Are Silver Audiophile Speaker Cables Really Better?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2024
- We sometimes see audio cable manufacturers tout the usage of exotic metals for their cables (ie. silver, silver-clad, etc). They often state these metals "sound" better but offer no empirical proof to back their claims. We take a look at the conductivity/resistivity of silver and compare it to regular copper to determine if there is any truth to these claims.
For the full written review, please visit:
www.audioholic...
Audioholics Recommendations Amazon Shop: www.amazon.com...
Audioholics Recommended Cables:
250ft CL2 12AWG Speaker Cable: amzn.to/2vwS9QH
Locking Banana Plugs: amzn.to/2ZQt15x
9ft 4K HDR HDMI Cables: amzn.to/2WiIXeD
Audioholics Recommended Electronics:
Denon AVR-X3600H 9.2CH AV Receiver: amzn.to/2ZTbsCe
Yamaha RX-A3080 9.2CH AV Receiver: amzn.to/2VzA03v
Denon AVR-X6500H 11.2CH AV Receiver: amzn.to/2Ssba2N
Audioholics Recommended Speakers:
SVS Prime 5.1 Speaker / Sub System: amzn.to/2GWoFCn
Klipsch RP-8000F Tower Speakers: amzn.to/2Vd8QQn
Pioneer SP-FS52 Speakers: amzn.to/2n7SyIJ
Sony SSCS5 Speakers: amzn.to/2ndEn56
SVS SB-3000 13" Subwoofer: amzn.to/2XYxqBr
Follow us on:
Patreon:
/ audioholics
FACEBOOK
/ audioholics
GOOGLE PLUS
plus.google.co...
TWITTER
/ audioholicslive
#audiophile #cables #silver
I actually just returned from wakanda to get some vibranium cables. They really made it sound like i was in the movie
J Y yes , but which movie ? All of them? At the same time?
That was great! I've been meaning to get to Wakanda for some vibranium too after travel restrictions are lifted. Lol.
Its called The Placebo Effect. Its a human condition. Whatever floats your boat I guess.
mmmmmhmmm, counting all those electrons, ya electron skinflint!
Are they just as crappy as the movie?
I soaked my monster cable into a jar of snake oil for 6 months, the soundstage is amazing 😱
Does the midrange sound extra chocolaty?
I heard copper head snake oil has the lowest resistance.
Smooth, but not too sharp ? Excellent layering ? Fantastic definition ? Mine too.
Career metallurgist here. Except for one or two technical nitpiks you are absolutely correct.
There is a list of other factors that are FAR more significant than any distortions (possibly) introduced by cables, including:
(1) quality of the mixing by the record producer - no amount of HiFi can correct a bad mix;
(2) the room acoustics and speaker placement - frequently overlooked but a prerequisite for HiFi;
(3) the recording media format, which determines the quality of the audio information being carried; and
(4) the hearing capability of the listener -- you may have noticed that none of the old guys doing audiophile reviews ever post their most recent audiology test report!
I would love for you to devote a video to the issue of 'oxygen free copper'. The reason is that 'pure' copper (or any other metal) does not exist outside of research laboratories and maybe NASA. There are only degrees of purity, with oxygen being the contaminant of primary concern. There are three alloy designations defined by ASTM/UNS (American Society for Testing of Materials / Unified Numbering System). From Wikipedia:
(1) C10100 - also known as oxygen-free electronic (OFE). This is a 99.99% pure copper with 0.0005% oxygen content. It achieves a minimum 101% IACS conductivity rating. This copper is finished to a final form in a carefully regulated, oxygen-free environment. Silver (Ag) is considered an impurity in the OFE chemical specification. This is also the most expensive of the three grades listed here.
(2) C10200 - also known as oxygen-free (OF). While OF is considered oxygen-free, its conductivity rating is no better than the more common ETP grade below. It has a 0.001% oxygen content, 99.95% purity and minimum 100% IACS conductivity. For the purposes of purity percentage, silver (Ag) content is counted as copper (Cu).
(3) C11000 - also known as electrolytic-tough-pitch (ETP)
In short, if you want purer copper, you have to pay for it, because refining any metal or alloy to higher purity takes more processing and more energy.
Many cable sellers blithely (and probably ignorantly) claim their product is 'OFC' or 'pure' but they never say HOW pure.
How pure is pure enough for audiophiles? Impossible to say; for one thing it depends on other factors in the system, but it is mainly subjective.
Another issue (which personally I think is crazy) is worrying about the power cable running to the amplifier. You can pay thousands for a deluxe cable running from your wall plug to your electronic box. If pure DC from your transformer is so important then why not just insert a small DC generator? It might actually cost less! Ask any old-time welder about the joys of using a DC 'bullet' generator, and he will tell you that none of the expensive high tech inverters of today even come close for operating smoothness.
Please tell me how I can contact you and maybe we can collaborate on these questions.
