What’s the benefit of using silver wire?
Is it because it won’t oxidize as easily as copper?

Silver is a slightly better conductor than copper.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

The particular metal used doesn't make a bit of difference. The only consideration is that the resistance of the cable be low enough in relation to the impedance of the speaker.

Some of you might be shocked to know that every single connection inside your precious audio amplifiers, preamps etc. is composed of tin and lead alloy. (even so called "silver solder" that is sometimes used is only about 2% silver content)

There are much more significant things to worry about than the metal used in your wires. For instance what about that wasteful passive crossover network inside your speakers that contains inductors (with copper wire) with many, many feet of small gauge wire? Those inductors present much more resistance in-line with the speaker drivers than even the crappiest of speaker wires. This degrades the damping factor very significantly. Nobody talks about this, not the speaker manufacturers especially. Also, the actual voice coils in your speaker drivers are always either copper or aluminum.

If you don't believe me, take apart one of your speakers and look at the crossover network.


[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited May 10, 2004).]

I guess this means copper can do the same job that silver does at a lower cost as long as it’s slightly thicker. So, only reason why someone would choose silver wire over copper is environmental, right? gonk, I remember your input about some chemical plants having to invest on gold cables due to corrosive environment it is going in.

curegeorg, is it safe to assume that the area you live in has a condition (high humidity & salt vapor from ocean) which makes silver more suitable than copper?

The only reason silver ever entered the audio scene is marketing - it just sounds impressive.

i am using silver because i wanted to, no defense needed. having said that, my reasons why are less resistance (at its worst it is better than copper at its best, and low quality copper is significantly less), if it oxidizes it is still very conductive, i can have only one metal the entire path to the speaker, so i can compare my cables at a low price range to cables that cost like 10k, to try something different, and because its not like it is costing me more than i would have spent on some manufactured mid-range copper cables. my price range was set, so i'd be crazy not to get silver.
once my manufacturers warranty runs out, i will look at tinkering with my speaker's wiring, component's etc. because yes i do realize that the wiring inside is what it is.
i was going to do a cat5 cable, but 50hrs of braiding wasnt appealing.
i am not bashing copper, but if im gonna spend the time to make a diy project i am gonna do it so that i am proud of the product and it is unique. i am not looking to replicate, i am trying to experiment and see if there really is any validity to different metals, etc.
someone once said that the earth was flat and everyone believed that until someone found out that it wasnt; now we all believe that its round.
my interest in audio poses questions that i seek answers to, so when i have a chance to answer them, id be silly not to.

http://www.amm.com/index2.htm?/ref/conduct.HTM
shows why people choose the metals that they choose, note that drawn copper is significantly less than annealed copper and silver. no i dont live inside of the sea, so i am not worried about the elements. what fun would it be to make the same thing that i have now?

If you want some really significant improvement, why don't you just go with true active bi-amping or tri-amping and eliminate the passive crossover network entirely? Doing this also makes the cables that connect to the drivers much less of an influence.

Futzing with speaker cables, especially when there is a huge liability with the speaker's passive crossover network, is really barking up the wrong tree.

Active crossovers are a massive improvement compared to anything you can do with the passive crossover still in the speaker cabinet.

You mean near the sea? I was referring to vapor.

Since your answer is no, never mind.

"If you want some really significant improvement, why don't you just go with true active bi-amping or tri-amping and eliminate the passive crossover network entirely"

I'm not sure that bypassing or changing the passive crossovers inside the speakers would always result in improvement in sound quality. I know I read an article recently regarding the thin wiring used inside of high dollar Legacy speakers. Consumers were complaining that they spent hundreds of dollars on high quality speaker cable only to discover the inside of the speakers were lined with cheap thin wiring. The designer of the speakers replied that they had spent thousands of hours tweaking those speakers to make sure they sounded fantastic. You liked the way they sounded when you bought them, so the 20 ga. wire feeding the tweeter worked as designed. Now, my point is, most high end speaker manufacturers are putting together drivers, cabinets, passive crossover networks that arrive at a certain sound. Changing any one of these elements is most certainly going to change that sound. The passive crossover network, as inefficent as it might be, was designed (perhaps with more efficent drivers for example) to work in concert with the other parts of the speaker to achieve a certain level of performance. If by changing the speaker cable leading to the inefficent passive crossover network improves the sound to the ear of the listener, then I suppose it was worth whatever amount of money was put into the cables. I am also a firm believer that any upgrades or improvements one makes to their audio system is completely limited by the performance of the surrounding components. Meaning if you have a $500 HTIB any you drop $500 in a set of Kimber speaker cables, you're probably not going to hear much difference. However, if your components are all Krell Master Reference with Wilson Audio WattPuppy speakers, the difference in one cable to another might be completely noticeable. Just my opinion, of course!

[This message has been edited by harp795 (edited May 11, 2004).]