Speaker cable


Can someone tell me why positive (red) cable is of copper and the return (white) is of whatever? It could be sliver plated, but why is it necessary, what does it add?

thanks

 

sngreen

Short answer: I don't know.

However DIY enthusiasts on this forum experimented quite a bit with different materials in Helix builds and do use better quality (bare silver or Ohno Cu wire in teflon tube) for one and stranded Ohno Cu for the other. I've been experimenting with these and they are a real improvement, although I didn't try different alternatives within the design. 

Bottom line: I would not discard it makes a difference until I hear them, despite not understanding why this is so (I'm an engineer BTW, so quite familiar with the basics of alternating current).

@lewinskih01 I know cables do make the system sound different, subtly sometimes but it is there. The strangest thing is that it does not even need to be in the high-end expensive equipment, but rather how certain modules react to it. It is from my experimenting also. But good cable is a good cable always, this goes without saying it.

Just make your own speakers cables  there are plenty of formulas to try.  BTW most manufactures use Mogami wire anyway.

Shocked that nobody here knows the answer.  Lots of wrong answers.  Aluminium is my favorite one.

Lamp cord and bulk cheap speaker cable have been marked this way for decades.  It is sold as copper wire.  The silver colored one is usually made into the negative since copper seems to be reddish.  The silver colored one is Sn coated.

Nobody has ever bragged that this is superior in my experience.  it is generally less espensive to just just one red wire and one white wire then it is to mark the insulation.   I know when I was young I learned quicly to make sure the wires were coded in some way so you didn't have to get out a meter to figure out which wire was which.  Some really cheap wire wasn't marked.

Jerry