Do Cables Wear Out?

Gunbei, as you well know the June 30th 1908 Tunguska event incentral Siberia was clearly predicted by Nostradamus, whose prophetic work was an integral part of Mesmer's and Holbeins scientific toolkit. Furthermore, the recent attribution of the event to a meteorite or comet is most certainly of rductionist and reactionary origin. We all know the explosion was cause by runaway electron-flow jitter that precipitated the catastrophic particle disintegration of a cosmic Electraaglide Superchord, sometimes erroneously referred to as a common 'superstring' by the most revisionist modern cosmologists. The uncensored truth was paradoxically heralded by 2-inch-high headlines of the Krasnoyarskaia Gazeta for July 1st of the same year: "NEW HIGH-END POWERCHORD LAUNCHED HITS THE MARKET -- Hundreds Feared Dead, Thousand Missing, Hundreds Kilometers Of Forest Totally Flattened!!!!"

Those poor reindeer.

I don't know about wear out, but they can tarnish, even within the teflon (or other) sheath. I have personally witnessed this with kimber 8tc. The copper was tarnished through and through. It was a curious result. That will change the electrical properties as the adjacent conductors now have a nice green fuzz. Perhpas if one were to characterize the distortion of such a cable, it might be found to be of an even order nature, thus making everything sound nicer ;) cause even not odd is where it's at in our universe.
I am worn out of this post. eLater!

Dpac996, I have a 20-year-old copper pot sitting on an an early 19th century Italian chest of drawer in my home's entrance. This pot is also badly tarnished in black and green. I thought that just normal passage of time, combined with oxygen, Carbon dyoxide and water vapor in the air were the cause of oxidation. Now I am wandering if instead perhaps excessive electron flow could be the cause. . . could the oak timber in the chest of drawer have become highly conductive over the last two centuries and my pot now be part of a vast and mysterious electric circuit? Or is its relative proximity to my stereo the culprit? Perhaps I should stick an Intelligent Chip on the lid of my pot and see if the tarnishing clears up by itself. . .

I realize that this thread has been used to poke fun at several responders, but I think that the real issue is - the guy that started this thread has a legitimate question.

The short answer to your question is YES - over time most cables will deteriorate sonically. Before I get a rash of rhetoric back - here's why:
The vast majority of cables for both speaker and interconnects are made from copper. The very moment that the copper conductors are either pulled or cast into wire, the oxidation process begins. Some companies try and prevent this with a litz or enamal coating, which certainly CAN be effective in slowing the oxidation process down, but it the oxidation still occurs, just at a slower rate. Why is this bad? Copper oxide is a terrible conductor - so as the oxidation process occurs, you will notice some loss of high frequencies, followed by some loss of soundstaging ability. At later stages, even bass response is affected, but that would be only in severe cases as lower frequencies penetrate the core of the conductor, which high frequencies travel on the surface.
Silver cables, on the other hand do NOT deteriorate, as silver oxide, while unpleasant to look (tarnish), is still a very good conductor. I always get a chuckle out of guys that clean the tarnish from their silver spades or RCA jacks and then report an improvement in sound - it doesn't work that way, sorry.
Obviously, carbon fibre cables are unaffected by the oxidation issue.
Yes - some cables DO age badly - they don't wear out and it certainly isn't dependent on what music or volume levels are used,but copper based conductors do deteriorate in performance over time.