Cable Asylum

Posted by pburant (A) on March 10, 2005 at 18:44:02

In Reply to: Re: Can you elaborate posted by Dave Pogue on March 9, 2005 at 14:11:11:

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.

-Pete