silver vs copper

organ

Just checking to see which works better for you.
I was running a set of AQ Jaguar from source to pre and AQ Diamondback for years. Later I found a kind of metallic quality to the sound. After constant gear swapping, it remained. So I started to think it was the room. On Sat I decided to try new IC's. I got 2 sets of copper IC's and AQ Slate speaker cables.
Things that bothered me dissapeared. The spitty quality, forward mids and metallic sound was gone. Also got more bass and warmth than I anticipated. Cables are still breaking in.
I can't believe it, the two sets of copper IC's and AQ Slate cost less than the AQ Jag/Diamondback combo.
There is a noticable difference in the HF ext. The silver tipped IC's seem to have more presence. The new copper IC's sound more dark and laid back. A small price to pay for the overall difference. Maybe the high freq ext. may be just as good after break in. Have about 12hrs on them so far. Dealer recommends 60hrs.

System is Rega Apollo>ASL passive pre>ASL Tulip>Omega TS1R. Using a SET amp, passive pre and single driver/x-overless speakers makes cable changes quite noticable.

So what do you guys prefer? Silver or Copper IC's?

NJPOLKER

Using silver now but going to go to copper when I have enough money.

I think I know what most are thinking after reading that but we'll see.

Early B.

I use silver ICs.

danger boy

organ wrote: »

Just checking to see which works better for you.
I was running a set of AQ Jaguar from source to pre and AQ Diamondback for years. Later I found a kind of metallic quality to the sound. After constant gear swapping, it remained. So I started to think it was the room. On Sat I decided to try new IC's. I got 2 sets of copper IC's and AQ Slate speaker cables.
Things that bothered me dissapeared. The spitty quality, forward mids and metallic sound was gone. Also got more bass and warmth than I anticipated. Cables are still breaking in.
I can't believe it, the two sets of copper IC's and AQ Slate cost less than the AQ Jag/Diamondback combo.
There is a noticable difference in the HF ext. The silver tipped IC's seem to have more presence. The new copper IC's sound more dark and laid back. A small price to pay for the overall difference. Maybe the high freq ext. may be just as good after break in. Have about 12hrs on them so far. Dealer recommends 60hrs.

System is Rega Apollo>ASL passive pre>ASL Tulip>Omega TS1R. Using a SET amp, passive pre and single driver/x-overless speakers makes cable changes quite noticable.

So what do you guys prefer? Silver or Copper IC's?

See cables DO make a difference.

dragon1952

I use solid silver IC's, solid-state CD player to tube integrated. I am absolutely sold on these. However, I tried the DH Labs Silver Sonic speaker cables recently (silver coated copper) and they were terrible in my system. I went back to my large copper Audioquest's and am not sure why I felt the need to experiment, as they are wonderful.
These are excellent silver IC's, BTW, but they've gone up a bit since I bought minehttp://cgi.ebay.com/99-999-Pure-Silver-Sonnet-Interconnect-II-1M-Pr_W0QQitemZ130288120839QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item130288120839&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A570|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

DarqueKnight

organ wrote: »

So what do you guys prefer? Silver or Copper IC's?

I don't have a preference of one or the other. My preference is for high performance signal transmission.

Focusing only on the differences in conductor metal in cables is like focusing only on differences in engines when evaluating automobiles.

My interconnects and speaker cables use silver conductors, but the conductor metal is just one conponent of their construction that affects their signal transmission capability. Termination technique and quality, insulation, shielding, conductor geometry, conductor metal and the synergy between those cable components as well as the synergy between the cables and the associated audio components all have to be considered.

ben62670

For me silver stranded has sucked the bass out of my system, and caused a cacophony of misrepresented audio signals, but solid conductors have done very nicely in nearly all systems. The overall clarity of the mids, and highs may lead some to believe they are missing bass. Also consider bass is faster and tighter with solid wires...
Ben

reeltrouble1

I have found silver to be an abhorent affront to my ears, bad juju with my gear.

Obviously they work with some systems.

RT1

Hawkeye

I've always been a copper guy. Following the writings on silver, I tried the Signal wires and found the sound to be an assault on my ears. Not one to give up that easily, I am now trying the Wire World Silver Eclipse 5^. A big difference in construction, design and cost. The jury is still out at this point. They almost reach the assault point as the Signals did but I'm going to give them the same amount of time I gave the Signals. I'm beginning to believe that silver and ESLs don't seem to play well together.

