Inexpensive Silver Wire/Interconnects?

Since silver is the ultimate conductor, I have been trying to find reasonably priced silver interconnects to compare against copper. I would be interested in speaker cables eventually if I liked the silver, but one step at a time you know!

Anyway, I can't find anyone that sells silver cable at a reasonable price. I mean, I have found some .5 meter interconnects for around $100, but then they have brass connectors. Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of using silver at all? LOL

I'd like to find a very short, lower priced silver interconnect with a silver plated connector.

Any reliable sites you guys know of?

Thanks,
Dominick

Any particular reason for the Silver cables? It is just because it is Silver?

One of the best quotes I have seen regarding cable construction and something to consider:

"Many cable companies focus on metallurgy in their marketing propaganda to justify costs. With ultra-refined nine 9s copper, silver, gold, Palladium or other materials, customers feel better to part with their money. It's the glitter mentality. However, nothing trumps cable geometry where seniority of importance is concerned. The primary characteristics of any electrical cable (resistance/R, capacitance/C and inductance/L plus the losses and operative bandwidth fixed by the connector) are determined by the magnetic and electrical relations and current capacity. Everything else is much farther down the totem pole. The use of copper, silver or gold influences these measures very little if at all. That's not to say the use of specific materials does not influence the sound. But those are secondary and tertiary phenomena well past the electrodynamic design....... It's curious how audiophiles believe that they benefit from some kind of exclusive smelting/refining process."

I have found both "copper/silver only" along with mixed metallurgy cables can sound good and bad. Basically what the quote points to.

I am sure some others will jump in here with their preferred silver cables for you to try if that is the path you want to experiment with.

Remember what may sound good to someone may sound terrible to you. Go to The Cable Company and see what they have to offer in your price range. You can try before you buy with these folks and they have great service.

To answer your question about a Silver IC - I tried and liked (in my rig) the DH Labs Revelation.

Hopefully you will try out a number of companies to find the cables you like in your setup.

Second DTB's recommend on DH Labs.

That's the wire I use in my system.

GG

I'm running Signal Cable's 'Silver Resolution' between my AVR & amplifier and between my DAC & AVR. They start at $79 for a 2 foot pair and add $20 per foot/pair. Nice into to silver cables for me and I'm quite satisfied with the results. Check them out on the web.

oops.. just checked the site.. add $70 for silver bullets..

DTB300 said:

Any particular reason for the Silver cables? It is just because it is Silver?

One of the best quotes I have seen regarding cable construction and something to consider:

"Many cable companies focus on metallurgy in their marketing propaganda to justify costs. With ultra-refined nine 9s copper, silver, gold, Palladium or other materials, customers feel better to part with their money. It's the glitter mentality. However, nothing trumps cable geometry where seniority of importance is concerned. The primary characteristics of any electrical cable (resistance/R, capacitance/C and inductance/L plus the losses and operative bandwidth fixed by the connector) are determined by the magnetic and electrical relations and current capacity. Everything else is much farther down the totem pole. The use of copper, silver or gold influences these measures very little if at all. That's not to say the use of specific materials does not influence the sound. But those are secondary and tertiary phenomena well past the electrodynamic design....... It's curious how audiophiles believe that they benefit from some kind of exclusive smelting/refining process."

I have found both "copper/silver only" along with mixed metallurgy cables can sound good and bad. Basically what the quote points to.

I am sure some others will jump in here with their preferred silver cables for you to try if that is the path you want to experiment with.

Remember what may sound good to someone may sound terrible to you. Go to The Cable Company and see what they have to offer in your price range. You can try before you buy with these folks and they have great service.

To answer your question about a Silver IC - I tried and liked (in my rig) the DH Labs Revelation.

Hopefully you will try out a number of companies to find the cables you like in your setup.

Click to expand...

I have never heard silver so I cant say about how much effect there is with the better metal, but this isn't an experiment in a "bling" product although I can see why you asked.

Silver has a single free electron that is farther from the center of its atom. Coppers free electron is closer to the center. Because of this, silver has less resistance and as far as I know is the most conductive material know to man. Copper is only used by the masses because it is naturally more available in our planet and therefore cheaper.

So, knowing this, I want to see if I like the different sonic characteristics that silver offers. Your right, I might not like it, but I am guessing that there is a difference to be heard...and I would like to hear it. Brass by the way is very low on the list of most conductive materials which is why it amazes me that so many cable companies us it??

Thanks for the tips guys,

Dominick

audioquest cheetah can be had used for a significant discount off there original retail and received positive marks in stereophile. While original retail was high at $1000 per meter (XLR or standard interconnect), used on the gon I have seen them commonly at $300 or less. Bought mine for $250 from a former co-worker.

DTB300 said:

"Many cable companies focus on metallurgy in their marketing propaganda to justify costs. With ultra-refined nine 9s copper, silver, gold, Palladium or other materials, customers feel better to part with their money. It's the glitter mentality. However, nothing trumps cable geometry where seniority of importance is concerned. The primary characteristics of any electrical cable (resistance/R, capacitance/C and inductance/L plus the losses and operative bandwidth fixed by the connector) are determined by the magnetic and electrical relations and current capacity. Everything else is much farther down the totem pole. The use of copper, silver or gold influences these measures very little if at all. That's not to say the use of specific materials does not influence the sound. But those are secondary and tertiary phenomena well past the electrodynamic design....... It's curious how audiophiles believe that they benefit from some kind of exclusive smelting/refining process."

