Tweakers' Asylum

Posted by bartc (A) on July 14, 2010 at 18:53:09

In Reply to: RE: red copper posted by tweakydee on July 14, 2010 at 07:51:08

Somehow, unless they are getting BIG bucks from us audio junkies for it, I doubt that "red copper" is more expensive as a material than regular "pure copper" as usually used in better equipment (Furu for example).

It's probably an alloy that is cheaper to produce; copper prices have gone through the roof in recent years, hence the massive theft of pipes and wiring from buildings!

Try this on for size from Wikipedia: "Red brass is both an American term for the copper-zinc-tin alloy known as gunmetal, and an alloy which is considered both a brass and a bronze. It typically contains 85% copper, 5% tin, 5% lead, and 5% zinc.[25] Red brass is also an alternative name for Copper Alloys C23000, which is composed of 84-86% copper, 0.05% iron and lead, and zinc.[26] It may also refer to ounce metal, another copper-zinc-tin alloy." I suspect that it's what we see as red copper in the ads.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass

Or try this one: "Brasses (C83300-C87900 and C89320-C89940) are copper alloys in which zinc is the dominant alloying addition, because of their excellent castability, relatively low cost and favorable combination of strength and corrosion resistance, brasses are by far the most commonly cast copper alloys. There are six subcategories of cast brasses; red and leaded red, semi red and leaded semi red, yellow and leaded yellow, high strength and leaded high-strength yellow (manganese bronzes), silicon brasses/silicon bronzes, and copper-bismuth (Cu-Bi) and copper-selenium-bismuth (Cu-Se-Bi) brasses. Red brasses: The cast red brasses (C83300-C83810) are alloys of copper, zinc, tin and, in some cases, lead. A “red” copper like color is evident in alloys containing less than about 8% Zn." ...From http://www.atlasmetal.com/brass-bronze.php

Copper is naturally a reddish color when in pure form. If it's more than the usual copper color and seems more reddish, then it must be an alloy or an oxide of some sort.