Question for users of bare wire ends speaker cable

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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~~~~Crimp, solder, crimp/solder. Differential coeficient of expansion due to minute differences of atomic structures. Iffin day ain't da saym, day mighta bees growin bigguh ata diffint rayt wen da hots is applyd. Dare gos da metle ta metle corntac.(Taken from the smart-alecky manual of thingamabobs)

~~~~Seriously, I will have to try these suggestions. It would be an inexpensive tweek. I love this web site!

Sean: Dont' do your science homework on cable purveyors' Web sites. Karls is dead right about skin effect--it's inconsequential at audio frequencies. If you like solid wire, use solid wire. Just spare us the "scientific" justifications.

As for corrosion, I have my doubts about how important corrosion is on exposed surfaces, which are, by definition, not points of contact. But I agree with other posters who state that a good crimp is critical (and undoubtedly better than a so-so solder job).