@1xtechnologies - Having tried many wires over the past couple of years my preference is for a solid bare wire (no insulation), but this leads to the problem of oxidizing.
Tinning may provide a partial solution, but mixiing metals degrades performance. Even silver plated wire can sound worse than either plain copper or plain silver
You can take measures to minimize this but nothing short of molding the insulation to the wire, i.e. as with normal insulated wires, will fix the problem
This approach presents a problem pertaining to the Dielectric Constant (Dk) of the insulation chosen e.g.
1. Teflon is pretty good, but has a Dk of around 2.1
2. Foamed Teflon is significantly better with a Dk between 1.4-1.5 - it has great heat handling properties
3. Foam Polyethylene or PVC is around 1.6 but cannot withstand the heat
4. Cotton or silk has a Dk of around 1.3 but is prone to oxidation over time (i.e. a few years)
5. Air has a Dk of 1.1 and a vacuum is 1.0 and something which is difficult to fabricate
It might seem insignificant to many, but my observations from different insulation approaches to reduce the Dk properties of the insulation have proven to favour insulation having a lower Dk
The thickness of the insulation may also play a role, but I have not been able to verify this
So if I had to choose - my preferred wires would be
- a solid UP-OCC copper or UP-OCC solid silver wire with a Foamed Teflon insulation (i.e. for all cables).
This would provide the best compromise between performance and lifespan due to oxidation issues
WRT gauge - I found that increasing gauge from 14 gauge for the live wire had little effect on sound quality, but I stress this is with MY system/speakers. This could vary by system and speaker demands.
- the Neutral is 10 gauge silver plated stranded wire on my speaker cables
Regards - Steve
