Anyone with experience having cables made using Amorphous Metals/Alloys

@audio_phool - I’ve been making my own geometry cables for almost 10 years. in that time I have tried dozens of wire types/manufacturuers.

In that time I have become aware of the many factors that govern cable performance...

• Conductivity of metals - which translates to speed of propoergation of the signal
  • this coverns the dynamic performance of the metal or alloy being used
    • The best I have used to date is UP-OCC solid silver, followed by UP-OCC solid copper
  • But it also impacts the accuracy of the signal being passed down a cable,
    • this impacts clarity and details and ultimatley Image
  • Standard Copper has a conductivity rating of 1.0
  • OFC copper is a little better at 1.1
  • Solid silcer is around 1.3
  • UP-OCC copper is around 1.5
  • UP-OCC silver is around 1.7
• alloying Standard Copper with another metal having a lower conductivity rating will result in a conductivity rating less than 1.0
• alloying copper with another metal having a higher conductivity rating higher than the copper being used will result in a value somewhere between the two
  • however, mixing metals cause distortions due to the different speed of propergation of the two metals being used
  • e.g. I have found that using silver plated solid copper wire caused the clarity to be reduced, i.e. compared to a similar cable made using either pure copper only or pure silver only

Having said that, Duelund tinned copper is prefered by many because of its smooth tones, But when compared to a cables that uses UP-OCC wire, I found the duelund wire lacked the dynamic performance of the UP-OCC cables - but that is my preference

I also tried Mundorf Pure Silver and found it tp be less dynaic than UP-OCC copper

What became apparent during my various experiments was that using pure silver or copper resulted in a significantly better reproduction of the overal image, which I believe is due to the accuracy of the signal being conveyed by the left and right channels.

My Cables

• For interconncts I use Solid UP-OCC silver for the signal conductors and solid UP-OCC copper for the neutral
• For speaker cables I use solid UP-OCC cupper for the signal wires and silver palted stranded copper wire for the neutral
• For source power cables I use solid UP-OCC silver for the live and silver plated stranded mil-spec for the neutral wire and plain copper from Home Depot for the ground wire
  • I tried using UP-OCC copper for the neutral, but the cables sounded too analytical for my liking
• For amplifier power cables I use solid UP-OCC copper for the live and silver plated mil-spec for the neutral wires and plain copper from Home Depot for the ground wire
  • this has more to do with lowering costs than cable quality

Having said all of that - this hobby is all about personal preference, so I encourage you to experiment to find your own nirvana

There are many cables out there that use various alloys, so there appears to be a market out there

Take a look at this link for my cable approach

• My Audio Alchemy (image99.net)

Good luck with your quest.

Regards - Steve

@williewonka Thank you for your response. Looks like you have pretty deep experience with DIYing cables. I agree with you regarding UPOCC cables & hence even I use UPOCC copper cable for speaker cable.

I would like to know how & from where did you manage to procure UPOCC Copper or silver cables for your exoeriments? I find it very difficult, some times even next to impossible to procure cables that I want. Recently I wanted to procure flat foil UPOCC Copper or Silver...I was not able to find anyone who could provide me what I wanted. Hence any help on procuring cables or conductors is much appreciated.

Regarding the point that you mentioned about finding UPOCC better sounding than rest of the conducors (ignoring the geometry & talking purely from conductor perspective). Thats quite understandable as UPOCC has very less amount of crystal copared to OFC version or even standard metal version. But UPOCC is the patented method so finding it easily and economically is going to be a challenge.

Amorphous metal (or alloys) are actually a step ahead. They are made using a method called as Melt Spinning (there are other methods as well) wherein the molten alloy is cooled very rapidly so that atoms don't have any time to form any crystal structure. Hence these are also called as metal glasses. Now since they don't have any crystal structure at all and they are very tightly placed without any (or minimal) interatomic space compared regular crystalised metal, it's going to be even better than UPOCC because of the said reasons. Hence I am looking for amorphous Copper or silver. Let me know if you know any manufacturer who can provide me what I am looking for.

Regards,

Audio_phool

OP have you tried Neotech? Taiwanese company with distributors in California, Canada and the UK.

Neotech

@srinisr No I haven't tried those distributors but I will surely check with them, thyanks for that. But I doubt if it's (Amorphous Copper/Silver) not already avaibale, then they will make just 10 meters or so for me.

Audio_phool

@williewonka 

Steve, thanks for sharing your journey on making cables. It nicely points out how many permutations there are in searching for the “right stuff”. Early on in my career I was asked to develop a electro mechanical system which required a dielectric of uncertain properties. After struggling with theory for a few days, I just went out and bought every brand and type I could find and started trying them. From that I learned some generalities. Same kind of thing you are doing. I assume you have done similar research in insulation.