Hard to describe but it is a very detailed, slippery, fast sound especially noticeable in the high frequency. Not sure if I would call it plastic sound. |
Correction, Cardas use reducing atmosphere (H+) to prevent oxidation. This would be better than drawing in nitrogen atmophere, as H+ will actually scavenge oxygen. Not sure when Cardas applies the insulation or enamel during this process. I'm not in any way trying to support or affiliated with Cardas, as I have never used any of their wire. |
Thanks everyone for the info.
I think copper is a safer bet than silver. More predictable than silver. A good copper wire just seems to have more correct timbre of acoustic instruments, especially on brass and stringed instruments.
Is the Jupiter copper in cotton OCC?
I do like the VH Audio OCC copper with foam Teflon, but I don't think they are rated for high temperature or voltage. So I may use it for low signal section in the amp. For power supply and output tubes, I think OCC with regular Teflon insulation is needed. |
I agree about having good soldering skills. Some advocate tinning the two wires separately before soldering them together. Others advocate making a good mechanical contact (eg, twisting two wires together) before soldering. Any opinions on this? Any useful links would be appreciated. |
As for solder itself, people who have extensive experience and done research into this subject advocate eutectic solder containing the same metal as the wire being soldered together. So a silver solder should be used to solder two silver wire together. However, what do you use when soldering silver and copper wire together. Solder containing both silver and copper? Cardas has quad and tri eutectic solder containing silver and copper, as do nonaudiophile solders I'm sure. I've also seen solder containing copper without silver, which I would think would be ideal for soldering copper to copper. |
Ralph, you are claiming the three licenced manufactures of OCC (Neotech, Furukawa, and the other Japanese company) copper wire are lying about the purity? Can you direct me to an article or website where their claims were disproven?
I swear Cardas also claimed 6 nines copper wire being drawn and coated in oxygen free atmosphere.
These are not suppliers but actual manufacturers of the wire.
You mentioned using the right solder for silver wire. Do you mean solder that contains silver? |
If anyone has compared OCC copper vs silver wire, please chime in. |
Ralph, I believe Cardas draws their ultra pure wire in inert atmosphere (nitrogen I think) to prevent oxidation. I don't know what process is used during drawing for OCC wire. But the oxidation will affect only the outermost layer of the wire, correct? Not the internal portion of the wire. |
Jetrepro, I'm very impressed with your work, and thanks for the advice on soldering and hookup wire. I like your choice of the Goldpoint stepped attenuator for volume control at the input of the amp. I use the same for my amp, and it is better than any preamp I have tried. I'm not surprised you got a big jump in sound quality by removing the coupling cap (input coupling cap correct?). Less caps in the signal path the better the sound, IMO. My amp only has one set of cap in the signal path (2 caps because it is a PP amp).
Your experience with copper and silver wire is same as mine. I think overall copper is the better way to go, and a small amount of silver wire can be used to "voice" an amp if needed. |
Thanks for the explanation about the cap position. You're right. I don't think you can call it a coupling cap unless it is directly in the signal path. I've used Vcaps as output coupling caps and like them. I'm trying out Duelund CAST caps in this position. I will experiment with a little silver wire in my amp. As for my system, it is a work in progress. I will send you some pics when its finished. |
I have not had chance to directly compare Duelunds and Vcaps in my amps yet, so can't be sure. But my impression based on using these in other components is that Duelunds are more natural (more realistic timbre of instruments and vocals) without losing fine detail. Vcaps seems to be more detailed, but not as natural as the Duelunds. The Vcaps seems to have a "zing" to the treble. Hard to put into words. People often describe Teflon caps as having its own signature, so you may not be imaging it. |
Larryi, in absolute terms you are right, as most of us were not present during the recording session to hear the music live. So we can mostly describe sound of components in relative terms to each other. But to a certain extent, I think we can still infer what should sound correct given our numerous exposure to live music over the years.
I hear many promote use of transformers (input, interstage) over caps because transformers are suppose to give superior sound. However, I have a feeling that proper implementation and choice of top quality caps result in sound just as good as transformers. Just my hunch, nothing more. If anyone has any experience comparing the two approach, I would be very interested in hearing your experience. |
