How often should you replace speaker cable

[SCOOBYG]

I'm in the process of moving some of my speaker cales around and noticed that they appear to have oxidised quite badly over the years. They are no longer that nice pink-orange colour of pure copper. This is the case over the whole length of the cable not just the ends (clear shrouding).

My question is this. How often should you replace your speaker cables?

 

[kasumi]

Very good question.

I have recently noticed my Shark 4-way OFC cable showing these oxidised signs along the cable, which in my view must be a bad thing since at 620 strands of 0.07 on each core, each strand relies on contact to the next by wound surface contact to make up the bundle. Also I thought higher frequencies concentrated themselves near the surface of these smaller strands while the 'juicy' part of the signal needed the thickness.

Fortunately, I'm re-introducing 7 singular power amp modules, each with their own toroidial transformer placed at the bottom of each floorstander/centre/surround so will have a tiny amount of speaker cable to travel. Instead I will have a singular HQ OFC coaxial to each amp, but then the same thing applies to that but it's much cheaper to replace.

Cable like my Van den hull etc hasn't oxidised etc being plated. Some like Van Damme speaker cable I have when you strip the jacket at the termination point again it's still 'sweet' and fresh.
I think this goes to show how well made some cables really are. I think my Shark 4way is rather poor to be honest. Mind, I didn't pay what it costs now & it's quite old now.

 

[SCOOBYG]

Thanks Kasumi.

Anyone else got an opinion on this??????

 

[eviljohn2]

I wouldn't worry about it TBH, a little bit of oxidation at the end of a cable won't make any discernable difference audibly. It just won't look as shiny.

 

[Reiner]

SCOOBYG, I haven't seen a cable that oxidises all the way while being insulated, usually it's only the bare strands at each end. In this case you just cut-off a few centimeters and remove the insulation.
I am not saying it does not happen at all but I have never replaced any of my cables for that reason - they are all a few years old and nothing expensive. But if you think your cable is no good anymore then by all means replace it.

I have recently noticed my Shark 4-way OFC cable showing these oxidised signs along the cable, which in my view must be a bad thing since at 620 strands of 0.07 on each core, each strand relies on contact to the next by wound surface contact to make up the bundle.

What matters is the termination, there all strands should be in contact with each other. But for the run of the cable you could have all strands individually insulated and it would be no different.

 

[Joe Fernand]

Hello SCOOBYG

I think Kasumi has answered your question - you'll have to replace poorly manufactured cables more often than a well manufactured cable.

I've seen lots of cables that go brittle in 'indoor' sunlight and others like your own than oxidise over the whole length of the cable.

I'd certainly be tempted to ditch the installed cable and replace with something that's built to last - see http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=388257

Best regards

Joe

PS A lot of 1980's vintage 'clear' cables are prone to this 'whole length' oxidisation.

 

[deaf cat]

Hiya,

I bought a pricy IC a while back as asked before I bought how long it may last, given there are alot of variables. I can't quite remember exactly what was the rough guide, but for the first 10 years it will slowly improve, run for a while with constant performance and then detereorate......

Anyones guess really
Would depend on environmental stuff, build design, build quality and material quality I would have thought.

If I think I need a new one, the old one is worn out

 

[leon]

i bought my spekaer cable 10 years ago for £2000.00 i cut abit of them every 6 months just about 10mm of the end and still they sound amazing.

 

[JohnWH]

If you terminate your cables with connectors e.g banana plugs (soldered and not just crimped) then you won't need to periodically cut the end of the cable, if you use glod plated terminators then you won't even need to clean them...

John.

 

[SCOOBYG]

Thanks Guys. Looks as if it is time to go shopping!

 

[AngelEyes]

I can't quite remember exactly what was the rough guide, but for the first 10 years it will slowly improve, run for a while with constant performance and then detereorate.....

We are talking about cables here, not wine

Seriously though, how does a cable get better over time? Does it magically grow thicker or something? Sorry to sound sarcastic, no offence intended but this really does sound weird to me. Did you get any explanation as to how or why this happens?

I have very cheap QED Original cable and have had it for about 5 or 6 years, maybe longer. It always looks virgin pink when I recut the ends for whatever reason.

Adam

 

[Joe Fernand]

Hello JohnWH

As per the original Post - there are some rather 'unique' cables that have far from ideal insulation, grade of copper etc and they do oxidise over the whole length of the cable no matter how you terminate them.

Joe

 

[JohnWH]

Hello JohnWH

As per the original Post - there are some rather 'unique' cables that have far from ideal insulation, grade of copper etc and they do oxidise over the whole length of the cable no matter how you terminate them.

Joe

Agreed, have certainly seen this, but over very long periods of time and normally only where the environment is a problem e.g. damp. I've got a box full of old cables with speaker cable in excesses of 10 years old, the oldest still have no visible tarnish on the bear ends. So, for me termination is more of a convenience thing, but for those that are twitchy about these things it does minimises the potentual problem, but as you say if the quality of the underlying copper is bad enough it will still degrade over (a long) time.

John.

 

[deaf cat]

We are talking about cables here, not wine

Seriously though, how does a cable get better over time? Does it magically grow thicker or something? Sorry to sound sarcastic, no offence intended but this really does sound weird to me. Did you get any explanation as to how or why this happens?
Adam

Bit off topic so I'll be brief-ish
-Burn in- I found it easy to hear the differences in the first few hundred hours of use, doubt I'll notice over the next 10 years though - As to how it happens, I think it was something to do with the cable settling in to the signal and system balancing.....

An interesting bit I read a while ago:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29025&page=4&highlight=cable+burn

 

[deaf cat]

Thanks Guys. Looks as if it is time to go shopping!

Have Fun

 

[Steve.J.Davies]

Bit off topic so I'll be brief-ish
-Burn in- I found it easy to hear the differences in the first few hundred hours of use, doubt I'll notice over the next 10 years though - As to how it happens, I think it was something to do with the cable settling in to the signal and system balancing.....

An interesting bit I read a while ago:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29025&page=4&highlight=cable+burn

What are the physical changes in the cable that cause this ? Are there any proven mathematical formulae that support this (and any real world physical measurements).
or to put it another way. How is a change to perceived quality over time constrained to being an effect of (only) the cable ?

 

[Reiner]

Bit off topic so I'll be brief-ish
-Burn in- I found it easy to hear the differences in the first few hundred hours of use, doubt I'll notice over the next 10 years though - As to how it happens, I think it was something to do with the cable settling in to the signal and system balancing.....

An interesting bit I read a while ago:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29025&page=4&highlight=cable+burn

Sounds like Voodoo. There are far more important applications than AV where cable burn in would matter if it existed.

 

[kasumi]

SCOOBYG, I haven't seen a cable that oxidises all the way while being insulated, usually it's only the bare strands at each end. In this case you just cut-off a few centimeters and remove the insulation.
I am not saying it does not happen at all but I have never replaced any of my cables for that reason - they are all a few years old and nothing expensive. But if you think your cable is no good anymore then by all means replace it.


What matters is the termination, there all strands should be in contact with each other. But for the run of the cable you could have all strands individually insulated and it would be no different.

My Shark OFC cable has oxidised along it's length (it's clear to see), which since the strands are very many & very fine then the lower frequency may struggle down such tiny diameter because the strands are loosing contact cross-sectional bundle area. No matter since it's being made obsolete on my system anyway, but it's there to see in the cable & it looks bad enough to warrant concern.

Simple fact as mentioned previously, some cables are really poor, spend wisely. Casein fact are Van Damme, not silly expensive but built to last & quality.