Cheers, and keep up the good debunking!
but silver gives you a different sound than copper, silver has more top end extension and more refined on the midrange but less on bass, copper has warmer midrange in general
which DC generator do you recommend? I was thinking of getting some interconnects from aliexpress
I get the 250' spools of Monoprice 12 AWG CL2 copper speaker wire at a time for only $97 each with free shipping. I think I've used 1,000' of that stuff by now; love it.
Looks like good value priced stuff! I may buy a roll to diy some cable jewelry.
When people do listening tests between silver and copper it's important to have the same gauge and length. Since silver is expensive, it's often used in smaller gauges, which may account for allot of perceptions and opinions between the two materials. I've seen several audiophile reviewers hold up a 2 meter cable and compare it to a 1 meter cable, they gotta be the same length. Length is a HUGE factor! go as short as you can. Also special thanks to those reviewers for at least trying and sharing their insights with the lengths they had on hand, such asymmetric data is still valuable, and appreciated.
Exactly. "oh silver has better conductivity, we can make it thinner" Sure, if thickness is an issue, but that's not a fair comparison. And the 5% better conductivity can make a difference in super long cables, but again, why have extra cable lying around. A short cable will obviously the best
One small correction. Copper is about .18 a troy ounce today, and silver is almost $18 a troy ounce...so silver isn't '90% more expensive than copper' its 10,000% (100x) more expensive. That said, copper is obviously the best choice even though silver is a marginally better conductor. Great video as usual Gene.
Yup, copper is good enough for the task. There is a reason we have copper wire in our walls and not silver.
Yes I know in some places there are alu wires, but that is something that shouldn't exist in the first place.
Another positive thing about silver is its oxide is conductive, unlike copper's.
I am using Silver. Nordost. Bought it more of eye candy. Then I’m also using Sommer and did get some tin coated copper.
Difference? Price! There may be some mild difference in sound. Some. Maybe. But I doubt I can pass a blind test. 😬
Just do the blind test if you can. It will prove to anybody (inc yourself) how they're wrong about high-end cables!😉
Gene knows what really matters in audio and he keeps his priorities straight. Thank you! And here's a lesson I leaned from Gene: if you want no-compromise good sound, get GIANT speakers. Some things just don't change.
Just like drag racing, there is no replacement for displacement.
Size does matter! 🤣
Need the right power to move the driver
@@stevenp9555
V*I*Cos theta for the win!
Plain old 9AWG multi strand LC OFC in single wire config for me. I don’t like to buy-wire. So glad I discovered Audioholics before buying my cables and so is my wallet, they’re perfect. The QED ref. silver plated cables I had before were expensive and over 14 gauge, I always found like I lost midrange and bass with them.
How do you terminate 9agw wire? That size would not even thread into my binding posts.
The consensus I got from reading multiple audiophile forums was to use silver in the digital chain and cooper in the analogue chain.
And what's the theory?
When I built my own interconnects I used silver. This was because I was terminating them with compression screws rather than solder. I figured that silver is less susceptible to oxidation than copper. I would have used silver plated copper if I could have found it. Silver is more expensive than copper to be sure, but in the context of the small amounts required for interconnects it was not much extra in actual dollars.
That's why I'm thinking about silver plated connectors instead of gold plated. Still way less oxidation than copper, but better conductivity than gold.
I always use $20,000 cables with my $30 speakers I got from Craigslist. The sparkling open clean transparent pure crisp airy and transparent detail is worth it.
I have been using 10 gauge ofc for years, very happy with it.
The heavy gauge does not mean good sound. I have tried many 10 gauge speaker cables and they sounded pretty bad.
I've been using 10GA zip cord for my stereo setup forever and it sounds perfect. Any true blind triangular-type tests of expensive audio cables have never revealed statistically significant difference with my friends and myself. My setup is B&W Matrix 803 S2 speakers and a custom built low output impedance dual mono power amplifier rated at 300 Watt RMS per channel and better than 0.005% THD.
Just wanted to mention that any audio preference listening shall be done either blindly or over a long period of time to minimize interference of mood and physical fatigue.
You are one of those people that don't hear any differences while listening different cables......!!!!!
@@Jil8840 "Different" cables must means significant different electrical properties, not like prices.
Using 35 year old 12 AWG monster cable that has turned dark green . Could you guys mention if cables such as mine should be replaced . Like the short to the point answer.
I have some just like that - 12g, very old, oxidized green. They look gross - but they still work. I compared them to some new wire and can't tell the difference. I did end up replacing it, but mainly because of how it looked. For my short run (
I recently found some quality silver cables (to be more technical they are 6N Pure Silver XLR Balanced Cable Professional HiFi Audio Interconnect Line Carbon Fiber Plug). I know they probably don't make much of a difference because they are XLR but 1 meter was cheaper than a 1ft Audioquest OFC cables, which are overpriced. For 100 bucks a pair they were well worth it.
I also got some sterling silver RCA interconnects and those make a bigger difference but that is more about balanced vs unbalanced. While 200 bucks it has a 18AWG single sterling conductor that was taken to a jewelry store to verify purity of the metal and it was what was advertised so the price alone is pretty close to the materials. They do make a difference, more than the XLR cables.
Silver cables tend to be more bright which is why you see some silver capper mixtures. To bring some warmth with the copper while still having some silver characteristics like vocals are just better with silver cables.
Also, for IEMs, silver cables have less resistance. I can't explain. It but the stock cable for my Monarch MKII's is not loud. Switching it out for a pladdium silver cables almost doubled the vole in output. At my ost a cable should alter the sound signature slightly but my best guess is impedance seems to matter more in IEMs, especially harder to drive ones more than speakers.
Gene, Thanks for this vid. My cables of choice are BlueJeans which I have used for years. I like that I can get them in the exact length and different colors for interconnects. My speaker cables are BJ’s white 10 with spades. Spatial M3 Sapphire open baffle loudspeakers. Most of my interconnects, coaxial and toslink are from BlueJeans.
Could you do some frequency response analysis for Copper vs Silver? I always hear that silver has better highs and it would be great to see some numbers come out about it.
Just plug and listen.. .this is hifi audio not rocket science... silver can add some brightness to your system if you find it abit muddy and non musical, highs can benefit no doubt but I always always recommend trying first, everyhing makes a difference.
He's done analysis.
It shows that the high frequency diminishes or increases in correlation with decrease or increase of resistance. The tweeter has no knowledge of whether or not the voltage was sent through silver or copper.
Would this also apply to hdmi cables like the ones from Audioquest? They sell these called “long grain copper” conductors cables for $80/10ft. Then they sell these other ones that have 0.5% silver for it’s conductors which they promise “better performance” for $140/10ft
Yes complete scam. HDMI cables either pass or fail to pass the signal. There is no in-between.
I would think that silver wire would be a bad choice because of how rapidly it tarnishes. How does one deal with that?
There is nothing you can do about that. That's why most people use oxygen free copper cables that will last a lifetime without any degrading in sound quality.
Mexican silver will tarnish, Italian silver doesn't.
@@pjo1964
Silver is silver and it is subject to tarnishing. "Mexican silver" must be an alloy or perhaps aluminium.
True story. Quite some decades ago a certain performer wanted to be recorded in the absolutely best studio so that performer choose the Mastering Lab in LA. In order to get the performer to record in their studios they had to modify the mixing platforms with silver wiring and switches. That of course created an enormous task and maintenance issue but the change went in and the recording was indeed the "best ever". By how much, that’s anyone's guess.
Who was that performer????
Barbra Streisand - Tag Line “Bitch”
Cool story man!
But what's better for bass, copper or silver? I'm guessing silver is better for the mids and highs.
1990's spool of 12 Gauge Radio Shack Rope Braid Megacable. I have tried others but they make no damn difference to me over this cable. If fact, some expensive 14 Gauge cables are worse!
I think you hit the nail on the head it is all about the resistance, and my thicker rat shack is better than thinner 'audiophile', especially driving my 4ohm speakers.
Using pretty much all Blue Jeans speaker cables and interconnects.
Yes, made in USA.
Blue Jeans resells with a nice profit very basic good quality cables.
good choice, design and quality...
The place where I can see silver being worth the price is in applications where space is an issue (thinner cables) or where resistance is important (same thickness, less resistance) like in super long cables.
Now alu shouldn't be a cable in the first place. It's much lighter than copper for relatively similar heat transfer. So as cooling material yes, as electrical conductor no.
It gets silly when people use silver wires in digital connections. There is no benefit, it's just ones and zeroes, either the signal gets there or it doesn't.
What would be interesting is silver plated connectors. The non-oxidizing benefits of gold, but much higher conductivity. Or silver plated copper wires. Again, keep the conductivity up, but less oxidization. Okay, the copper core will conduct anyway and won't oxidize with copper's trend to get a dense patina, but who knows.
I tried Silver Once
It seemed Bright
The copper sounded smooth
True and the silver sounds rough in the highs. I like copper.
It not just about resistance , and you didn't mention silver plated copper which is quite common and not necessarily much more expensive than copper
He did mention it at 1:45 but was dismissive and didn't get into the reasons why it can be advantageous.
Just my two cents: silver surface, when aged, is still a good conductor, whereas a copper surface acts more like a dielectric. So, MAYBE there is a small advantage of silver over copper. Could you measure some silver plated and tinned copper cables?
That would make for cables that stay fresh even with age. Not a bad idea. And better conductivity than gold, so why aren't we seeing more silver plated connectors.
HI Gene, I've seen your specs/guidelines for speakers cables but cant seem to find anything for interconnects on both the website and TH-cam channel. My current interconnects have the following specs and I'm not sure how it compares. Capacitance: 12.8 pF/ft, Inductance: 0.08 uH/ft, Dielectric Constant: 1.38, Impedance: 75 Ohms. My current interconnects are balanced, which is the only option for my system. do you have recommendation for balanced interconnects? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks
Hello. What about silver OCC for power cords, does make a big difference?
I just use standard 12 gauge copper cabling in my system but I did choose one with a nice flexible jacket so I can route the cable nicely for domestic acceptability and so it won't break off the terminals on the amp or speakers. Tried some loaner cables from the dealer several years ago but couldn't hear any differences so stick with what I have.
Dude at the hifi store just pitched to me silver HDMI cables and said I’d get much better audio. I just couldn’t believe this. Another guy chimed in and said “I wasn’t a believer either but then I did the A/B test and it’s real”. Gene, they’re blowing smoke, right?
Hello Gene, I am running special cables made from UFO technology obtained directly from Roswell. They were designed by Dr Spock and powered by a flux capacitor. Hope you enjoy the humor. I think I will stick to cables by Blue Jeans. They have been outstanding.
The Roswell UFO was made of ali -foil it was widely reported in the Press :)
Yes, @davidbaxter684, Blue Jeans Cables are very good! I've got more than a couple of connections to my hi fi audio system.
My iem cables are silver with clear insulators handbraided by a local guy. Cost was around 40 USD. The only reason I got them was because they match my iem (Moondrop Blessing 2 Dusk). Purely aesthetics
I use Kondo /Japan silver cables for speaker connection and interconnects. Very happy with them. Gorgeous sound.
Yeah i agree...i used OFC speaker cable only until i tried Van Den Hul's "The Clearwater"....it's a 'shotgun' styled OFC cable with pure silver plating, normaly i find silver plated copper very sharp & can give listening fatigue when used with aluminium tweeters..."The Clearwater" is smooth but with lots of micro detail & a very musicaly rythmic sound with a good clean, clear bass & mids...only $250 for a 3m pair with banana plugs fitted....very impressed with the sound..
I find silver speaker cables to be too hot on the higher frequencies, BUT, I run stranded silver/copper alloy interconnects.
Myth placebo effect! Read Audioholics reply about high frequencies in silver cables 👌
I have been using Audioquest X2 £5 a metre and its superb. I have just received my Canare 4S11 from Blue Jeans 6 metre £30 , cost almost as much for delivery but after watching a lot of your vids I fancied trying it just for fun. I also have Van Den Hul T track which somehow sounds a little uninvolving . My system is Acoustic Signature Thunder with the TA 5000 Tonearm Soundsmith Sussurro cart, Rega Aura phono stage, Luxman L 509X and Harbeth SHL5 Anniversary speakers. Its taken since 1986 to get to this level and over the years I have not been able to tell much difference between speaker cables , I detect some difference in some interconnects but even then nothing to write home about. I wont be spending thousands on speaker cables...sounds awesome as it is. Thanks for a great channel...I am now subscribed.
Spent about 65k so far on my movie room and according to the components I have, they recommended audioquest cables from power cables to speaker cables, cost me a fortune and their points was silver much better and not to use cables coming with my components. Everything sounds great but I don't think It would have been noticeable if I used other cheaper decent brand please let me know if you have any recommendations thank you i love your reviews big fan
You got tricked conned into buying very expensive cables 🤦🏾♂️ doing proper research and comparing many brands big and small you can get very good quality cables for much cheaper than the big rip off brands!
Hi Gene, I'm using a mil spec 10ga Teflon coated with silver plated copper strands which I sourced some forty-odd years ago! It's the real deal. I twisted them into pairs using a power drill. This is not an alloy. An alloy is when the metals are blended. This is strands of pure copper core with pure silver plated on the outside. It does have the effect of reducing the high frequency resistance (in reference to skin effect) over pure copper, everything else the same. Not that I'm claiming "I can hear it" because I don't know. I was just covering my bases.
I then tri-wired and kept each driver range electrically isolated from the amp terminals on.
I believe we can simplify the discussion by introducing the concept of "the equivalent circuit". If we measure the equivalent circuit of the wire runs, the speaker input from the terminals onward, and the amplifier output (which in many cases we can assume a zero impedance source, at least to first order), we can model the behavior and isolate the contribution of aberations introduced by the wire runs.
I was coming on in the heyday of the crazy wire scams. I see they're still going but I've got boxes of audio magazine from the seventies with some advertisements of some pretty out-there stuff. It just goes to show, some things are timeless, like the old saying requoted throughout the history of our nation, "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people".
Another great video Gene ! I use Bluejeans Belden copper cable for speaker and most analog and digital connections.
Our family has a cottage in Michigan near the water. The humidity at the lake is hard on stuff. It's surprisingly hard on stereo equipment.
Bluejeans Cable Co. actually welds nice gold plated expanding banana plugs onto Belden brand cable, Welded !
Until I went this way I was using 12 AWG OFC and dual banana plugs, and tightening the set screws annually.
Most people will not have this environmental issue, but I have found Bluejeans to have a good product at a good value.
I have silver digital and analog interconnects from Signal Cable that I bought to sweeten an early DAC.
That $20 GearIT 10AWG Speaker Cable is my current favorite and this video galvanizes my opinion concerning that.
I have 14awg micca copper cables and 12awg Media Bridge gold plated copper cables. The more expensive better measuring 12awg is actually in my secondary system right now and the Micca is in my main system. I had switched things around about six months ago and I haven't even bothered to switch them back because I can't hear any difference between the two. My main system speakers are very revealing Revel Performa3 F208's too, and I still think they sound the same? Maybe I'm just lucky and I don't have supersonic hearing, lol. I'd hate to have to spend a grand on cables to enjoy the my five thousand dollar speakers 😁!
I love iron cables, the induced magnetic current improves my bass by a lot, no snake oil guys. 🤣
Pedapudi Vishnuram I love my iron cables. Z platinum status
I got 500' of sheathed 12/2 gauge copper from the electricians at the job I'm working a few months ago. Finally rewired my theater the correct way with my new x6500h and 4 more speakers added to my theater. I'm more than pleased. Opened up my Ultra front stage....WIDE!!!
Guys..... Forget everything u know about cables. Listen to this.
The other day I got a 4m loop of molten gold. Its enclosed in a titanium housing then covered with thick fabric to contain the heat. The cable has to be separately powered to keep the gold molten of course. But the connections on either side are cooled by Nitrogen.
I plugged the cable in and I kid you not. My speaker grabbed a guitar and started playing it!! Next it grabbed the mic and started signing right from the tweeter!! I now only buy molten gold cables needless to say. My video review will be out soon.
I use tin plated OFC (Supra classic). Just like regular OFC but connections won’t corrode. Multiple thin strands, all strands individually plated. Not too expensive. I guess tin plating is cheaper than silver plating for reasons.
Supra ply 3.4 is one of the worst speaker cables i have ever used. Muddy sound, laid back presentation and very bad stereo image.
I use amazon 12gauge copper on mine.
I will say I tried some old silver cable I had in my garage and I had to turn the treble down as it was so bright and harsh so it did seem to open up the mid and top end. Put the copper back and needed to turn the treble up again. So it did do something noticeable.
And that was a double blind test that gave you those results?
Frank Pratt I knew what I was adding I had the treble up max on the amp, swooped cables and even the mrs said that sounds awful, sounded like the tweeters were going to explode as was so tinny sounding and harsh, turned them down to 4 from 10 and sounded fine, put copper back and needed more treble again as sounded rather flat.
What is the opinion on cables that use silver plated copper, such as Chord Odyssey and the old VDH D-352?
Best video about audio cables, short and very informative for me being not a technical person who loves anything about audio. New subscriber here.
They say "silence is golden". So you need those golden cables for the silence between the tracks. Silver is for ear rings.
For my under 15 foot room I use 9 AWG OCC, for my 1 m length I use pure silver in 5 twisted runs of 22 AWG. I build them myself, and they cost me about $285 and $260 a pair respectively with gold plated termination (screw-in switchable between spade and banana).
The gold plating essentially defeats the purpose of having silver and copper. Just do pure silver or pure copper
@@lilflip9611 As an electrical engineer for almost 45 years who does a fair amount of DOE research related projects, I beg to differ. Not sure what specifically you mean in saying gold "defeats the purpose of having silver and copper". (i.e. what exactly is "defeating" what "purpose" and how?) Gold's atomic structure makes it effectively immune to oxidation (i.e. "tarnish", "rust", etc). That is the purpose of gold plating, or solid gold usage, as we do for various military, advanced digital communications and other applications, since oxidation affects the conductivity and related usage due to valance band completion. In fact, copper is prone to three stages of oxidation even at low temperatures, where it moves from copper oxide, to cupric sulfide and then through to copper carbonate, with progressively worse signal transfer, conductance and transconductance properties at each stage. Silver obviously oxidizes as well. In fact, SO2 can be especially problematic at "low" voltages, where it can very effectively make circuits degrade to the point of failure. For high quality music work such as MHz sampled DSD, and network interoperability of same signals over protocols like Ravenna, gold is often used in the higher-end device contacts for that reason.
@@amdenis very interesting! I didn't realize you were ah expert. I guarantee that you know more about this than I haha. I said defeats the purpose because I did an experiment comparing bare silver wire to different interconnects (gold, copper, silver etc). I found that the bare silver was the most detailed / sounded the best. Could always be placebo, I guess you never know.
@@lilflip9611 sadly, most “audiophile” and “pro sound” vendors take complete advantage of our collective lack of knowledge and make vast sums of ill-gotten gains off of that fact. However, you can actually know whether these things “work” by recording the same source material with/without them, and simply correct for any gain difference, flip one 180 degrees out of phase and sum the two. If anything remains, you have something beyond the placebo effect.
So I've often wondered about lil flip comment too. And i get it silver and Cooper will has corrosive properties, but that aside for a second. If you have a copper or silver cable, then use a gold or gold platted connector does the gold connector bottle neck the signal. Like the chart Gene shows in this video using 14g as a demonstration he shows gold about 30% lower conductivity than copper or silver. So I'm wondering how can the signal pass thru the same way it was prior to the connector. I think that's where I always get hung up on some of the cable arguments
I noticed Rhodium isnt on your conductivity table. Some cable companies like to use Rhodium plated connectors for some reason.
I use 12 AWG stranded copper for speaker wire. It’s cheap and works great.
Thanks Gene. I always appreciate your straight forward explanation where you take the time to research the facts and science. Your reviews of cables are the only ones I deem credible as there is so much falsehoods out there when it comes to this subject matter.
I knew the answer was no before I listened, but nice to see you brought the facts. No one confirms the expression
"nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people" like audiophiles.
nobody asked for this, but from the facts put out in this video, about the only potentially viable place for silver wire would be in a tone arm, less effective mass to accelerate , less capacitance when size is a consideration. I really like this channel's factual presentation.
when I like stuff, I often type something in, to trigger the financial algorithms .
I recently purchased a discontinued pair AudioQuest Wild wood silver speaker wire, nine gauge, this wire replaced a pair NBS cables that were copper and of a small gauge wire. I definitely noticed improvement . is this a result from the larger gauge wire or silver or a combination, I don’t know.
My speakers are Genesis 350SE (Similar to infinity IRS’s)
Just curious, I've wondered if silver plated aluminum would be beneficial for a high efficiency voice coil, as you could have reduced resistance and mass (of course this would be a balance between core and plating thickness. I'd appreciate any good links on the topic at I didn't find many.
Cheers.
Interesting idea.
Alu is much lighter than copper, but loses less conductivity (both heat and electric) than weight, silver is conductive and stays clean, gold stays clean, iron survives physical loads.
Copper is somewhere inbetween, great electric and heat conductivity, flexible, but heavy.
All of them have their use in different tasks.
Thickest oxygen free copper cable I can afford
Exactly
Same, usually 4mm2 ofc cable
Yeah and as short run as possible
@@guillaumeSONY diameter of my cables says 4,4mm so that should be good right?
Even that is overkill. For 8 ohm speakers and any run less that 35 feet, anything more than 14g is overkill - and that's still conservative. And that's from a chart that Gene himself published.
Ive quoted you and your site a few times when in High Street Audio Stores in the UK. We seem to have less and less good Audio Shops in the UK anymore : ( Mainly Chain stores with normal Sales guys. As soon as any of them try their Sales Pitch nonsense with me Im all over it lol
Thanks for the video Gene. I used to think cables does not matter when I tried canare 4s11 and mogami 3104. I replace the cables of the klipsch crossover and it looks like 16g silver or maybe silver coated copper with 12g canare and the sound was much fuller now. I did on the klipsch spl150 and it made a difference.
I made all my speaker cables with canare 4s11, I’m happy with them and it’s cheap too.
I looked into silver cables and I would buy some if they were priced somewhat near the spot price of silver. To me, two six foot lengths of 12 ga wire couldn't possibly weigh more than 5-10 oz ($125-$250 worth of silver). Therefore, if silver cables cost around $300-$500, I would buy them for the novelty and to add more precious metal to my collection. But costing over $5,000, no way. Those companies are gouging the price way beyond a reasonable profit margin.
Since wood gives me warmth in the fire place, I decided to go with wooden speaker cables, just for that warm sound.
I don't know if it sounds nice yet since I seem to have a problem. You see, since I installed my wooden cables I have no sound anymore. I wonder what the cause is. I will just start by replacing my 230V breaker with an audiophile fuse and work my way down the chain until I find the cause of my problem.
u should've gone for silver plated wooden cable lol
I use Blue Jeans Cable Twelve White: www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm
I like the white since my baseboards are white and it blends in. If you don’t care about color the Belden 5000UE is cheaper but has a gray jacket. Both are in-wall rated as well.
Gene, good to see, and hear you are now recovered, and doing well. On this topic of speaker wire, I recently made a purchase of KnuKonceptz Kord Kable 14 Gauge copper speaker wire of 50 feet in length. It is 100% pure copper of 189 strands. I bought this 50 ft. length of oxygen-free copper cable, 14 gauge thickness is blue-coloured from the Canadian Amazon, and delivery was much faster than I thought.
