Silver Speaker Cables


I would like to try silver speaker cables. I have always been curious as to how they would affect the sound of my system. That said, I have a very limited budget. Is there such a thing as low priced silver cables? If so, recommendations?

Thanks all!

gnoworyta

@charles1dad I gotta ask, how do the Vogue and Lavri compare? They both seem to offer high-quality silver cables at really reasonable prices with Vogue upping the game, but also the price, in using pricier silver. Is the performance notably better? I’m inferring from your comment that the differences are small, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. BTW, I own several LavriCables from headphone, to balanced interconnects, to USB and all are outstanding for performance/value IMHO, but if Vogue is better I’ll definitely look that way in the future.

@soix

I need a 20 amp rated power cable for my isolation balanced AC transformer to wall outlet. I wanted to use the Lavricable Grand but it is a 15 amp max power cable, thus the Vogue Audio. I have the Grands on my components. So, I have not compared them directly. I strongly suspect they are sonically on par with each.

I do not feel I can make a definitive judgement between them as they’re in different system locations/functions. However, I am very confident in saying that both are excellent sounding and well-made silver cables for very fair and reasonable cost.

Charles

charles1dad

9,210 posts

@whistleraudio

Once you reach a certain degree of silver wire purity is there a discernible audible difference in your opinion? For example 5N compared with 7N. I have a Vogue Audio 7N OCC silver power cable and it’s very good ​​​​​​. But I feel the same with regard to my Lavricables power cables which are 5N silver. I can affirm that both are very high quality excellent products.

Charles

I have tried 7N, because I do not have a reliable source for silver of this purity. Remember that 7N is 100X as pure as 5N. It would also be a pita to handle without contaminating it.

I have tested several wire samples at the Anchor Group in the UK. They specialize in precious metal certification. Some samles supposed to be 5N did not even reach 4N!

I suspect that many cable manufacturers trust that their raw wire suppliers deliver what they are supposed to when it comes to purity. They often do not.

I see that eg. Vogue Audio says "7N OCC silver singular multicore bonded". What does "bonded" mean? Is is silver bonded to copper (i.e silver clad), or is it 7N silver all through?

11AWG per pole of 7N OCC silver would be extremely expensive.

 

Good catch @whistleraudio

I bought some of Vogue Audio’s speaker cables and after receiving them, I discovered they are actually stranded copper with silver substance filling the voids between the strands of copper. After I contacted them about it, they changed their website description to read: “singular multicore bonded silver” but still with no mention of copper.

I’m not saying their speaker cables won’t sound great in your system. That is for you to decide. But don’t be mislead to believe they are 100% pure silver.

I’m hoping they change their website description again to be more accurate, but they are currently dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Ian.

Interesting @rockrider 

Their website gives the impression of them selling 7N OCC silver wires at very low prices. I believe that several users of this forum have bought the wires assuming they are pure silver. If something looks too good to be true, it is usually not true.

But they may, sound good as you say. ;)