Are silver coated cables a bunch of hype?

Since silver is a better conductor than copper, the silver plating causes any frequencies on the "skin" of the wire to travel better and faster than the frequencies in the "core" of the wire. Since it is well known that the "skin effect" is a result of high frequencies traveling on the "skin" of the wire, and low frequencies traveling in the core, adding silver plating to the "skin" of the wire will only make the "skin effect" worse than no plating. The high frequencies will travel better and faster, and arrive at the speaker before the low frequencies will, thereby "smearing" the coherence of the signal. The effect will be bright and brash, with added time-distortion, that IMO, will do nothing good for the system. I personally would not use it.

Dennis, I never said that nobody would like silver-plated cables. I just stated their typical characteristics. Since different people have different systems, and have different needs, sometimes a bright cable is needed to offset some other deficiency in the system. Cables seem to be used as tone controls these days. I don't know if every system is coherent enough to show the time distortion they produce. Hence they may sound good on certain systems.

Topheavy, apparently you are unaware of the phenomenon of "skin effect" and therefore think that everyone else is ignorant about it. Perhaps if you studied it, as I have, you would be aware of it, and wouldn't make statements like you just have here. Not only do the frequencies "know where to travel", there is published data in engineering manuals that specifically quantify the depth of the "skin effect" in different conductive materials. In copper, it is approximately .4mm. So, yes, the frequencies do "know where to travel" and it is measureable and documented. Cable makers are aware of this and generally make their cables to minimize this effect. It is also well known that silver is a better conductor than copper(documented) and a silver coating on wire will enhance travel on the skin of the wire. Draw your own conclusion. I have done listening tests on my own equipment and others', and my listening results are in accordance with the scientific data.

You must think that audiophiles are a bunch of fools to make blanket statements like you do. Of course, you are a newbie here, so we expect you will learn something after a while. I don't take too kindly to attacks from newbies, who are ignorant and agressive. If you want to get a less pointed response from me, then engage me in a civil manner.

Albert, I didn't know that Dominus was silver plated. I have never heard Dominus, and I would expect it to be a great sounding wire. What they are doing with the plating and other possible design characteristics to "balance" the sonic signature, I don't know. I do know that if the individual conductors' cross sections are sufficiently small(below the nominal skin-effect depth), the wire behaves as all skin-effect, so the coherence phenomenon is mitigated with that type of construction.

Yes, guys, and as I mentioned above, the skin-effect problems are not present, either at all, or to a much less degree, in a properly designed cable. When the diameter of each conductor is less than twice the figure of the skin-effect depth in that material, the entire conductor becomes "skin-effect", and the frequency anomalies do not occurr. However, when high amplifier power is needed, a single small conductor may not be sufficient. That is why multiple small conductors are wrapped together in a bundle. They must be individually insulated from each other, or there will be "strand-jump" and the entire bundle will behave as a single conductor(worse actually), and the skin effects will again take place. This bundling of wires has it's own problems associated with it too, which is why, in my low power system, I use small guage, single conductor wiring for everything. All DIY. Whenever possible, simpler is usually better, as long as it is done right. I'm sure that the wires you all mention above are well-designed cables and provide excellent sonic quality for your systems.

Redkiwi, I have read that silver oxides are still conductive, so that they still sound good after being oxidized, whereas copper oxidation is not conductive/less conductive, and adds bad sounding artifacts. So this could be a good point for using some silver coating. At one time, when wires were inexpensive, this was not a problem because if they had corrosion/oxidation, you just got new ones. But at several thousand dollars a set, we don't want to just go out and buy new, when any oxidation takes place. So for long term use, silver plating may have its advantages over plain copper.