Looms?

I've noticed, (don't really want to start a cable argument) that silver cable has a pretty different sound to copper cables. In particular IME copper cables tend to have more bass (in a bloated kind of way). Also, silver tends to have quicker midrange and highs, which 'sounds' like there's more detail coming through.

Now, the question is, if copper is letting more bass through but less mid/ high range, does having a mixture of copper ICs and silver ICs limit the sound, by taking some of the elements of the sound out with one cable (the copper cable), and then more from the other end of the spectrum out with the other (the silver cables).

Lastly, should you then try to use the same style of wiring as used in your amps, etc. I notice my amp uses silver cabling internally, so should I therefore only use silver cable throughout?

Hope this makes sense

 

Some cable manufactures seem to think the future is with alloys. Mixtures of silver and copper and so on. Simply from observation of how big manufactures go about cable designs, there is more difference to be had from different topologies than materials.

Thin unscreened solid core cables seem to be popular at the moment, sometimes braided.

Have a look at what Audience do.

 

Sounds like a crazy plan...

Have you heard the alloys in action? Do they work?

 

Out of curiousity what is the amp and is this solid silver or silver plated copper cable?

 

Hi Martin,

I'm using a Sugden masterclass pre and power amp. Their website says:

"Connections are via low impedance silver interconnect wires and a solid metal star-earthing point, with primary circuitry fitted to gold-plated circuit boards"

It sounds like its solid silver, but your guess is as good as mine whether that's the case...

 

I'm certain that if the amp maker had used premium materials they would like to tell everyone !

Its probabley silver plated..but who knows.

Was this from listening to the cables I made ?

My thoughts are that that they often mulit stranded and each strand is passing its own portion of the signal. The resulting melange provides the sound your hearing imo. As to how works in reality I have not the foggiest.

I'm also experimenting with different metals ...some are horrible
copper steel, gold and silver seem to do some things well but not others.

 

Any comments on solid gold?

 

And the circuit boards themselves are silver?
And inside the components on the boards?

There's a point when all the fancy cables in the world come to an end...

 

The arguments never end. Crimped vs soldered etc. unshielded vs shielded, which materials to shield with, leaving 'air' around the cable with loose sheathing or not, single v multi-strands, configurations of strands (check Cardas site for some examples), cables off floors (a la Transfiguration), differing requirements of frequency bands i.e. more/thicker strands for lower frequencies, importance of impedance matching, suitability of equipment for short/long runs of cables, keeping cables away from each other. The easy way out is to take some cheap nonsense such as microwave cable, dress it up, add some marketing and some fancy pricing (allegedly a very popular high-street brand does this), lift the treble by silver-coating copper (many seem to do this).

One argument goes that a huge number of systems are frankly not up to having really good cable in them and this accounts for the frequent disappointment. Only the male ego doesn't want to hear this. It's a counter to the snake-oil arguments but is of course dismissed as justifying a silly esoteric cash-cow.

It's a bit like the one about taking all the lawyers in the world and asking them to stretch around the globe holding hands. They'll never reach an agreement...

 

Oh I forgot to add the argument about how short is a length of cable before it has no effect. Allegedly about an inch but who knows, or the one that inside a lot of your equipment is nothing fancier than good old twin & earth or cheap non PC-OFC copper. Or the argument that you've got miles of distortion, computer equipment, power surges and domestic inadequacy courtesy of the National Grid and habits of the Nation in general so why does a few metres of fancy nonsense matter...

 

When I come across a cable that can make Coldplay or Dido sound intersting then you will have my attention.

 

Yeah, I'll state at this point that this was with incredibly well priced cable from Zanash, with only a smidgeon of marketing

Zanash, how do you feel the sound changes when you combine your silver ICs (say from CDP to Pre) with a length of Copper ICs (from Pre to Power), in contrast to silver ICs between all the components?

Very true. But with Living Voice rereleasing the OBX speakers internally wired with Kondo silver cables (with a sig. increase in price), you wonder whether there is merit in trying to keep as much the same as possible. Kevin must seem to think so. Although there will always be compromises, surely they should be minimised?

For instance, is there anyone on the board that has replaced much of the internal wiring of their equipment with silver cabling? Have they found that these small tweaks lead to a different sound, and, would these changes then be masked by using ICs made from a different material