Speaker Cable termination and oxidation

[Codifus]

I wonder, how do you all deal with the inevitable oxidation of the ends of your speaker cable?

I run 12 gauge no-name copper cable with bare ends from amp to speakers and every 8 months or so I cut the ends off to expose fresh copper and re-wire everything.

There's always an improvement in sound; as if I bought new speaker cable.

What could I do to not have to go through that every once in a while?

Thanks

CD

[Mike]

Treat the ends with Deoxit D5 or similar, it wont stop the oxidisation altogether but should slow it down.

Or you could fit some gold plated spades or maybe even 'tin' the bare ends with solder.

[DSJR]

One trick I learned was to tin the ends and then pull/push some of the insulation over some of the tinned bit whike the plastic is pliable.

Do be aware that some cables will have either a reaction between insulation and copper, or alternatively, the insulation can let air through, so either change the stuff every few years, or buy something better.

[Tom472]

You could solder the cables directly to the speaker and amp - not very practical though.

Most speaker terminals have provision for 4mm plugs as well as bare wire, don't know how good these are though either.

TR

[Barry]

I am asssuming that the speaker and amp connections are screw-type terminals. If so all screw terminals relax with time, reducing the contact pressure. In most cases this does not matter, however it might explain the phenomenon you observe. I would have thought that tightening the terminals would be sufficient, without the need to re-strip the cable to expose 'fresh' copper.

In your case, I am surprised that the portion of cable clamped by the screw fixing has oxidised. Does this occur with other connections, for example those in a 13A mains plug?

Regards

[HighFidelityGuy]

I used to have this problem when I had bare copper wire ends. I used to re-strip mine every year or so. It was a propper pain, especially as I bi-wired. The copper just seems to go dull quickly, more so than in other cables such as mains etc. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's because speaker cables are often hundreds of tiny wires that give a greater surface area for the air to work on. Mains cables usually have fewer thicker strands.

The sollution is really going to depend on your budget. If you don't want to spend much and you have access to a soldering iron then I'd tin the ends with silver solder. If you have a bit more budget then you could solder banana plugs on the ends but the best option would probably be to buy some cable that comes factory terminated with babana plugs or spades. :)

[Codifus]

Thank you for the suggestions everyone. I decided to stick with stripping the bare wire every once in a while.

What spurred this on was that I had made my system "child proof." This setup had my amplifier well hidden and a bit of distacne from ym components. It was such that my daughter couldn't be tantillized by the gain controls and turn them up. In that setup the speaker cable and input cables were buried under the carpet, so accessing and cleaning the speaker cable connections would have been a real chore.

I reverted back to my simpler setup with the amp right next to the DAC and all the cables much shorter and very easily accessible.

Sounds much better too.

CD

[Reid Malenfant]

:interesting: I guess it depends on the type of terminal on the speaker as to how you connect. What i'd suggest is some kind of gold plated connector either crimped or even crimped & soldered onto the end of the wire. Then to cap it off & prevent any oxidization get yourself some heat shrink sleeving which has a glue layer on the inside & do the shrinking business ;)

The heatshrink with the interior having a glue layer will seal everything up a treat so oxidization is then a thing of the past. If it doesn't work then how come cutting some cable off & stripping the insulation reveals un-oxidized copper :doh: