|
Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
|
|
|
Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
|
In Reply to: The three best conductors are silver, copper, and gold, in that order. (nt) posted by John Elison on August 1, 2005 at 20:34:54:
On a high school science table, you are correct. (Interestingly enough, facility of transmission also works for heat . . . copper pots I got, silver is a bit too far for me).Now for the problems with such a simplistic approach.
- Though gold does not oxidize it does form (very slowly) sulfides.
- Silver also does not oxidize. Silver tarnish is a sulfide and it forms much more rapidly than gold.
- Copper, on the other hand, oxidizes.
- Both gold sulfide and silver sulfide are not as good in conductance as the native material but they are both far better than copper oxide, which also forms very rapidly on bare wire.
- It has been long established that native conductivity has less effect on the performance of interconnects than the implications of the posts here indicate. No one has ever done a scentific study of the effects on tonearm cable which carries far weaker signals than an interconnect.
- Garth has an excellent point, Cardas wire properly soldered and joined is very good and likely better than the wire in most arms. It is also likely better than most of the DYI (sic) choices.
- However, my experiments and tests indicate that there is something to be said for other choices, provided thay are flexible enough and properly installed.
A Quick summary:
"OFC" copper Is available in extremely thin gauges coated in a variety of insulators some of which may be suitable for any tonearm. It shares many of the qualities of the Cardas wire but on a system with extremely great micro detail should sound slightly "more precise" whilst retaining the "warmth" that lovers of copper swear by.
Silver has a reputation of sounding "precise", "etched" or "bright" though extremely quiet. There may be a reason. Jena White-Wolf Crock of Jena Labs maintains that a "hash" can be seen on silver transmitting low level AC signals (and these are AC signals). However, Lloyd Walker is a flaming silver devotee. Both are, BTW, huge supporters of true deep immersion cryo treatment.
Gold is the most stable of these materials. It is also the most ductile and can yield wire of extremely thin gauge without voids far more easily than the others. Jena Crock and Lloyd Walker both eschew gold. The characteristic sound is "organic" or "natural".I considered producing a new servo-tangential tonearm for a while and tried all of these choices. I decided that, synergies being what they are, all should be made available. For myself, I use a gold plated gold-silver-copper alloy wound in silk (custom done for me). In my system, in my room and to my ears it sounds best. But the difference isn't huge. And frankly, if I could not have this wire the Cardas might well be my choice with the current system.
So, in my system, it would go
Alloy
Cardas
Gold
Copper
SilverYou will notice that the best conductor is last. I am sure Lloyd will send me a nasty email.
Most importantly, however, one must eliminate solder joints and RCA connectors where one can. Cartridge pins are cool, but if one has a single strand it may be fastened to the cartridge pin with a bit of teflon tape (or conductive copper or silver tape).
Simply put, direct wiring still holds an advantage, though Lloyd Walker's Silver Treatment for RCAs is stunningly good. I, and many others whom I respect, swear by the stuff.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- A little science (or knowledge) is a troublesome thing - Auricle 10:15:41 08/02/05 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
