jlsem said:
The precisely controlled addition of oxygen scavenges impurities and takes them out of solution and into solid form which improves conductivity.
Oxygen-free copper was developed not for its electrical properties, but its mechanical properties. If oxygenated copper is heated in a reducing atmosphere such as hydrogen, the copper can become embrittled due to the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen (can you say steam?).
Even the Ohno Continuous Cast Copper was developed for its mechanical properties and not its electrical properties.
I haven't seen any evidence that there's anything electrically wrong with even plain ol' ETP copper that wouldn't be so far buried within the thermal noise of the wire itself that it's not woth losing any sleep over.
What people ultimately subjectively prefer is another matter.
se
DIY interconnects
Hello shugg.
I can't comment on oxygen free interconnects but I do have alot of experinnce building interconnects( And PCs.) as per Chris Venhaus websight. http://venhaus1.com/
I have built many pairs for myself and for friends.
We have done completely blind tests and can very easily hear the difference between these and verry expensive interconnects.They actually leave the others in the dust. We feel that they are well worth the effort and minimal expense. my first sets I built around cotton rope but I feel the teflon tubing stuffed with cotton are better. The cost for a 3 foot pair or 1 meter pair are approx $60.00 If you have any questions on construction feel free to e-mail me.
Regards.
Craig
Hello shugg.
I can't comment on oxygen free interconnects but I do have alot of experinnce building interconnects( And PCs.) as per Chris Venhaus websight. http://venhaus1.com/
I have built many pairs for myself and for friends.
We have done completely blind tests and can very easily hear the difference between these and verry expensive interconnects.They actually leave the others in the dust. We feel that they are well worth the effort and minimal expense. my first sets I built around cotton rope but I feel the teflon tubing stuffed with cotton are better. The cost for a 3 foot pair or 1 meter pair are approx $60.00 If you have any questions on construction feel free to e-mail me.
Regards.
Craig
fdegrove said:
Hehehe. Oh I dunno. I suppose you could get yourself a few bags of cotton balls and string some wire through them. You know, like that garland made of popcorn for Christmas trees.
Occasionally I did find sticking cottonballs in my ears improved the sound markedly...
Hehehe. Yes, I've encountered a few situations like that myself.
Thx for the update,
Sure. When I get some time I'll start making some calls and see if I can get a more definitive answer.
se
Hi,
Quotes from Chris Venhaus' site:
I absolutely agree but there's an easier solution than spiraling to maintain low capacitance and reasonable inductance figures. Simply use a twinfeed arrangement as I did in a range of silver I/Cs I designed aeons ago.
DA may be disappointing in real life but O.K., there's more to a good cable than that alone. Cotton seems to have good damping properties. I used nylon shreds as a filler.
Well, the DC factor seems mostly based on the properties of air as an insulator anyway...What is it going to sound like after a while in harsh environments after a few years?
You could always seal the lot and make it more or less gastight, that should keep it from further contamination.
All in all I think there's a lot to be said for PTFE and enamellike insulators.
Those magnet wires always end up surprising me with good sound...
Looks O.K. to me but such measurements don't tell me much about the cables' ability to pass a complex signal unaltered under various loads. Nevertheless it's good to know those electrical properties.
Might cobble up something similar to CV's idea when I find some time...
Cheers,
Quotes from Chris Venhaus' site:
I absolutely agree but there's an easier solution than spiraling to maintain low capacitance and reasonable inductance figures. Simply use a twinfeed arrangement as I did in a range of silver I/Cs I designed aeons ago.
DA may be disappointing in real life but O.K., there's more to a good cable than that alone. Cotton seems to have good damping properties. I used nylon shreds as a filler.
Well, the DC factor seems mostly based on the properties of air as an insulator anyway...What is it going to sound like after a while in harsh environments after a few years?
You could always seal the lot and make it more or less gastight, that should keep it from further contamination.
All in all I think there's a lot to be said for PTFE and enamellike insulators.
Those magnet wires always end up surprising me with good sound...
