Do Cables Wear Out?

With all of this great information finally coming to light, I've decided to lease my cables instead of owning. Complete with a 36 month/36,000 hour warranty from Rent A Cable, I no longer need to worry about excessive electron wear, emotional stunting, and AC corrosion. Catch the wave.

I do have to admit thee are times when "something is not right"---perhaps a buzz in one speaker, a fallen bi-amped connection to one of my speakers, or maybe my Satellite box re-setting itself to factory settings and outputting Dolby instead of PCM so my DAC can't decode it that it is possible my whole system's lifespan is somewhat threatened. Especially shortly after the second glass of wine which about when "something goes wrong".

Jeff_jones, you are forgetting that the aforementioned virgins are kept emotionally stable by sipping constantly from mugs of fresh milk expressed from dairy cows who have been kept in a state of constant bliss by playing to them Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmuzik 24-7.

V.D.Hul is right. Another issue is that the cables are often emotionally stunted from the rough words they hear from factory workmen while still in their formative stages. The best manufacturers buy cable from a secret plant in Sweden, all workers are virgins, men handle the bass conductors and wimen take care of the rest, the nature of the shop requires that the virgins are ugly (or have another job lined up) but happily this has been found to make the cables sound more real. Birds sing constantly during the manufacturing process, temperature is held at a constant 76 degrees f with 42% relative humidity, and the shop is always lit to resemble the first hour of morning on a great new day.

Im not worried about my cables coming apart, nor do I subcribe to sales pitches trying so sell you a lot in the desert. I merely felt this a worthy topic of discussion. And to boot Van den hul uses carbon I believe for this very reason.
Where I was using the word particle I meant and should have been usinig the word "Crystal" as my friend corrected me. Im also saying I have not heard this degradation myself, yet. Here is an excerpt by a respectable leader in the industry. For further reading, http://www.vandenhul.nl/artpap/hybrid.htm
PS the metal he refers to below is copper and silver as further reading reveals.

By: A.J. van den Hul CD
------------------------------------------------------------------------

First a short discussion on metal conductors and their vulnerabilities:
Due to the current cable manufacturing processes based on economics and aging, all metal conductors are sensitive to growing chemical boundaries at the edges of their internal crystals.
These chemical boundaries form non-linear conductive barriers for the electrical signal to be transferred.
The main reason for the origination of these chemical boundaries is the rough industrial handling of the basic material during the manufacturing of the single leads by pulling the metal through many dies and the unprotected storage in between. Especially the bare storage of the drawn wires on reels in the open air creates another problem: chemical interaction with airborne reactive components and their subsequent deeper propagation into the metal during the next processing steps.
As you can imagine, the result is that the final conductor still looks like a conductor, but on microscale does not exactly behave like one anymore.

As a side note, apparantely Audience think the bending and handling of cables will also affect performance. Below is an extract from its website.

"But did you know the act of bending them irrevocably damages the conductors? This bending stresses the metal and causes fractures along the circumference of the bend.....Damage to conductors is why some cords need "break-in" every time the are moved or bent. This is because current passing through the conductor partially repairs damage by micro-welding some of the damaged area. This helps but it will never restore the cable to its original state or it's original performance potential"

It all depends on your AC. If your utility company supplies you with dirty AC, the electron flow often contains impurities that are significantly abrasive, toxic and corrosive. Especially if the utility company is purchasing AC from power plants that burn dirty Cole and do not apply good scrubbing techniques in their stacks to eliminate sulphur ions from the generated electricity, or do not burn Cole in well fluidified Dolomite beds. The usage of such dirty AC on expensive high current amps WILL lead to premature wear and tear of all conductors. Similarly AC from nuclear plants that are not adequately protected can be somewhat radioactive. In this case electrons in the flow can give off fast neutrons and even gamma rays, that are known to be structurelly deleterious to your equipment. You should try to use AC from renewable resources only to ensure the long term stability of your system. Better power utilities in the country give consumer the choice of receiving AC from renewable sources -- also called Organic Power -- for a small premium. . . . it's a little more expensive than regular dirty AC, but our stereos are worth it!

SPL: "Electron particle flow," whatever that is, does not cause cables to break down, or wear in any way. Neither, in general, does passing a current through a wire. If it did, you'd have to rip out all the wiring in your house every few years and replace it.

I assume your friend is not trying to sell you cables. However, people who do sell cables are prone to this sort of nonsense claim (for obvious reasons). Your friend may have heard this somewhere and didn't realize he was being spun.

Porziob, this is what Im talking about. Electron particle flow which causes breakdown. Serious answers welcome.

Of course. The flow of electrons take its toll.

van den hul thinks so....and so do most electricians....but unless your cables are older than dirt, i wouldn't worry

Gunbei,
What would your new girlfriend think of this whipping stuff? Have you told her of your fetishes yet? Here's an AA thread you might appreciate. Are you sure this wasn't you? http://www.audioasylum.com/members/mgeneral/messages/86898.html?

Tvad
Did you see the film?I mean Da Vinci Code.If yes what is your opinion?
As far as the topic goes,I agree with Guidocorona.

George

I find the cables made by the Mystic Order Of Kubala-Sosna to produce the finest results in my dungeon. Dating back to the time of the Druids, these ancient practitioners of the black arts have specialized in time travel, astral projection, and bi-wiring. I would tell you more, but I fear for mm...

I only use Acoustic Zen or Z Squared because of their extra abrasive jackets.

Since I regularly use my interconnects to whip my girlfriends, the termination on my cables usually lasts no more than a couple weeks before flying apart during a particularly heatd session.

Cables tied to the bedposts perhaps?

Normally for audio use, cables should last until the insulation hardens and cracks or until the copper corrodes away, which is probably of the order of decades... if not centuries.

OK, so my previous post was in fact complete rubbish. However what is moderately true is that old cable can become slightly oxidized and consequently may loose some conductivity, regardless of the type of music you listen to.

The regular application of finely particulated Allotropic SnakeOil (TM) from Ophidic Audio Systems will prevent premature depolymerization and breakdown of copper-to-co-valent copper bonds of the basal IC transmissive metallic polymer chain. Most reputable audio tweaks vendors sell this product these days. You should not have problems finding it. Just make sure what you purchase: there are a lot of imitations out there made from low grade fish oil.

Technically, he is correct, an example being that automotive spark plug wires in 5,000-30,000 volt circuits should probably be replaced after about 100,000 miles. I wouldn't worry about it in your application for the first 75 years or so however, and I think that is being very conservative. IMO.

My Yakko cables are so shot that they are turning into dust. All I did was play a little "Too Short."

Oh sure. Yeah. And RAP will just eat right through the cable.

Be careful!