares what the manufacturer intended? Surely how the customer desires is the goal.
But I know many disagree with that. Plenty of “if you don’t do X it won’t sound as the maker intended” comments on the forum.
As an example: Here is a review of Tellurium cables including XLR, speaker cables and power leads from Hifi-World magazine:
“Taken individually both the Silver
Diamond XLRs and Ultra Silver lead
are excellent performers but there’s a
synergy between them that means, if
you can, you’ll get even more benefit if
they’re paired together. Use them with
the Silver Diamond ‘speaker cables
and you’ll have a coherent wiring
loom ”
One can read this type of statement on synergy quite often in reviews and I dont get it
maybe you should try a full loom whichever makes you can loan from, and experience them yourself and review them yourself see if it happens? You should be able to get the answers
In fact not only cables , boxes , accessories etc you will tend to get such write out in reviews.
Only speakers you don’t get but you get another types of such write out
Fascinating world is t it?
Once I enquired on a main bloc , in the end 4-5 other products came into the picture of the same make. Citing - synergy coherent
I don’t really want to explore any deeper cos in the end I might end up w extra 4 products . Maybe it works , maybe it won’t . In the end I purchase nothing .
Many of our friends here are using full loom for cables in our forum, maybe they can input theirs thoughts on why they do that? Giving you some insights ? I for one is using full loom.. and I am very happy with them , connecting to my boxes .. SYNERGY!! Hahaha
