How to tap into cable's golden rule.

Once it comes to getting the best out of audio cables – and thus in turn, letting the best out of the system they’re hooked up to – there is one golden rule: consistency, consistency, consistency.

It used to be fashionable to mix and match cables to individual components. This “tuning” approach is actually nothing more than tone-controls by stealth – with the added disadvantage of wreaking havoc on your system’s phase integrity, and rhythmic and musical coherence.

More recently, an alternative and rather more enlightened view has emerged. Dubbed Foundation Theory this demonstrates that it is the cables and supports that actually define the operating environment for your electronics. In other words, no matter how good your electronics are, you won’t get the benefit of that performance unless you deliver good working conditions.

Spending money on improving your electronics or speakers, without ensuring that they are properly cabled and supported, will leave you seriously short-changed. Hence the name: cables and equipment supports are the foundation on which system performance is built – and actually constitute a system (or even a component) within themselves.

Once you appreciate this, cable strategy becomes a whole lot easier. What you are looking for is a coherent approach to the problem, which means running cables that employ consistent construction, materials, philosophy and connectors – which probably (but not always) means buying them all from a single company. Most importantly of all, don’t forget the AC leads – and ensure that the constructional consistency extends to embrace them too.

Go To: AC Power >>