Gordon

heiney9

Never cared for silver anything in my rig. Lack of bass and way too forward in my experience for my liking.

Face

Silver has worked well with my Mac, Tannoy, and some of my tube gear. As mentioned above, it's all about synergy.

danger boy

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

I have found silver to be an abhorent affront to my ears, bad juju with my gear.

Obviously they work with some systems.

RT1

a little silver goes a long ways that's for sure... use sparingly

hearingimpared

I used silver cables in my rig and they sounded bright in my system.

schwarcw

For speaker wire, I like the silver/copper hybrids. Raife is correct about the stranding, geometry, shielding and terminations. Most of my interconnects are now MIT S1 cables. I have one or two Audioquest 36v DBS cables, and some Cardas Quadlinks hanging around.

I'm planning to move to MIT S1 speaker cables sometime this year.

dragon1952

DarqueKnight wrote: »

I don't have a preference of one or the other. My preference is for high performance signal transmission.

Focusing only on the differences in conductor metal in cables is like focusing only on differences in engines when evaluating automobiles.

My interconnects and speaker cables use silver conductors, but the conductor metal is just one conponent of their construction that affects their signal transmission capability. Termination technique and quality, insulation, shielding, conductor geometry, conductor metal and the synergy between those cable components as well as the synergy between the cables and the associated audio components all have to be considered.

:rolleyes:

Reminds me of some of the posts in my guitar forums.
Q 'So what songs are you guys working on lately?'
A 'Oh, I've been working on strictly original material lately'
(well excuse the **** out of us)
Q 'So I was out looking at guitars today and I found one that sounded really nice. Does anyone know anything about this brand?'
A 'Well the important thing is to get what sounds good to you. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.'
(yeah, even if it does happen to be a piece of ****)

:rolleyes:

Face

dragon1952 wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Reminds me of some of the posts in my guitar forums.
Q 'So what songs are you guys working on lately?'
A 'Oh, I've been working on strictly original material lately'
(well excuse the **** out of us)
Q 'So I was out looking at guitars today and I found one that sounded really nice. Does anyone know anything about this brand?'
A 'Well the important thing is to get what sounds good to you. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.'
(yeah, even if it does happen to be a piece of ****)

:rolleyes:

Not cool.

reeltrouble1

its cool, Dragon hope all your days are full of sun, fun, and nekkid women.

working on original material means you have not learned a thing this week and your fat fingering the G-string.

buy a Fender a Gretch a Gibson or go Esotoric brands, just spend lots of dough cuz its worth it.

RT1

DarqueKnight

dragon1952 wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Reminds me of some of the posts in my guitar forums.

Two things:

1. I don't see where my post is even remotely similar to your guitar forum example.

2. I don't see where your post contributes even remotely to our discussion on copper and silver cables.

I will concede that my imagination has limitations.

reeltrouble1

his analogy is loose, yet in a very global way I do understand, he is wanting specific's Raife, however, (Speaking for Dragon) he is not connecting the specific's your statement actually does provide.......of course my imagination knows no bounds, which of course is why all this somehow works out in the end, its a sort of ying/yang thing.

RT1--I like copper for my present audio system.

Gaara

organ wrote: »

So what do you guys prefer? Silver or Copper IC's?

Copper, their cheaper. Tried some Signal Cable Analog IIs w/ Eichmann Bullet Plugs vs. Signal Silver Resolutions w/ Silver Bullet Plugs about a month back. Silver resolutions start at $190, Analog IIs at $69.

Did the test with various tracks with my main rig, long story short did it double blind and didn't score any better then chance. Tried direct switching while playing, doing 30 sec demos, and full song demos. Tried listening to overall presentation, highs/mids/lows, soundstage depth/width, spatial cues, even did freq. sweeps...nada.

So I prefer copper because it is cheaper. If the silver were cheaper I would prefer that.

tonyb

I have Ben's silver IC's and copper speaker wire.....works for me.But everyone has different strokes ya know,trial and error.

Gaara,
Why would you prefer silver if it was cheaper?? You supposedly didn't hear a difference.

Gaara

tonyb wrote: »

I have Ben's silver IC's and copper speaker wire.....works for me.But everyone has different strokes ya know,trial and error.

