Speaker wiring help

Habanero Monk wrote: »

You missed the entire point. Toyota probably has more cars in recall in a given year then Volvo sells. The more product you move the larger your total pool of defects.

As an educated consumer, I prefer to go off of percentages.
Which is why a static set of numbers was used in my example.

Let's move it to an even smaller static number.

1 Toyota versus 1 Volvo.
Statistically, the Toyota will have 1.12 problems that require service in the first year of ownership. The Volvo will have 1.49 problems during that same time frame.

I am all about statistics and minimizing my chance for failure.
Regardless of volume, a product that has a higher number of reported failures per 100 has a greater chance of failure.
It is a simple concept.

Again, I reiterate that *any* cable can potentially fail.
But I would recommend a product with a lower failure rate regardless of how much is produced over a product that has more documented cases of failure.
It is simple risk assessment. You weigh the odds and you play the game accordingly.
In audio, I prefer to minimize risk in any way that I can.

hi jacked from another audio forum

A few years ago I found that the speaker cable runs to my main speakers had severely corroded. To the point where when I sectionned them there was very little copper showing in cross-section. For fun I replace one run with brand new 12 gauge oxygen-free cable, and left the other intact. We''re talking about 16-20 foot runs. Then I A-B''d the two. Swapped the cables and did it again. Not exactly a proper experiment, but the result was a bit surprising: I couldn''t tell the two apart.

and the following, not sure if the statement below is from a wire-cable supplier-manufacture? so take it for what it is worth,

Green speaker wire shows a sign, showing the speaker wire is turning bad and it needs replacing. If you see a green color inside the insulation of the speaker wire, it shows that the wire is damaged from copper oxide. Once the speaker wire turns green, the wire is no longer a decent electrical conductor. This is because the copper oxide is not a conductive substance as pure copper and it makes the signal sent to the speaker degraded. Although you can still use the green speaker wire for your audio needs, but you will have a decrease in sound quality.

more info

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#introduction

Habanero Monk wrote: »

100% with you there. But while for automobiles you have concrete data for cables you don't. You don't have any idea of the %'s of defect involved with MonoPrice, Monster, AQ, etc...

No...and to an extent, I won't argue that.
But, again, as educated consumers, it is our duty to study what data we *do* have available to us.
In this case, I went to Amazon and did a "generic" comparison of the reviews. Assuming that we are using the same type of criteria (50 reviews each of Monoprice 2m HDMI cable vs Audioquest 2m HDMI cable) then we can extrapolate the general "quality" of the item.
If, out of 50 reviews for Monoprice's offering, we find 21 reviews that rate it at 1 or 2 stars due to various reasons and Audioquest's offering has only generated 3 reviews of 1 or 2 stars, we can *safely* make the assertion that you are less likely to get a bad product from Audioquest than you are from Monoprice.

Again, we are talking generalizations but the information used to make our conclusions isn't random or made up but based on real world reviews of those products.

So I still argue that given the choice between a cheaply priced product that has a higher percentage, in general, of negative reviews or a slightly higher priced product that, in general, has a higher percentage of positive reviews, I am more likely to spend a little bit more and be sure than spend a little bit less and have the worry of negative reviews hanging over my head.

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." Alvin Toffler

As a former alarm installer I can tell you that even contacts do turn green and tarnish so bad that it will caause a false alrm or just go open.Now w/ wire the same can happen but I think it depends more on where one lives like near the coast or what type of heating one has .It does happen but it takes along time. Me I'm not calling anyone out here but I have seen tarnished wire for myself.