Silver v Copper wire phono cable


Getting ready to order new tonearm, have option for either copper or silver continuous phono cable from cartridge to preamp.  without the  opportunity to compare personally, I would like to hear how others would chose....my system is shown on this site...thank you

J

128x128jw944ts

Showing 3 responses by williewonka

@jw944ts - cable selection is far more complex than Silver vs. copper and it seems that cable geometry and insulation type are seldom mentioned.

However, as pointed out by others, these two design elements of a cable are most often responsible for the negative comments (e.g. harsh sounding) that arise when people listen to Silver cables.

This is because they account for much of the distortion that occurs within the cable itself - even at the very low voltage levels of a phono cable

But I hasten to add, I am not disputing the claims that a specific Silver Cable did not sound as nice as a Copper Cable, but the selection of the right cable is far more complex than simply its metallurgy.

So, how can a person make a sound choice?

  • by becoming aware of cable construction techniques, e.g.
  • Silver offers the fasted dynamic performance of all metals and as such will provide the very best perofrmance WRT clarity and details and both of these attributes are paramount in a wire that carries the most delicate signals in the audio chain.
  • Insulation can create distortion in the signal
  • cable geometry also has an impact on distortion within a cable

Companies like Zavfino, In-Akustik, Nordost, Cardas (among others) are very aware of the impact that metal, Insulation type and cable geometry has and go to great lengths to mitigate noise/distortion by combining them effectively.

So, for the "average consumer". I would recommend looking into offerings from those companies (and some of the other in the above posts) and consider their cable design, much more that simply comparing the metallurgy

BTW - I have the Cardas Silver one piece harness and am extremely happy.

Regards - Steve

@rauliruegas - my post was not commenting on any specific cable. It was meant to point out there there are cable design complexities to be considered other than simply the type of metal used in the conductor

My apologies if it appeared otherwise

My mention of the Cardas Silver cable was not meant to contradict the opinions that others had posted, just my own preference for a cable that uses a silver conductor  

Regards - Steve

@jw944ts 

+1 for Silver - it provides better dynamic performance and improved details and as a result the image becomes more lifelike and with more precision placement of artists. Also the micro details they convey bring out more of the venue acoustics (i.e. echoes and reverberations)

The one piece silver harness on my Audiomods tone arm provided a significant improvement

If you can get them to attach Absolute Harmony RCA plugs then go for it - they are amazing with the silver wire

Regards - Steve