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In Reply to: Bare wire vs spades posted by Markhh2 on March 9, 2005 at 08:26:31:
Not in my opinion. But I wouldn't tin it either. Use Caig Pro Gold and tighten it down firmly. I use spades and bananas only where convenience is more important than sound quality, but many will differ.
Follow Ups:
Re: your recommendation not to tin?Do you feel the sonic effects of tinning outweigh the benefits of avoiding oxidation?
Just curious....
-Pete
BTW - the HD-14 I've been using for speaker cables is now naked. The jacket was actually pretty easy to peel off, but I learned something in the process - the first cord I bought was a 25 footer, and the second a 50 footer. The jacket on the 50' was much softer and more pliable than the jacket on the 25'. Given the cost of the cords, I wouldn't be surprised if the materials change all the time (these cords looked identical). Anyhoo, if you ever get the urge to strip the jacket off these cords, it may be worth stopping by HD to determine if your jacket is the soft variety - the soft jacket is significantly easier to peel than the stiffer one. With the softer jacket, once you start peeling it, you can peel all if it in your bare hands just by pulling on the wires. Does it sound any different w/o the jacket? It's impossible for me to say, because peeling the jacket also allowed me to use a more appropriate geometry (two separate twisted pairs in a biwire config). I'm still not convinced this wire beats the Monster (ugh) cable it replaced (M1.4 if I remember right). When I finish with some other tweaks, I'll concentrate on swapping the Monster in/out to see who the winner is to my ears (they do seem to sound different).
To be honest, my anti-tinning stand is not based on anything I've tested myself but on the comments of others here who argue against tinning bare wires used as speaker cables. Why use bare wires in the first place if you're going to coat them with solder? Frankly, I just think it unnecessary from an oxidation standpoint after removing bare-wire cables that have been been in place for years and were tightly screwed down in the first place and discovering noting but shine -- not a hint of oxidation.Your HD-14 experiments are intriguing. I've used only the 50-footers and noticed nothing different about their jackets. After first using only two of the three wires, I've started using all three -- think it sounds better. I've got the black one going to the speakers and the green and white ones in the return link. But one of these days I will try "nuding" them. Sounds easier than I figured it would be. :-)
I think the thing that compelled me most to tin the bare wires of my HD-14 speaker cables was how much easier it made it to connect to both the speaker and amp binding posts, especially given I had every intention of swaping the cables in/out several times. It also greatly, greatly decreases the likelihood that I'll miss a strand on the nth swap and cause a short (I know I should perform a quick test with the ohmmeter after each cable swap, but I'm too lazy).You make a good point about the solder only adding a different metal to the signal path. I have had some bare wire cables oxidize quite badly on me, despite proper care, though. This problem is easily solved so long as you allowed some slack in the cable for such 'adjustments' when you set it up. I'm not gonna claim that particular cable wasn't a cheap one, but it looked like copper initially :-)
Do let us know what happens if you strip the orange snakes. They are a lot prettier naked, although still not pretty.
I've domesticated the orange snakes with black Techflex. It's kinda fun to use and makes the HD stuff look like "real" cable. Frankly, I've been employing so much of the HD-14 -- as power cables as well as speaker cables -- that it was REALLY looking like Halloween here.One point I failed to mention earlier. Using two of the three wires as the return link really creates a bare-wire connection challenge. Luckily my speaker binding posts have a large enough hole to accommodate them, but I have reluctantly had to resort to spades on the amp end's barrier strips.
I think that I'm fortunate in not having environmental conditions conducive to oxidation. I'm sure others aren't as lucky.
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