Military aircraft ie. F-15 eagles use 99.9 % all gold plated electrical contacts ie pins/sockets the reasoning is low maintenance reliability. These aircraft must be able to operate in the most hostile of enviorments extreme hot,cold ,altitude,wet,dry,dusty,salty you name it. Gold is used because of its resistance to corrosion for digital,analog,audio and video signals as well as power supplys
Solid core wire for power cord usage is possibly illegal in most areas... at least not condoned by any safety agengy... perhaps any lack of regulations is based on the presumtion that no one would be that goofy... at its simplest, it's just nuts.
Stranded wire is not the product of a conspiracy put forth by evil wire drawers with the purpose of destroying sound. It was made in response to people that needed wire that would flex.
Silver is not entirely nuts... but people who use it in power cords are getting close. Silver wire, will however, create superior solder joints when used with silver bearing solder.
Silver is by no means non-arcing. In fact, it is the very nature of the arcing and the fact that its oxides are conductive that make silver an ideal self-renewing (although erosive) contact material... very commonly used in relay contacts, IF a restorative arc (current) is present some percentage of the time. There may some confusion here as to "non-arcing" versus "non-sparking".
If you can hear or measure the performance of a normal power cord in your system, it more clearly suggests that some attention, and dollars, be diverted to toward the power supply. "Not knowing what their missing" will always make the non-delusional among us green with envy though. Our only recourse is to lament the sourness of the grapes... perhaps because they too were green.
Stranded wire is not the product of a conspiracy put forth by evil wire drawers with the purpose of destroying sound. It was made in response to people that needed wire that would flex.
Silver is not entirely nuts... but people who use it in power cords are getting close. Silver wire, will however, create superior solder joints when used with silver bearing solder.
Silver is by no means non-arcing. In fact, it is the very nature of the arcing and the fact that its oxides are conductive that make silver an ideal self-renewing (although erosive) contact material... very commonly used in relay contacts, IF a restorative arc (current) is present some percentage of the time. There may some confusion here as to "non-arcing" versus "non-sparking".
If you can hear or measure the performance of a normal power cord in your system, it more clearly suggests that some attention, and dollars, be diverted to toward the power supply. "Not knowing what their missing" will always make the non-delusional among us green with envy though. Our only recourse is to lament the sourness of the grapes... perhaps because they too were green.
most of the conclusions inferred in here are wrong or misleading.FastEddy said:tom1356 (earlier post on this thread) : " ... Silver is the only metal that doesn't arc. That is the reason that silver wire and silver connectors sound better. It is also the reason contact enhancing treatments are less effective with silver connectors.
Some systems may have problems that are to big for silver wire to make a difference in, which is partly responsible for some people not hearing a difference. ... If you have a revealing system and good ears you will hear more detail and a lower noise floor with silver. ..."
This is great information. I always knew that there was good reason for the use of stranded silver, silver plated copper and silver solder for line level interconnects and small signal wiring (like tone arm/cartridge leads, etc.) ... but never gave it much thought until I read the above.
... and that explains why all the power plugs on the power cords on my boat arc after a very short amount of time / usage. I suppose now I will have to go over all the boat wiring and re-do the solder junctions with silver solder, then plate all of the connectors. (No wonder ship to ship and ship to shore radio is so unreliable.)
As for silver plated wire and silver wire on the power cords of audio ... I suppose it could be over kill in some places, except in those areas close to the sea shore where that pesky salt air can cause (as tom says above) arcing and extra corrosion on the connections. (Tom: You are in the Boston area ... are you close to the water?)
Now, has anyone got a good reading resource for this information? How about info about the interaction between gold plated stuff and silver wires (and silver solder, etc.) ?
Also since electrons travel down the outside of the wire, does it do any good to use solid silver or will silver plated wire do as well (or better)?
The power of the web has a lot to answer for.
Davidz,
CAT5 cables are cheap (1000feet for $50 or £39). Start experimenting NOW.
Even bass driver using 16 pairs are cheap, heck go for 32pairs for the bass if you think you need it for longer runs.
" ... Our only recourse is to lament the sourness of the grapes... perhaps because they too were green ..."
" ... most of the conclusions inferred in here are wrong or misleading. The power of the web has a lot to answer for. ..."
" ... Solid core wire for power cord usage is possibly illegal in most areas ... at least not condoned by any safety agengy ... perhaps any lack of regulations is based on the presumtion that no one would be that goofy ... at its simplest, it's just nuts. ..."
" ... Poohbah ... Your a silver tongued devil. ..."
" ... I suppose it could be over kill in some places, except in those areas close to the sea shore where that pesky salt air can cause (as tom says above) arcing and extra corrosion on the connections. ..."
I'm sure glad you guys are "dis-ing" silver = it keeps the demand and price down.
" ... most of the conclusions inferred in here are wrong or misleading. The power of the web has a lot to answer for. ..."
" ... Solid core wire for power cord usage is possibly illegal in most areas ... at least not condoned by any safety agengy ... perhaps any lack of regulations is based on the presumtion that no one would be that goofy ... at its simplest, it's just nuts. ..."
" ... Poohbah ... Your a silver tongued devil. ..."
" ... I suppose it could be over kill in some places, except in those areas close to the sea shore where that pesky salt air can cause (as tom says above) arcing and extra corrosion on the connections. ..."
I'm sure glad you guys are "dis-ing" silver = it keeps the demand and price down.
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