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Re: Speaker Cables
Gary Vose Sr #377172 05/27/12 02:27 AM
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Okay, Gary; as an example of economy in the selection of speaker cable, I'd have no hesitation in passing over the $60,000 pair here in favor of one of my (not too rusty) coat hangers .


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Re: Speaker Cables
dakkon #377178 05/27/12 02:48 AM
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Alex, of course now I'm poking a bit of fun at the silliness in the audiophile industry when charlatans attempt to peddle pieces of connecting wire at outrageous prices.

What you say about the jacket covering the wire itself can be true on rare occasions. Ordinary lamp-cord costing about 20 cents a foot, which I've had around for about 20 years, doesn't have that problem. However a poorly formulated PVC(polyvinyl chloride)jacket or one subjected to extremely high temperatures can experience a PVC breakdown, releasing the chlorine to combine with the surface of the copper, forming the greenish copper chloride. The oxidation reaction involving oxygen creates cuprous and cupric oxides which are an increasingly dark brown to almost black(e.g., old pennies).


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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.


Re: Speaker Cables
Woodrow #377217 05/27/12 04:20 PM
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Interesting, thanks for the links John. In my soon to be setup, I was thinking about soldering good quality locking banana plugs onto a good oxidized 12 gauge wire. If the soldered joint is done properly, does this eliminate in the future the oxidation issue? Would the locking banana still be prone to tarnishing?


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Re: Speaker Cables
Woodrow #377223 05/27/12 05:26 PM
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Gary, ALL metals oxidize accept for gold platinum, and palladium. Some metals like stainless steel will oxidize and then stabilize.

http://www.estainlesssteel.com/corrosion.shtml

This is why gold plating is popular.

Re: Speaker Cables
Woodrow #377227 05/27/12 07:06 PM
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Thanks dak, so the locking banana plugs I could clean up maybe with some very fine grit emery cloth. I understand that the exposed side of the solder will tarnish, and can be cleaned up at the same time. But what about the cable? Since it would not be exposed to the air(insulated/completely soldered ends)
would the copper strands be protected from oxidation?


With out Jesus Christ there can be no Redemption or Salvation.
Re: Speaker Cables
Gary Vose Sr #377249 05/28/12 01:41 AM
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Gary, it appears that you may be a bit too concerned about this. Any significant degree of oxidation to the exposed ends may take years and is easily cleaned or trimmed off. The portion of the wire that's covered by the jacket is essentially sealed from contact with the air. Cutting open wire that's been around for many years(e.g., my wire about 20 years old mentioned above)for a new connection reveals clean bright copper in the newly cut ends. If you have any old wires around, you can examine the stripped ends for oxidation or cut a new section to see how the previously covered wire is.


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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.


Re: Speaker Cables
Woodrow #377276 05/28/12 03:01 PM
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My hatefully stiff, finger puncturing, Home Depot bulk wire all oxidized at the ends somewhere within 3-4 years.

My joy to work with, Monoprice wire has not yet shown any signs of degradation at the ends at all.

I simply trimmed the ends of the Home Depot wire and it's fine so no biggie but one interesting thing to note is that the much nicer Monoprice wire was significantly cheaper than the horrid HD stuff. So quality is not always about price.


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Re: Speaker Cables
Woodrow #377295 05/28/12 05:17 PM
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Thanks John, I sometimes get caught up in matters like this. Cause and effects, Tunnel vision, analyses by paralyses. It goes back to my Industrial Maintenance Mechanic's days.


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Re: Speaker Cables
Gary Vose Sr #378849 06/20/12 11:33 PM
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From a review of two differnt speaker cables I just read:
The "brand a" had a softer, slower sound, with added measures of body and warmth; the "brand b" was more insistent, muscular, and precise. Initially, I thought the "brand b" sacrificed the AQ's ability to present long, graceful decays. But when I focused only on crash cymbals, for instance, I realized that the Kimber did, in fact, produce equally well-expressed decays; it just had a persistent way of redirecting my attention to attack transients—the initial pulses of energy from percussive sounds such as piano keys, drum heads, and metal shakers.
Does this review fall into the catagory of "Golden Ears", or fanciful imagination? Sounds to me like a bunch of hooey.

Re: Speaker Cables
Woodrow #378859 06/21/12 01:07 AM
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Option B!


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