Question for users of bare wire ends speaker cable

I don't like using bare wire because copper oxidizes immediately upon exposure to air, and continues to oxidize further as time goes on. The same is true of silver, and of all solders. Best to crimp to gold-plated spades which gives a true high-pressure metal-to-metal interface. (If using a proper dedicated crimping tool, that is. A pair of pliers from your toolbox isn't worth squat.) Gold is not as good a conductor as copper but is vastly more corrosion-resistant, so in the real world it is a lot better. I don't believe that solder is necessary if the crimp is done properly-- it's like wearing both a belt and suspenders:). I have disassembled good crimped connectors that were many years old and the copper in the crimped area is as bright as the day it was made, while everything else is dark brown. But on the other hand, soldering after the crimp is done probably doesn't hurt anything either, and if it lets you sleep better at night, then do it.

Karls, you state that all of the exposed copper is oxidized EXCEPT for where the actual crimp is making connection. Since "skin effect" is a common term used in wire / cable conversations, don't you think it would be better to treat and seal the entire stripped and exposed area than to have corroded copper /good connection at the crimp / corroded copper at the end with all of that being in the signal path ? After all, once something begins to corrode, that corrosion tends to "wick" into other areas. Kind of like "rust" on a metal surface. It starts small and gradually works its way into everything. Sean
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Sean, first of all, it would be tough to tin all the way back under the insulation so that no copper is exposed directly to the air, plus it kind of makes a mess, plus then you just end up with corroded solder rather than corroded copper, and a solid conductor to boot, and there goes your skin effect again. Second, "skin effect" is one of those things that is thrown around a lot but few people understand the physics behind it. Without going too deep, fundamentally it is a phenomenon that is frequency-dependent and only comes into play at frequencies far above the audible range (we're talking MHz range). Some of the worst cables I've ever heard were the original Monster Cable with its extremely finely stranded braided conductors, so clearly there are other factors at work here. I would place far more importance on other factors, such as good solid connections, and cable capacitance, inductance, insulation dielectric properties, and gauge.

As the 3 posts above mention, you are going to have some exposed copper somewhere which is going to oxidize. I asked Ray Kimber about bare wire connections at Audioasylum (I use 8TC) and his response was that a number of the Kimber cables were actually designed to be used with bare wire connections (the 8TC is a a little fat for that but I'm able to do it at my speakers and would do it at my amp if I could). He suggested just to tighten down the connection and not worry about it. After all, if you tighten it down and get a solid connection, it's not going to oxidize where the connection is.

Karls, stranded wire is a poorer conductor at ANY frequency. This has to due to with skin effect, stray capacitance, strand jumping, etc... You will find that the best audio cables and high frequency RF cables all use solid wire for very specific reasons. The ONLY benefit that stranding has is that the cable is more flexible and less brittle.

Having said that, please keep in mind that i do own and use some stranded wire in several of my systems. Less "technically correct" or not, they seem to work better in those specific situations than some of the others that i've tried.

As to trying to insulate the excess exposed cables from corroding, you can easily slide shrink wrap, electrical tape, wire sealant, liquid tape, etc... up over the cable and receptacle end of the spade, banana, pin, etc... This might not make it airtight, but it will surely slow down the process. Sean
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