Oxidation and bare silver or silver coated wire???

"What happens to a silver cable which oxidizes is that the layer of oxide weights down the wire and changes the frequency at which it resonates, hence altering the sonic signature of the cable."

You are joking, right?

"Hey Audioengr, These chemical oxidation inhibitors you put in your cables.... what's their dielectric absorption? It wouldn't negatively effect the performance would it?"

Adds a tiny bit to the dielectric constant, but it is insignificant. The difference is so small it is really not measurable. The chemicals do not coat the wire.

Hello??? I believe Silver Oxide is actually more conductive that Silver itself. In audio, conductivity is less important than mechanical resonance. If it were as important as some would lead you to believe , everyone would be trying to get their silver to oxidize ASAP!! Or silver would ALWAYS be better than copper and most certainly better than gold...

Anyhow...

What happens to a silver cable which oxidizes is that the layer of oxide weights down the wire and changes the frequency at which it resonantes, hence altering the sonic signature of the cable.

Hey Audioengr, These chemical oxidation inhibitors you put in your cables.... what's their dielectric absorption? It wouldn't negatively effect the performance would it? Of course not!

GS5556 is very accurate in his statement. Silver Oxide is fine, but exposure to sulfers can be detrimental, though probably no nearly as bad as oxidized copper. Cleaning up your spades once in awhile is a good idea. If I can't clean them up with something like Pro-Gold, I give them a buff with the very fine emery paper you can find on some good finishing fingernail files...I like the padded kind.

Audioengineer is right about how a better connection can be made with proper spade terminations. They also save you the hastle of restripping the cable if you disconnect it and don't want a lousy frayed connection. If you need to save some money and not buy them terminated, silver or a heavily silver clad cable will work out much better than a copper one that can quickly oxidize.

Jeff Delman
Value Audio
DH Labs Authorized Dealer

"Spade's Bannana's just get in the way of the music."

I do not agree. If you crimp spade-lugs, you can get a lower resistance contact than with bare wire.

As for silver oxidation, there is no anecdotal evidence that oxidized silver sounds worse than non-oxidized silver. Silver oxide is a conductor. As a precaution for my customers, and in order to maintain longevity, I put chemical oxidation inhibitors inside of my silver cables, but it is probably not necessary.

If you treat them with Caig every 4 months it should not be an Issue.
Bare wire connection is best.
Spade's Bannana's just get in the way of the music.

Silver can oxidize but the process is slower than copper oxidizing. But, the oxide of silver is a good conductor, unlike that of copper. However, silver has another trait: it tarnishes. There are always trace amounts of hydrogen sulfides in the ambient air from typical carpet cleaners to lighting matches. Tarnish is not a good conductor; it does build up slowly and therefore you should periodically clean the connections - same as with gold plated spades (gold is not supposed to oxidize but my connectors seem to have some build-up after a year or so) and other types. Just part of the fun... :)

I'm not a metallurgist but I've heard that oxidized silver actually conducts better than new copper.

Bare wire should be fine...
it cant hurt to treat the bare conductors and binding posts with Caig pro gold...This molecularly bonds with the base metals and will prevent residue and oxidation from occurring.. or at least prolong it.
PRO Gold can be bought at audioadvisor.com
Good luck,