Looks O.K. to me but such measurements don't tell me much about the cables' ability to pass a complex signal unaltered under various loads. Nevertheless it's good to know those electrical properties.
Might cobble up something similar to CV's idea when I find some time...
Cheers,
Re: Re: Re: DIY interconnects
No, I haven't used it. I'm just not much of a fan of silver (though I do have a fondness for natural materials). I just think it's a nice unique product that I'm sure could provide excellent results for those whose tastes lean more toward silver and think it deserves bringing to their attention.
se
rentiap said:
No, I haven't used it. I'm just not much of a fan of silver (though I do have a fondness for natural materials). I just think it's a nice unique product that I'm sure could provide excellent results for those whose tastes lean more toward silver and think it deserves bringing to their attention.
se
This is all well understood. My point all along has been that there are audible differences between OCCC, silver, and "run of the mill" copper. That is the happy side benefit for audiophiles of the development of ever purer grades of copper be it originally for mechanical or electrical improvement. Almost every technological development that we take advantage of in our endeavor was done for some other reason. Hardly any tubes were originally "audio" tubes and the inventors of different transformer-core alloys never had wierdo golden-ears in mind, etc.
John
jlsem said:
Don't know about audible. Again, we're talking about stuff buried in the thermal noise of the wire. Which itself is buried in the numerous other noise sources of the electronics, which is buried in the ambient noise of our listening rooms.
Certainly people perceive differences, and have their particular tastes and preferences. And that's cool. That's what I ultimately go with at the end of the day. As I said previously, I'm not much of a fan of silver. I don't know why exactly but I'm pretty sure it has absolutely nothing to do with silver's electrical properties.
se
Guys
Thanks for the replies very informative, I don't want to spend mad money on connects, guess I'll start off by visiting the site rentiap mentioned.
The dealer here says that I should spend at least £600 per pair of interconnects and he said it with a straight face.
We have a maplins electrical store here so I'll see what they have.
Thanks again.
cheers
shugg
Thanks for the replies very informative, I don't want to spend mad money on connects, guess I'll start off by visiting the site rentiap mentioned.
The dealer here says that I should spend at least £600 per pair of interconnects
and he said it with a straight face.We have a maplins electrical store here so I'll see what they have.
Thanks again.
cheers
shugg
shugg said:
Shugg, as another suggestion, you could purchase a small roll of teflon coated silver wire from:
http://www.a-msystems.com/electronics/wire/silvertef.aspx
Looks like they currently have sale prices!
shugg said:The dealer here says that I should spend at least £600 per pair of interconnects
I imagine I could say all sorts of things with a straight face if my commission was involved!
If you want to go for silver, it is far cheaper to go to a precious metals dealer and buy "fine" silver (99.99% pure) in wire form, then post it down PTFE tubing. You will need to club together with a few friends because the dealer will want to sell you a couple of kg of silver, but it's far cheaper in the end.
I like silver because you get super soldered joints. I suspect that's why it sounds better, not because of any bulk conductive properties.
I am going to relate my own personal experience and it's going to involve some name-dropping.
When John Camille and Dennis Boyle were developing Camille's 211 shunt-regulated power amp some years ago, I would go in for a listen now and then. One day Dennis said they had changed something and asked if I could hear a difference. I'm no golden-ear, but the system sounded more detailed with a perceptably more realistic three-dimensional effect (I hate to use the term soundstage). All they had done was replace the wire with OCCC. I didn't believe that changing the wire in the signal path could make a difference and I went aound telling people I thought it was just b***s**t.
Anyway, I was later talking to Camille (who knew more than a little bit about noise in a circuit) about it and he explained to me that he thought that the oxygen in copper migrated into the interstices of the grain structure and the copper oxide rectified the weakest part of the signal. So in a word, long crystal copper wire was to a MUSIC SIGNAL similar to silver, jumpier was the word he used. Now, Camille expressed to me that he wasn't sure that it was such a good thing, which may explain your own personal distaste for silver.
That's all I know.
John
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