Best internal hook up wiring...............

[ashok]

Silver wire supposedly sounds better than copper wires when used for internal wiring in amplifiers .
Since the resistance variation between both is insignificant compared to circuit resistances , some other characteristic , as yet not determined (?), must be responsible for the audible differences.
We won't look at psychological reasons now.

Has anyone looked at copper coated aluminum wires ? Anyone tried this ? If resistance is not the reason for differences , then maybe we can look at aluminum also . They do use them in tweeters.

Anyone ?

Cheers,
Ashok.

 

[sam9]

Silver plated copper wire like you finf in teflon hook up wire is definitely easier solder than bare cooper. In DIY we all think we are expert solderers (or at least very good) based on the joint looking like the book says it should. Yet more than once I've corrected a problem by the simple expedient of re-heating what looked like a perfect solder joint.

Thus the following hypothesis:

In DIY projects, silver, silver clad copper or silve clad something else type hook up wire can from time to time make an audible difference in the results for the simple reason that the probability of good solder joints is higher than when using bare copper (even cryogenically treated OFC with the crystals aligned however they are supossed to be aligned copper).

 

[wes-ninja250]

Can solder silver-coated-copper with regular 60/40 electronics solder? Silver solder is a royal pain.

Thanks,
Wes

 

[EC8010]

True silver solder isn't what is meant. What you want is the stuff that's often sold as low melting point (LMP) solder and that has 2 or 3% silver mixed in with the (nearly) 60/40 ratio of tin/lead.

 

[wes-ninja250]

Ah, thanks for the tip. I will definately hunt for that the next time I have the opportunity!

Wes

 

[ashok]

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it is better to use silver solder ( 2% silver ) when soldering silver wire or silver coated copper wire.
There was some explanation but I've forgotten. It seemed to make sense at the time. Does anyone know what it is ?
Cheers.

 

[EC8010]

Yes, you must use silver-loaded solder when soldering to silver plating to prevent the silver from leaching out of the plating and making it unsolderable. This is also true for surface-mount components even though there isn't (to my knowledge) any silver in their plated soldering surfaces.

 

[rayfutrell]

The US military prohibits the use of teflon insulated silver plated wire in military equipment. The reasons are that teflon insulation will cold flow under pressure, the silver plate is succeptable to "red plague", whisker growth and electro-migration.
Regards,
Ray

 

[EC8010]

The reasons are that teflon insulation will cold flow under pressure, the silver plate is succeptable to "red plague", whisker growth and electro-migration.

That's interesting, can you expand upon "red plague"?

 

[rayfutrell]

Red plague is a copper oxide corrosion product that forms on silver plate over copper at breaks or pinholes in the silver plate.
Regards,
Ray

 

[EC8010]

Thanks for that!

 

[ashok]

.............Red plague is a copper oxide corrosion..........

Any 'antibiotic' to prevent this. Sounds alarming !
Anybody actually seen this happen ? Looks like many high-end equipment might have a problem ...... ?

 

[rayfutrell]

I used to work in RF design and we silver plated many items. To prevent corrosion we would cover the silver with a gold flash. Gold is practically impervious to corrosion. Customers would complain about paying for all that gold plating, but we did it to prevent corrosion, not to increase the price of the item. I'm surprised no one tries to sell gold plated wire to DIYers claiming great sonic advantages for gold.
Regards,
Ray

 

[tubenut]

I'm surprised no one tries to sell gold plated wire to DIYers claiming great sonic advantages for gold.

Siltech does...... (Not sure if it is plate or part of their alloy mix......)