This lecture, demonstration was excellent, Gene. I heard that silver speaker wire has the superior conductivity, but the result whether it is very small, or clearly apparent - but minimal, anyhow - cannot be completely justified. Henceforth, justification is because of what you have thoroughly explained because of an immensely high price. Thank you for another very clear, practical presentation on cable connections.
A friend gave me some of the blue Kord from KnuKonceptz. I think it's quite good.
Copper wires with silver banana plugs would be best. Gold connectors just knocks the conductivity down.
amazon basics, 99.9 pure copper. 13 bucks a pop. very happy with the detail and resolution. lol.
Not just about the metal, its also about the covering.
Golden plated toslink. I want a video about those :D
Yeaah, comparing to the plastic ones gold doesn't oxidize, oh wait!
Is there any other way??? 🤣
nothing wrong with gold plated toslink as long as they're coaxial toslink.
what about silver plated copper for mains power cables? does that change the sound ?
Tell you what, l DEFINITELY heard a difference with my speakers. They tended to be warm initially and my QED's opened them up.
Did you have someone perform a blind test for you?
I use 750 MCM THHN cables myself. Compressing banana plugs on them is a bit tricky, but man, is it worth it.
LOL! I'm guessing most of the folks that watched this video don't know that 750 MCM is thicker than a garden hose!
I've once tried Audioquest Sydney interconnects (170 euro in Germoney). It has a lot of crazy features and silver plated purple copper terminations and what not. Although it gave me more clarity and details in the upper frequencies, the sound had notably less bass than my old Oehlbach NF-1 Master interconnects (40 euro) so i send them back. Can anyone pls explain why?
I made my own cables. Used 12 gauge because my length is only about 5 feet with 100 watts. Banana plugs with a braided sleeve. They work and look great.
I use OFC copper speaker cables and interconnects throughout. It's a personal choice thing.. as I tried some silver cables and inters which did have an effect on the upper frequencies ... but were not to my personal taste...so changed back.
All of these cables work very well, really clean and natural sound. I am particularly impressed with the Studio Acoustic that I purchased from Bunnings hardware which IMO may be a silicon dielectric (not sure). The upgrade in sound quality for the PA was like night and day.All of these cables work very well, really clean and natural sound. I am particularly impressed with the Studio Acoustic that I purchased from Bunnings hardware which IMO may be a silicon dielectric (not sure). The upgrade in sound quality for the PA was like night and day as previously it had been quite problematic and unnatural sounding. Now we have had comments like "Wow a church that is actually doing true sound reinforcement"
Hi, I believe you may be wrong with your statement on Silver cables. Mostly the Video Silver plated they are the best. The signal travels at the surface and Silver is more stable so the better the picture quality more contrast I use Audioquest Vodka HDMI. I heard part Silver Nordost speaker cables not bad however I use all Cardas up to Clear Light the litz coating makes the big difference. I found the Nordost with Silver will help a system that lacks the highs.
Kimber Kable silver is worth every penny! The sound is WAY more smooth...
Doubt that would pass a double blind test. They're no better than copper lollll. You got robbed.
Do pure silver iem cables look prettier than plated?
Im using QED Silver Spiral cable, is this any good? i was using Van Den Hul cs122 before but i thought moving to the Silver spiral would be an upgrade, im not sure if it was to be honest?
I hear ya, via reasonably priced OFC. Yep, my Buddy owned a HiFi Shop, I watched him Sale Ultra Expensive Cable to people that could HEAR the DIFFERENCE(???). Thing was, he was using the old Black and Brown Kimber Cable for all of his presentation! Loved it when these so called Audiophiles could hear the Difference and the Switching box never changed. Same Wire less than a 5 second to flip a switch. I encourage those the Pride themselves of throwing around BiG Expensive Brand Names, to continue Buying that $400-4000. Pair of Cable. I only buy, what I can HEAR! If Amp (a) sounds beautiful, with a slight warmth to it, I'll buy it. If it sound like COLD and harsh, I won't ... simple. But everything must be pleasing to the ears. I'm happy with my Old Kimber Cable & some of my New OFC speaker wires. I haven't yet heard anything better yet, . on MY SYSTEM. If the Seller is so hot to Sale you some Snake-Oil Cables, see if he'll let you try them on YOUR SYSTEM at home(?), with a 100% REFUND- RETURN! I think you'll hear the old, well , huh, I can't.... you know the drill! Spend that MONEY people, you buying Advertising .... My ears tell the truth, not a Oscilloscope!
12 awg zip cord for longer runs to surround speakers, I've got mediabridge 12 awg ultra series for my LCR up front, passive biamp on L&R. I know it doesn't matter under 1k ft. but I like my cables to be the same length just for my ocd sake, plus they look a bit nicer than zip cord haha
AudioQuest Rocket 33 for the L & R. Audioquest Q2 for the Surrounds/Center Channel.
