silver corrosion

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by eduard
Hello, In my new monkey amp i want to use some silver wire. Most of the wires will be in the air, so there is no use in using teflon tubing. Can i apply a kind of varnish, like cellulose lacquer to prevent them from corroding. I think that cellulose will not act as a dielectricum so the influence on the signal will be minimal. Anyone has some ideas? Thanks, Ed

Just leave 'em as-is. Silver doesn't corrode in air at room temperature. A few atoms thickness of tarnish isn't going to hurt anything.

se

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Just leave 'em as-is. Silver doesn't corrode in air at room temperature. A few atoms thickness of tarnish isn't going to hurt anything.

How about safety?

Cheers,

[dhaen]

Originally posted by Steve Eddy


Just leave 'em as-is. Silver doesn't corrode in air at room temperature. A few atoms thickness of tarnish isn't going to hurt anything.

se

Actually it depends where you are.
I currently work at a green-field site. Most of the silver is still silver after many years of use.
Previously I worked in central London. The silver connectors went black after a year or so.

What I do agree with, is that the black stuff is conductive!

Cheers,

[fdegrove]

Hi,

The silver connectors went black after a year or so.

Pollution is the enemy here.

Granted silveroxide conducts still fine.
But what's the point of using silver wire to end up listening to silver oxide?

Cheers,

The pic is silver copper oxide, BTW.

[dhaen]

My word,

That's snazzy wallpaper you've got in your parlour Frank.

Cheers,

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by dhaen
Actually it depends where you are.
I currently work at a green-field site. Most of the silver is still silver after many years of use.
Previously I worked in central London. The silver connectors went black after a year or so.

That's not from oxidation. Silver doesn't oxidize in air at room temperature. It's the sulfuric compounds in the air from air pollution that reacts with the silver to produce silver sulfide.

What I do agree with, is that the black stuff is conductive!

I don't know that it matters whether it's conductive or not. The original poster was planning on putting stuff on the silver which isn't conductive at all. So what's it matter?

se

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by fdegrove
Pollution is the enemy here.

Granted silveroxide conducts still fine.

Except the pollution isn't creating silver oxide, it's creating silver sulfide.

But what's the point of using silver wire to end up listening to silver oxide?

So which sounds better? A few atoms thickness of silver oxide or vastly greater amounts of polyurethane?

se

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Except the pollution isn't creating silver oxide, it's creating silver sulfide.

Never said it to be any different, or did I.

So which sounds better? A few atoms thickness of silver oxide or vastly greater amounts of polyurethane?

What would you know anyway?
And what makes you think that in your enveronment silver will just bond to oxygen?
Do you want to take chances on your investment? I'd rather play safe on all accounts and prevent the silver from oxidising or chemically react to whatever's in the air and insulate, it's also safer electrically BTW.

So which sounds better? A few atoms thickness of silver oxide or vastly greater amounts of polyurethane?

Do you're own R&D for a change, I know I did mine years ago already and judging from feedback from the industry it wasn't too bad.

I want my wires to sound the same for the next couple of decades, something you can't guarantee with bare wire, I reckon.

Anything else while you're being oh so knowledgeable?