Gaara,
Why would you prefer silver if it was cheaper?? You supposedly didn't hear a difference.

I didn't supposedly not hear a difference, I didn't hear a difference. I have unsuccessfully tried to hear differences on numerous occasions with interconnects, like when I bought some Kimber Heroes and sold them a few weeks later. I feel my system now is the most revealing it has ever been yet I still can't hear differences.

Don't want to get into a debate, the question was proposed, I gave my opinion of copper over silver based solely on avg. price.

As for my comment, guess I should have been clearer. If the silver was cheaper then the copper I would have kept it. When I have two pieces of gear which I feel are equal in all aspects, I will always pick the cheaper of the two.

ShinAce

Copper for life!!!!

More specifically, yttrium barium copper oxide cooled with liquid nitrogen at standard pressure. It's almost as if the electrons are dancing in sync to the song as they transport the juice.

They sound so....transparent. It's only once the music includes microwave sounds that the wire's signature comes out to play.

Sorry, had to do it. DarqueKnight covered it in a basic sense. We all have our reasons, and we all have our own ears.

For example, I'm in need of a coaxial SPDIF cable. I think I'll only use: solid core, 75 ohm coax terminated with phono plugs. It doesn't matter to me if it's copper, silver, or virgin.

I still laugh at the idea that one person can use silver speaker cables, going to gold plated binding posts, then crimped to copper wire, only to be dissipated by a copper or aluminum voicecoil. A chain is only as strong as its weakest.... yeah, I said it.

If you like it, use it. I think it's important to look at the package though. Kind of like understanding how a watch mechanism works before playing with the individual gears.

Me; I'll stick to my YBCO cables. Thank you Dr. Wu.

dragon1952

DarqueKnight wrote: »

Two things:

1. I don't see where my post is even remotely similar to your guitar forum example.

2. I don't see where your post contributes even remotely to our discussion on copper and silver cables.

I will concede that my imagination has limitations.

Not to press the issue, but just to clarify.
I guess my point is that I tend to find answers like that to be rather arrogant and condescending. Sorry my analogy wasn't comprehended, and sorry if I offended. Not trying to pick a fight. I just raised my eyebrows, is all.
The statement.... "Focusing only on the differences in conductor metal in cables is like focusing only on differences in engines when evaluating automobiles." .... in fact your entire post, could be taken to imply that the original poster asked an amateurish question because he didn't consider all of your other obvious criteria. Maybe you didn't mean it that way, but that's the way I take those kinds of answers (like my guitar examples)...especially after a few beers He asked simply if one preferred silver or copper. I would assume 'all things being equal'. He didn't ask "what all should be considered when choosing IC's for your system". I guess that's what I meant. Sorry everyone......carry on gents.

DarqueKnight

Thanks for the clarification. No offense was taken.

My intent was to provide a more informative answer than the tried and true "I tried this or that" and "it did or didn't work". I am always interested in knowing why something did or didn't work.

The cable evaluation criteria I listed are not obvious ones and are actually rather counter-intuitive. Otherwise, these types of questions would not come up so frequently. My analogy was there to illustrate, in the broadest possible terms, that there are many other contributing factors to a cable's performance in addition to the conductor material.

dragon1952

Point taken. I'll try and not post whilst drinking in the future. Wait....I take that back

organ

Wow, wasn't expecting so many replies. Thanks everyone. I have to say, going from silver to copper was a dramatic change for my system. I've played with cables before but never experienced this kind of change. I really like the new cables. Very warm and bold. After about 12hrs of break in, they just opened up nicely.


Dragon,
Thanks for the link. I will keep them in mind next time I'm ready to try a different set of cables. I may throw in a pair of silver IC somewhere in the mix and see what happens.

Mike21

When I was a rich man:) I bought 3 Wilson Cubs for L, C, R. My retailer called Wilson and asked what speaker cables he recommended for the Cubs within my price range. Wilson recommended Audience Au24. My retailer then got on the phone w/ Audience to order custom lenghts. Audience recommended the option of Cardas silver plated copper spades, which I bought.

Now I am a poor man. The Cubs are long gone, but I still have the Au24s. They are connected to a pair of Dali Ikon6s. I have a suspicion that the silver does not work as well with the Dalis as it did w/ the Cubs.