Click to expand...

This sounds like propaganda from someone that wants to charge extraordinary prices for copper cables!

BUT......it could be true. It's a minefield out there - there are sharks everywhere that want to take your money - the only way is to listen for yourself! Sorry if that's not the answer you want to hear.

amey01 said:

This sounds like propaganda from someone that wants to charge extraordinary prices for copper cables!

Click to expand...

Nope....but thanks for playing The quote specifically addresses a cables metallurgy is one of the least important things.

These folks use a combination of metals in their cables but are more concerned with the important parts of the cable along with great connectors. Terminations are just as important which a lot of people overlook.

I like the Signal Cable Silver Coax cable, but did not like their Silver IC's.

DH Labs Air Matrix is a nice cable/price point in their lineup. They also make a GREAT power cord.

Zu Cable does auctions on Ebay and can be picked up fairly cheap if in the right place at the right time. If not mistaken, one of the dudes at Zu came from Kimber Kable (Ray Kimber)

Audiogon is a great place to pick up used cables to try and you can usually resell them for almost what you paid for them if you do not like them.

The Cable Company also has a Used Cable site if you want to save some $$$

There is no right answer when it comes to cables, just what you like in your rig - synergy - within your budget. Try a bunch of different ones, and ENJOY the time auditioning them. Once you find the company you like, getting your entire rig setup with these will be a great benefit to your sound.

Dominick22 said:

....
Silver has a single free electron that is farther from the center of its atom. Coppers free electron is closer to the center. Because of this, silver has less resistance and as far as I know is the most conductive material know to man. Copper is only used by the masses because it is naturally more available in our planet and therefore cheaper.
....
Thanks for the tips guys,

Dominick

Click to expand...

Yes, a dollar's worth of Copper is way more conductive than a dollar's worth of Silver.

DTB300 said:

Any particular reason for the Silver cables? It is just because it is Silver?

One of the best quotes I have seen regarding cable construction and something to consider:

"Many cable companies focus on metallurgy in their marketing propaganda to justify costs. With ultra-refined nine 9s copper, silver, gold, Palladium or other materials, customers feel better to part with their money. It's the glitter mentality. However, nothing trumps cable geometry where seniority of importance is concerned. The primary characteristics of any electrical cable (resistance/R, capacitance/C and inductance/L plus the losses and operative bandwidth fixed by the connector) are determined by the magnetic and electrical relations and current capacity. Everything else is much farther down the totem pole. The use of copper, silver or gold influences these measures very little if at all. That's not to say the use of specific materials does not influence the sound. But those are secondary and tertiary phenomena well past the electrodynamic design....... It's curious how audiophiles believe that they benefit from some kind of exclusive smelting/refining process."

Click to expand...

The same article that makes the claim that metallurgy doesn't matter much goes on with the following verbiage on the same cable product...

"...It's based on a military or aerospace origin amorphous alloy conductor of extreme thinness. Amorphous alloys are first molten, then centrifugally spun, then cooled so rapidly as to prevent the formation of regular crystalline molecular structures. The end result is a glass-like zero-crystal frozen-liquid state in which a metal no longer exhibits its conventional crystalline lattice makeup. Manufacture of such glass metals is essentially cost-prohibitive for most consumer audio cable manufacturers and to my knowledge, only Van denHul at present makes its own amorphous conductors. Intense research into amorphous materials occurs in the hi-tech sector since such material variants possess unusual electrical, magnetic and other characteristics. Stealth proprietor Serguei Timachev obtained a limited amount of raw amorphous conductor from Russia and applied all of his prior cable design expertise to turn it into a limited edition flagship interconnect. Amorphous metals can't be soldered, hence termination requires a crimp connection."

The music signal is a delicate thing and it makes sense to me to preserve that signal as much as possible when linking high-end components together. And it is a good point that are a lot of more goes into a cable design and construction than simply the type of metal used. Such a simple item can quickly become quite complex and it's worth testing sonic differences between cables.

Craig said:

The same article that makes the claim that metallurgy doesn't matter much goes on with the following verbiage on the same cable product...

Click to expand...

The quote on metallurgy was from the cable company itself. The quote you point out is now talking about a completely different company and its cable, and was written by the reviewer, so do not confuse the two.

The music signal is a delicate thing and it makes sense to me to preserve that signal as much as possible when linking high-end components together. And it is a good point that are a lot of more goes into a cable design and construction than simply the type of metal used. Such a simple item can quickly become quite complex and it's worth testing sonic differences between cables.

Click to expand...

Listen, do not judge based on metals, hype, etc. Just as we should do with components ignore the marketing "spec" hype and find what sounds good to you with the rest of your components.

I bought a pair of these: http://www.whitezombieaudio.com/nosferatucables.html to go between the RIAA and the preamp. Sounds fine, although I must admit I haven't really made any comparisons with other cables.

DTB300 said:

Listen, do not judge based on metals, hype, etc. Just as we should do with components ignore the marketing "spec" hype and find what sounds good to you with the rest of your components.

Click to expand...

I agree and I recommend trying out different cables. The only way to know for sure is to hear (or not) for yourself.

One company that makes inexpensive silver cables is Signal Cables and sell direct online.

A reasonable comparison would be to test a copper cable to a silver cable from the same company with the only difference being the metal. That might give you an idea of any sonic differences between copper and silver. But a more valid assessment demands that a larger sampling of cables are tried not to mention all the other cable design and system variables involved.