  We compare the X-ray spectra and luminosities, in the 2-8 keV band, of known
and suspected cataclysmic variables (CVs) in different environments, assessing
the nature of these source populations. These objects include nearby CVs
observed with ASCA; the Galactic Center X-ray source population identified by
Muno et al.; and likely CVs identified in globular clusters. Both of the latter
have been suggested to be dominated by magnetic CVs. We find that the brighter
objects in both categories are likely to be magnetic CVs, but that the fainter
objects are likely to include a substantial contribution from normal CVs. The
strangely hard spectra observed from the Galactic Center sources reflect the
high and variable extinction, which is significantly greater than the canonical
6e22 /cm2 over much of the region, and the magnetic nature of many of the
brightest CVs. The total numbers of faint Galactic Center sources are
compatible with expectations of the numbers of CVs in this field.
