They're not.
The leads are absolutely not plated copper nor copper alloy- no amount of scraping causes copper to appear. And the attraction to magnets is fierce- when I held a loudspeaker a few inches over the workbench, the parts literally flew off the table.
There's pretty simple test for nickel that I'll run- basically, it's digested in nitric acid, potassium hydroxide added to bring the pH to something over 9, then adding DMG (a chelating agent). A red color indicates nickel- white precipitate in the alkali step indicates iron. The leads do solder well, so I think jlsem's speculation is most likely correct.
Whichever, the physical specs given by the manufacturer and vendors (size, materials) are false. And audiophiles who believe that ferromagnetic leads are the antichrist should beware.
SY, are you sure it's the leads that are attracted to a magnet or the body? Or both. I wonder what the effect, if any, would be if the whole thing gets magnetized. Have you seen what happens to a CRT screen if you place a strong magnet next to it? Bad news.
Yes, definitely the leads. There could be something magnetic inside of the body, but the attraction to the leads is so overwhelming that it's impossible to say without disassembly.
It's somewhat concerning that there are various versions of the same product without any markings or documentation to distinguish one from another. Who knows which one is representative? What does one get when the extra money is laid out for silver or gold? Uranium? Tungsten? Ytterbium? I expect more from a component that sells for $90.
It's somewhat concerning that there are various versions of the same product without any markings or documentation to distinguish one from another. Who knows which one is representative? What does one get when the extra money is laid out for silver or gold? Uranium? Tungsten? Ytterbium? I expect more from a component that sells for $90.
Fitting in a few things between honey-dos. I did manage to solder these in to the AC line of my midrange/tweeter power amp for a brief listen.
My Bybee devices were given to me by Jack Bybee several years ago and they were soldered into a Blowtorch preamp. However, I removed them before shipping the Blowtorch preamp overseas, as I did not know whether they were allowed export at the time. That is why I have possession of 4 identical looking units. Since they were soldered in, my ends are somewhat shorter than maximum and solder coated.
In trying to find out what the wire is composed of, I scraped several wire ends with a scalpel made of magnetizable stainless steel over a strong rare earth magnet that I use for such testing, hoping to catch any magnetic particles with the magnet. I found that the exterior surface did not have much, if anything magnetic that would stick to the rare earth magnet. However as I scraped deeper, some particles started to cling to the magnet. At this depth, the color went from white to a copper color. I could take a picture of this, and I probably will just to have proof, but at this time, my computer can't even print, and I doubt that it can scan, as the main drive crashed 1 week ago, and I am now trying to fix it. I stand by what I am seeing, however.
Personally, I don't care to argue with SY about this. Perhaps, since he has a couple of units and knows chemistry, he can better determine the constitution of the leads. I will simply ask Jack Bybee when I can next reach him, as I am only making an educated guess from having the devices, running a magnet across the devices, noting the absence of magnetic material in the device body, itself, and Googling military grade wiring that fits the description.
Looking at other Bybee devices, some are partially magnetic, having what appears as magnetic end caps, and some leads are highly magnetic. These are the large and medium sized devices made over the last 15 years.
In trying to find out what the wire is composed of, I scraped several wire ends with a scalpel made of magnetizable stainless steel over a strong rare earth magnet that I use for such testing, hoping to catch any magnetic particles with the magnet. I found that the exterior surface did not have much, if anything magnetic that would stick to the rare earth magnet. However as I scraped deeper, some particles started to cling to the magnet. At this depth, the color went from white to a copper color. I could take a picture of this, and I probably will just to have proof, but at this time, my computer can't even print, and I doubt that it can scan, as the main drive crashed 1 week ago, and I am now trying to fix it. I stand by what I am seeing, however.
Personally, I don't care to argue with SY about this. Perhaps, since he has a couple of units and knows chemistry, he can better determine the constitution of the leads. I will simply ask Jack Bybee when I can next reach him, as I am only making an educated guess from having the devices, running a magnet across the devices, noting the absence of magnetic material in the device body, itself, and Googling military grade wiring that fits the description.
Looking at other Bybee devices, some are partially magnetic, having what appears as magnetic end caps, and some leads are highly magnetic. These are the large and medium sized devices made over the last 15 years.
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Are those the original small ones or the new "Slipstream" units? What are their dimensions?
se
If someone is located in the SF bay area, and is a moderator of this forum, and would like to impartially look and even test a selection of Bybee devices, just contact me and get on over here, and I will show you what I have, we can measure what we can, together, and you can take them home with you to test and try.
John, I tried scraping as you suggested and indeed, the leads appear to be plated copperweld (i.e., copper-plated steel and highly magnetic). So much for the multigigahertz stuff you were throwing out there. And so much for their claims of copper leads. Are the silver ones also just silver plated copperweld? The gold ones?
Pavel, my speaker comparisons were against a 50 cent 0R027 current sensing resistor. Copperweld leads as well, not coincidentally (copperweld is cheap and rugged compared to pure copper).
Pavel, my speaker comparisons were against a 50 cent 0R027 current sensing resistor. Copperweld leads as well, not coincidentally (copperweld is cheap and rugged compared to pure copper).
SY, the copperweld comes apparently from making the resistor. Apparently, it does not effect the 'performance' however, the military often does mandate this, rather than pure copper. As you or anyone else refuses to believe what I state in any case, especially if it is just info from Jack Bybee, you can find out more for yourself, as I am not able to help further.
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