Buying used old cables

Most cables usually get better over time. I have seen maybe the bare wire ends of a cable turn a little dark, but under the cable skin the cable was fine. I have never seen terminated cables deteriorate and I have an old M1000 Monster interconnect that is perhaps 15 years old and it's fine. Copper turns greenish and silver tarnishes, but only iron rusts, don't know of any audio cables made of iron.

My arteries rusted and went to hell since I
ventured past thirty-nine and my tubes went
from twelve gauge to slim threads, just like
my lamp-cord speaker wire I used forty years
ago. I am sure I can't sell them on the 'gon.
Thanks for the feed-back. Bgordon829

Incidently, Cyclonicman, all metals save gold react with
oxygen to react chemically. That may not be called "rust-
ing" but it sure is oxidation. And then there is airbourne
sulfonamides and acids and plain old water and ultraviolet
and infra-red radiations and other x-rays that penetrate
deep into and thru insulations. Then there is that corros-
ive stuff called "electricity" and heat. Nothing is
impervious and inert. Even me. BG

My understanding is that unless there is an airtight seal where the wire goes into the connector, air will slowly get under the dielectric and oxidize the copper. To what degree, I'm not sure.

As far as I know, not many manufacturers address this issue. Not Kimber or Audioquest for sure. Cardas does, as they use Litz wire and have special soldering techniques as they take this seriously.

I have a 6" sample of a Tara Quantum III+ speaker cable with 8 solid core conductors. For years, the bare copper showed no change. Now, it does look like it has oxidized. It is kept in a cardboard box - just kind of a novelty item for me.

If anyone knows more about the aging of cables, please enlighten us. I do know that there are people in this industry who say wire does oxidize and degrade in sonics after some years.

If anyone knows more, I'd be interested.

I hear you BG, luckily I have never had the problem with some of my older cables. However, I am starting to feel the rust creeping in since I passed 39 as well!