15.2 What speaker cables are available and how good are they?
Description
This article is from the rec.audio.* FAQ, by with numerous contributions by Bob Neidorff others.
15.2 What speaker cables are available and how good are they?
There is a wide range of speaker wire available, ranging from
30ga zip cord (~$.10/ft) to exotic wires costing over $300/ft.
The material used ranges from copper to oxygen-free copper
(OFC) to silver. (There are a bunch of others as well.)
Oxygen-free copper is probably NOT any different from common
copper in sound. If you hear a difference between two cables,
it is not a difference between oxygen-free and common copper.
Resistance may be significant for speaker cables. The higher
the resistance, the more the cable will affect the sound, all
else equal. The resistance characteristic of metals is called
resistivity. The resistivity of copper is 1.7 microohm-cm.
Silver is very slightly lower, 1.6. Gold is a bit higher, 2.4.
Silver and gold are different from copper in other ways than
resistivity. Gold does not oxidize in normal environments,
so gold contacts will not need periodic cleaning and will not
create rectifying junctions. Silver will oxidize, but the
oxide of silver is conductive, so oxidized silver will still
make good contact. Copper oxide is a bad conductor. Oxidized
copper contacts may insulate, may conduct, or may rectify.
Copper is a bad material for cable terminals, but this may or
may not mean anything for the conductor itself.
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