Is copper different?


OK speaker cable specialist - what makes a cable better than another - other than thickness what makes one better - isn't copper the same by any other name? Explain it to us so we can feel that our money on these items is better spent. Help us to get it. I thank you in advance.
ljgj
the answer to your question is yes cooper does sound different. For an explination look at my most recent response to Speaker wire science or psychology 3/11/01 I don't want to type my response again, thanks. Tim
There are a few factors.the purity of the copper the grade of it whether its OFC or single strand.The other things are the dialectric teflon pvc and so on.
Liguy is right, but there's more to it than that. First is the purity of the copper. Many high end cables use 6 nines (99.9999%) pure copper. Then there's the oxygen free part--it has to be pulled and assembled in an oxygen free environment or it will corrode and degrade over time. Next is the the thickness of copper or as you point out overall gauge. Construction or design is another important aspect--most high end cables are not 4 gauge single strand (none that I know of). Most are many strands individually insulated to reduce skin effect. Then there are some subtle nuances, like are all the strands the same gauge or are they different so that the skin effect is different and therefore not perceptable. Then there's the dielectric that interacts with the copper. So there is a lot to these cables. Unfortuately, there are some manufacturers that relie on niavity of newbies to this hobbie. They hype a bunch of mumbo jumbo and tell you their cable is far better than anything else out there for 1/10 the price. They talk about many of these design features--but the final test is listening. Try different cables (the cable company has an extensive library where you can check out cables and find out what works for you). Forget all the mumbo jumbo and just listen--buy the one in your budget that sounds best.
Ligi, the differe4nce is, some cables are made of plain old high quality copper and some are made of oxygen free copper.
The O2 free cable is supposed to be better but I think lower inductance and resistance is more important IMHO.
Choose your poison. Hope that helps.