Silver plated copper vs copper speaker wires ? What's better ? Help !!!

[Denzil]

Silver's expensive simply because it's a precious metal and a trading commodity. At the moment it's over £14 an ounce.

It's always going to be an expensive option. (Some) people will remember Audio Note's Ongaku valve amp from '89. It used Italian Solid Silver with silk insulation wire in the transformers, silver capacitors and silver wiring. It made quite an impression on those that heard it. According to the designer, there was nothing special about the circuit. What gave it it's qualities, was it's use of silver throughout.

But does silver speaker cable tarnish like silver jewellery ? Would that change the sound quality ?

Denzil

[sanchezxxx]

Played around with cables after getting sucked into WHF reviews and all the silver talk. There was clearly a difference that you could tell blind. I found silver very harsh, over the top in terms of transparency and unforgiving of poor recordings. Switching to copper and keeping runs of cable short let me just enjoy the music.

Got some cheap amazon 99.x copper on prime while waiting for my Van Damme and even that sounds better than the cheap 5* rated silver plated recommended stuff that IMO is junk.

[Columbo]

But does silver speaker cable tarnish like silver jewellery ? Would that change the sound quality ?

Denzil

Well whatever is exposed to the air will react and tarnish - silver oxide. But the outer cable itself is going to be a barrier; the connection is likely to be nigh-on airtight, but over a period of time is likely to oxidize and discolour, requiring a periodic cleaning. But unless you can get silver speaker cables at a bargain price - they will cost a fortune, as has been indicated. No idea what you have as a system, but silver speaker cables would be not be a high priority for me. I would imagine the money could be better spent elsewhere on your system.

[Denzil]

Well whatever is exposed to the air will react and tarnish - silver oxide. But the outer cable itself is going to be a barrier; the connection is likely to be nigh-on airtight, but over a period of time is likely to oxidize and discolour, requiring a periodic cleaning. But unless you can get silver speaker cables at a bargain price - they will cost a fortune, as has been indicated. No idea what you have as a system, but silver speaker cables would be not be a high priority for me. I would imagine the money could be better spent elsewhere on your system.

Thank you Frank,

That makes sense.

Regards,

Denzil

[Denzil]

Played around with cables after getting sucked into WHF reviews and all the silver talk. There was clearly a difference that you could tell blind. I found silver very harsh, over the top in terms of transparency and unforgiving of poor recordings. Switching to copper and keeping runs of cable short let me just enjoy the music.

Got some cheap amazon 99.x copper on prime while waiting for my Van Damme and even that sounds better than the cheap 5* rated silver plated recommended stuff that IMO is junk.

Got it. So copper is the clear winner.

Thanks !

Denzil

[Denzil]

Hi Denzil,

anthonyTD's findings mirror my own. I have never felt comfortable with silver plated copper. If you wish to try silver, I've had good results with some soft annealed pure silver used for jewellery, and at sane prices. Good for tweeters and interconnects. Do not get the Stirling silver. Will see if I can find the link if you are interested.

However, isn't there always a however, I am now using Duelund Tinned copper in an oil impregnated cotton sleeve. Check out Duelund DCA16awg which for its performance is a bargain, especially as they are best with no connectors. Will suit your sensitive Tannoy speakers beautifully.

Jeff Day has much to say about the above at this link.
https://positive-feedback.com/audio-...ge-tone-cable/

Yes Charles,

This is great info. And and more so, the gorgeous caps !!!

Regards,

Denzil

[zanash]

"Well whatever is exposed to the air will react and tarnish - silver oxide. But the outer cable itself is going to be a barrier; the connection is likely to be nigh-on airtight, but over a period of time is likely to oxidize and discolour, requiring a periodic cleaning. But unless you can get silver speaker cables at a bargain price - they will cost a fortune, as has been indicated. No idea what you have as a system, but silver speaker cables would be not be a high priority for me. I would imagine the money could be better spent elsewhere on your system. " reply by columbo

The main tarnish elements for silver are sulphides and nitrates from SO2 and nitrus oxides in the air ...very little silver oxide is formed ...

Interestingly silver salts are within a few percentage points as conductive as pure silver.

copper salts are semi conductive and some are diodic ...the very first diodes were made from copper salts. Copper will also tell you what the salts are as they are all differently colored...in my experience you almost never get copper oxide [which is black] its more likely to be red or greeny or bluey you can id them here ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_copper_salts

[maxrob200]

I have always stuck to one type of metal as well, either pure copper or silver. Each time I tried silver-plated copper, it seems to be artificially bright or adds a "tizziness" to the sound which annoys me to no end. Sounds like a stylus with grit on it and needs to be cleaned....my analogy

[hifinutt]

Yes, that makes sense. And I'm wondering what happens to pure silver in the long run because it gets tarnished.

Denzil

it only gets tarnished on the exposed bits , i use chord epic in one system and sometime just have to peel back the teflon to re terminate infrequently

[maxrob200]

Copper tarnished = copper oxide which I believe is non-conductive, wheres silver tarnished = silver oxide which remains conductive

I have DIY silver interconnects with a teflon dielectric sheath and I have not noticed any tarnishing at all despite them being several years old since I made them