Too much merit been given to crimped or barewire compression "solderless" type lug joints for speaker cables.
In high humidity zones where i live, my bi-wired solid cored, AudioQuest Slate's original crimped lugs lasted only 1 month after unpacking. I discovered the defect accidentally. Heard a "rasping" noise when i touched a wire near a lug. The local agent was willing to change to a new set of cable. Not taking any chances with crimped lugs anymore, i reworked all joints to silver-filled soldered lugs & bananas.
Dogpile, to answer your question - Cables themselves hi-end or not will outlast all of us if they are put through normal use and not mechanically abused by frequent bending and twisting. Same for welded joints. Soldered cable joints need periodic checks for oxidation and resolder if necessary. A crimped joint is more suited for fine stranded multicore conductor, properly cleaned to start with. Crimped joint is mechanically not suitable for a solid core conductor. Its lifespan in my case, is about a month in high humidity condition. Need frequent "rasping" noise checks.
In high humidity zones where i live, my bi-wired solid cored, AudioQuest Slate's original crimped lugs lasted only 1 month after unpacking. I discovered the defect accidentally. Heard a "rasping" noise when i touched a wire near a lug. The local agent was willing to change to a new set of cable. Not taking any chances with crimped lugs anymore, i reworked all joints to silver-filled soldered lugs & bananas.
Dogpile, to answer your question - Cables themselves hi-end or not will outlast all of us if they are put through normal use and not mechanically abused by frequent bending and twisting. Same for welded joints. Soldered cable joints need periodic checks for oxidation and resolder if necessary. A crimped joint is more suited for fine stranded multicore conductor, properly cleaned to start with. Crimped joint is mechanically not suitable for a solid core conductor. Its lifespan in my case, is about a month in high humidity condition. Need frequent "rasping" noise checks.