Serious Question About Silver vs Copper Conductivity for Power


Yes, I realize that this topic is going to bring out the sharks, but if I get at least one serious response, it will all be worth it.

I understand that silver conducts 7% faster than copper.  I also understand that using a dielectric insulation like Teflon is best at keeping the wire from overheating, stopping signals entering and stopping signals from leaving the conductor. I understand that a certain amount of math is involved in selected gauge of wire depending largely on how much power the component is going to take, and how much the amperage is (20 or 15).

My question is regarding certain features applied to either silver or copper conductors that may or may not have an advantage over one or the other.

I have the Kimber Kable P14 Palladian.  This uses 14awg copper conductors insulated in Teflon.  Then it adds a massive filter that attempts to mitigate the standing wave ratio to as close to 1:1 as possible. I had Kimber’s Ascent power cable prior.  It’s identical to the Palladian, except the filter. I have heard the difference between using those two cables.  Apparently, mitigating the standing wave ratio lowers the noise floor significantly. However, any filter that chokes the signal and will slow the electrical current.

As I understand it, the amplifier works by opening the rectifier to allow the capacitors to fill with energy that the system will draw from.  Being able to keep the rectifier open and fill the capacitors as fast as possible, reducing lag time, has the effect of creating more realistic and detailed sound.

With that said, changing to a power cable that uses pure silver insulated in Teflon, will ensure that power is delivered potentially faster.  Although, the silver power cable will NOT have a filter.  Therefore the standing wave ratio will not be mitigated and the electrical signal will not be choked either.

So, would the amplifier benefit from faster electrical current or slower, but cleaner electric current?  Since this signal isn’t directly applied to sound, the concepts of “colder” or “warmer” sound should not apply.

Can someone help me out without poking fun at the question?  Additionally, I am not interested in having a cable-theory debate.  If you don’t believe cables make any difference, I will not debate or have discourse on that topic.


 

128x128guakus

@guakus said:

The cable is supposed to be rated for 100 W on a 15 amp wall socket.

That’s a horse of a different color than this statement.

I gave the company my system’s specifications before the cable was built. The cable is rated for 100W at 15 amps.

Maximum ampacity for 20awg copper wire = 1.5A (Power transmission line)

150W / 120V = 1.25A

What is the danger you feel will occur? A fire?

Fire if you connect it to a bigger load than the wire is rated for...

 

Moving to a smaller gauge power cord is not where I would have guessed the responses to your original question would have led. Let us know how it works out for you.  

If you decide to go with an outer jacket try to avoid materials containing Barium Titanate.

why ? @dekay 

It was a non serious response.

Its dielectric rating is way over 1000.

Hope the cord works out, but the high gauge PC's I tried a long time ago sounded horrible in my setup.

One was Mapleshade and the other was a 47 Labs OTA one that I made.

 

DeKay

On a properly engineered power amp the capacitors are big enough to supply power to the main boards for quite a while.  So once they have filled on switch-on, the rate of current flow to them is of little consequence, they will be kept fully topped up at all times.  All you need is a wire capable of carrying enough current to refill what is taken out.  Standard power cables supplied with amplifiers can do that many times over.

And, in case anyone was in doubt, it makes no difference if the power traverses the cable 7% faster.