+1 for Remington, at least if you're in the US. Years ago I bought some spools of 20 AWG, UL1007 wire in different colours from them. I'm still using that. I've also bought wire in bulk from Mouser at reasonable prices.
Tom
Tom
The reason tinned sound different is because it is not as conductive meaning some of the fine detail is lost. The silver plated is the most conductive which might be why you don’t like it because all the detail is there and can make bad recordings sound worse because it shows all the warts. I love only silver Teflon for that reason. To each his own, right?
Hello,
While claims of silver coated wire changes the sound abound, have never, ever seen a real test showing that it makes any difference enough to be heard. Lots of anecdotal remarks, zero actual blind or quality testing. If you are using such small gauge wire that the silver coating makes a difference in the resistance, you are using too small a gauge. IMHO.
Regards,
Greg
While claims of silver coated wire changes the sound abound, have never, ever seen a real test showing that it makes any difference enough to be heard. Lots of anecdotal remarks, zero actual blind or quality testing. If you are using such small gauge wire that the silver coating makes a difference in the resistance, you are using too small a gauge. IMHO.
Regards,
Greg
Thank you. I have a couple boxes from Remington on the way.
Whether it is tinned or not makes no difference in the sound. The silver plated PTFE wire is a good find if affordable, but outside of harsh environments standard tin plated will work with no issues - just use a reputable brand such as Remington.
This has been my go to hookup wiring, silicone jacketed BNTECHGO. Super easy to work with and many color/gauge options.
7-colors-silicone-wire-kit
7-colors-silicone-wire-kit
If you just need skinny stranded wire, sacrifice a parallel port printer cable. Or any other obsolete cables lying around. For shielded wire, there's an infinite supply of component video and A/V cables.
Silver tarnishes readily and is not suitable for harsh atmospheres. It has a slightly lower skin resistance at high frequencies than tin-plated, but I don't think that's significant. It is probably superior for specialized equipment, vacuum or something, but will turn black if any sulfur compounds are in the atmosphere so in a domestic setting I would recommend tinned wire over silver, although its usually OK. Silver solders OK.
PTFE insulation is to be avoided in most situations as its very stiff and awkward to use, hard to strip with ordinary tools without damaging the wire itself. For RF or high voltage, different story as it has very low dielectric loss and high breakdown voltage. You can use bare tinned wire and PTFE sleeving if you want, avoids some of the issues.
Silicone insulated wire is good for very high current as it tolerates the wire heating up significantly without long-term degradation. Commonly used for high current wiring on drones and RC vehicles as you can run lighter thinner wires with less chance of flames. You'll see it sometimes in appliances that can run hot, though you also see glass-fibre sleeving for high temperature wiring too.
Whether bare copper, tinned, silver plated or gold plated, the sound is unchanged. If the core of the wire itself is steel not copper, that could make a difference (especially at high currents), but for copper wire, a plating layer makes no difference at audio frequencies (nor the grade of copper, come to that!)
For long runs the nature of the insulation can affect the cable capacitance and thus affect high frequency losses, polythene insulation is a good choice with low dielectric constant and low moisture-absorbance, but its not often seen (outside of CAT5/6 and coax), and melts very readily at soldering temps.
PTFE insulation is to be avoided in most situations as its very stiff and awkward to use, hard to strip with ordinary tools without damaging the wire itself. For RF or high voltage, different story as it has very low dielectric loss and high breakdown voltage. You can use bare tinned wire and PTFE sleeving if you want, avoids some of the issues.
Silicone insulated wire is good for very high current as it tolerates the wire heating up significantly without long-term degradation. Commonly used for high current wiring on drones and RC vehicles as you can run lighter thinner wires with less chance of flames. You'll see it sometimes in appliances that can run hot, though you also see glass-fibre sleeving for high temperature wiring too.
Whether bare copper, tinned, silver plated or gold plated, the sound is unchanged. If the core of the wire itself is steel not copper, that could make a difference (especially at high currents), but for copper wire, a plating layer makes no difference at audio frequencies (nor the grade of copper, come to that!)
For long runs the nature of the insulation can affect the cable capacitance and thus affect high frequency losses, polythene insulation is a good choice with low dielectric constant and low moisture-absorbance, but its not often seen (outside of CAT5/6 and coax), and melts very readily at soldering temps.
Hi Mark and others,
I have some silver plated stranded stuff that I borrowed from Motorola Comm in the early 80's, it's not oxidized, maybe a small portion of where the wire was cut but once stripped back it's nice and shiney. I assume the insulation acts as a hermetic seal.
I do not like how PVC smells and wicks back with heat from an iron, but its cheap, cheap, okay for crimping, so that's why everyone uses it.
These days I use UL1332 which I get off ebay from https://www.ebay.ca/str/superiorsell2014
UL1332 Cable FEP Flexible Stranded Wire Copper Tinned 12AWG-28AWG High Temp 200℃
Take care
Rick
I do not have any problems using PTFE insulated wire, bending or stripping it. I find it just as flexible as your regular PVC. Some PVC wire with nylon coating, for higher temp rating, is actually stiffer.
I have some silver plated stranded stuff that I borrowed from Motorola Comm in the early 80's, it's not oxidized, maybe a small portion of where the wire was cut but once stripped back it's nice and shiney. I assume the insulation acts as a hermetic seal.
I do not like how PVC smells and wicks back with heat from an iron, but its cheap, cheap, okay for crimping, so that's why everyone uses it.
These days I use UL1332 which I get off ebay from https://www.ebay.ca/str/superiorsell2014
UL1332 Cable FEP Flexible Stranded Wire Copper Tinned 12AWG-28AWG High Temp 200℃
Take care
Rick