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Mixing Silver and Copper cables -- Good or bad??

I have heard from a highly respected retailer that mixing silver interconnects with copper speaker cables is bad -- that you can actually hear the problems at the interface where it switches from silver to copper or vice versa. (what about the copper and/or silver wiring in the amplifier, wouldn't that have an effect as well?) he said one should use all copper or all silver throughtout the system. Is this right? Or is there a balalnce to be had? If a silver IC is noticably superior to a copper one, would that advantage be worth more than the problem casued by the silver IC to copper speaker cable interface in the system?

Finally, if you are bi-wiring or bi-amping a set of speakers, I have heard it could make sense to run silver on the top, and heavier copper on the bottom. Is this correct? Or, as the retailer would suggest, that mixing silver wires with copper wires is the overwhelming no-no?

What has been people's experience mixing silver IC's with copper speaker cables (or vice versa!)? What about silver on the high and copper on the low in bi-wire or bi-amp set-ups? What does theory, practice and experimentation tell us about this?
lotusm50
eaudionet
13 posts
 
There is no absolute on determining which type of cables is superior. It depends on the quality of the products and the system matching. The Copper cable can sound a bit smoother and warmer in general, while the Silver cable usually sounds faster and articulate. One thing about Silver cable is when it gets oxidized, the conductivity is still not too bad.

About the mixing, as long as you like the sound, it really doesn't matter that much. However, the matching can be somehow more difficult than using the same type of cables.

For the bi-wire or bi-amping, if you really need to mix, we prefer silver or silver plated wires for the woofer and copper for the tweeter. The tweeter can sound a bit smoother while the woofer can sound a bit faster.

Good luck.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
As noted, this is a highly nebulous area in which only experimentation can typically provide answers. There are no hard & fast rules, although there are perceived generalizations which *do apply a large amount of the time. Trial & error is normally the best approach.
sos
124 posts
 
Mixing silver and copper can be a match made in heaven. Realize alot of the cables on the market have a copper conductor with silver on top of the copper.

You can even mix different brands such as using Nordost Vahalla on top and Audio Magic Illusion on the bottom or vice a versa. And in this situation do you not only have different brands but totally different conductors.

I happen to like the silver better on top and the copper on the bottom in most circumstances but not all.
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