Get a set of silver cables and a set of copper cables and do a a/b comparison you will most defiantly hear a difference. whether or not you like the change is personal preference.
I use industrial stile Alpha hook up wire for my speakers. The reason is because I had a spool lying around from a previous industrial automation project.
I bought special customize cables stranded with human hair. The human hair being used is about 4 feet and is blonde in case you're interested. I tried brunette but that just didn't sound right. It's stranded like a braid I guess and coated with rubber shielding
whats the point of the cable type when the end is gold plated ? wouldn't that just increase the resistence at the end point ?
We had the same thought! The amp terminals and speaker terminals reduce conductivity of whatever wire is between them. I suspect that an amp gold plated terminal reduces conductivity from the amp which then flows through a wire and suffers further conductance reduction as it hits the gold plated speaker terminal. Wireless high bitrate amp/speaker connectivity is probably the way to go?
Had a set of kimber Kable KCAG. Solid silver and stupid expensive. They aren’t made any more but there floating around 2k for a 2 Meter pair. When I had them they were around $100+ a ft.
Many thanks for presenting facts in such a professional way! I have seen many and at the moment you are the most thrustworthy source for audio learning.
Can you please tell me what are the best audio speaker cables and how do you feel about skw brand
I’ve read that silver treats the High frequencies differently. Not sure if it’s the skin effect or not. I’ve had good luck with 14 gauge OCC copper cables from SKW
Don't believe everything you read. There are no "high frequencies " in Audio where skin effect is an issue of concern.
In 2023 it has been proved/tested in the Lab by a Canadian expert it showed that SKW cables from China were not OCC. It was confirmed by Ana(dia)log TH-camr as well...
@@didioentoro7575 Yes, I’ve seen his videos on those cables including all the back-and-forth ones. They’re pretty and work as well as my old lamp cord :)
I'm not using any metal wires right now...... I got a single Optical Tosslink going from my computer into a Polk Magnifi Max soundbar, which then has wireless surrounds. Not a single strand of copper or metal other than power. I'm using a small isolation transformer as a power conditioner it's called the "ONE-AC condition one", which besides the transformer has a big honking ferrite winding and a 2amp breaker, I got a couple of em, they're super cute, I think they're designed with point of sale card reeders in mind. My more serious audiophile toys are in storage cozied up with a pair of 75ohm silver plated 20 gauge copper Audio Quest VSD-1 RCA interconnects. I like their styling allot, and was drawn to them for their ergonomics and silver plating, would like to get some OCC in the future.
What About the sound that it brings ? Warmer, more direct, more clear etc etc ? Nice video thank you.
No difference other than placebo once the wire resistance is kept same between copper vs silver cables.
I use audioquest 14/4 cables and my speakers ((B&W 606, stereo set up) are bi-wired. It looks great and impressive to a noob but the cables are only 8 euros per meter.
I use a common house hold extension cord from the hardware store. Plenty of gauge. Copper. Positive and negative in one sheath. Cheap
Silver plated multistrand massive difference to >1kHz frequencies compared to same cable in plain copper, one of the best ways to fine tune your system to suit your taste and installation surroundings. Some inside information from one of the UKs premium speaker manufacturers, they only use copper in their studio for speaker development so you'll find their speakers sound too bright with silver plated cables.
My cables fell down from space.... who knows, probably from another planet
Never seen advanced cabling like that before, so much better than any material we have here on earth....
Thank you my alien brothers & sisters for the cable 🙏
You talk like it is just the AC resistance that matters, if it only was that easy - but it is not. For many years I were a total non-believer in cables, and we made a test (4 people) with
high purity copper with silver strands, compared to my low resistance Argon flat copper cables, both sets were exactly 2 x 4 meters length.
The sound stage totally collapsed when using the Argon cables. Just a month ago I tried again with some much wider copper foil flat cables - they really sounded like crap.
I have tried with common car audio standard cables in many different gauges, and from a point they got worse the thicker the cable became. Actually copper the clad alu cables
were not that bad, but they quickly brakes.
For many years my standard LS cable has been a medium priced Van den Hull cable, for about $15/m. That is very balanced and it looks good too.
For fun I have just ordered a set of 2 x 2.5 m OCC (99.9999%) silver coated copper cables to try out.
Until recently I didn´t believe in sound changes for power cables, but got convinced in a test with 5 different cables. But to my amusement I liked the cheapest screened standard
cable the best (about $25)🙂
Hello, I use Nordost cables. Most of Nordost cables are silver plated. I love the sound of silver plated cables. To my ears it sounds more pleasing. With all due respect, I would like you to put down your pencil and do more listening with different cables. I think you will hear a difference and have some fun. With all of the variables it comes down to simply pick the type of cable you like and forget all the math and measurements. It’s about the music. Enjoy!