Do you tin your speaker cables?

[GertSterlingSilver]

Hi there,Gert here.

Purchasing some real copper speaker wire after years of using CCA,I thought to myself about tinning(coating the bare ends with solder)the wires at the ends.
Using CCA(copper clad aluminium) bare for years has been has been OK,but just that.
Severe corrosion(You should live close to sea,fantastic)And many,many broken wire strands later I bought some of the rear deal

However wanting to consolidate my purchase I want to tin them.

My questions are for people using non pre-terminated cables are;
Will it help prolong its life considerably,or will the more ductile,less brittle copper hold up fine just as it is?(using banana plugs)
Is there a best solder or solder technique to use?Leaded,RoHs lead free,other considerations.
Does copper speaker wire with the translucent isolation corrode?As a former electrician intern Ive seen decade old copper wire still in pristine condition so I presume it is better at deterring corrosion than Aluminium.
Have any experiences one self terminated speaker wire?

Looking forward hearing from you!

 

[Ron Resnick]

Welcome Gert!

I think tinning the ends makes sense so the strands don't separate and get grungy.

But I do not know what is considered audiophile-grade solder? Does anyone know?

 

[audio.bill]

This would be an example of audiophile grade solder from Cardas. Many users consider silver bearing solder to be suitable, but it requires a much higher heat to reach its melting temperature and to get proper flow. Lead bearing solder is much easier to use and get a solid connection but most don't sound as good and some will have issues with their lead content meeting various international standards approval. What's an audiophile to do, such first world problems to be addressed.

 

[Speedskater]

Don't solder-tin the ends if they are going to be used with any screw type terminal. The solder will cold-flow with time and temperature cycles. So the connection will loosen.

First saw the problem way back in 1965. The chief engineer said that they were junk terminal strips on the FM broadcast transmitter, only much later did I learn the real reason for the failure.

 

[DonH50]

Tinning increases corrosion at the untinned junction and also leads to failure due to mechanical stress on the wire at the juncture of tinned and untinned wire. Softer copper is compressed more readily and is more conductive so usually leads to better connection (lower resistance and better resistance to oxidation) when in a compression fitting.

Standard lead-tin solder actually flows better and performs better than RoHS varieties (the U.S. DoD actually banned RoHS for use in high-reliability environments due to RoHS relative lack of adhesion and more brittle nature). Silver solder technically offers greater conductivity but in practice the advantage is very slight (I would say negligible) and the typically higher melting point leads to other problems.

Insulated wire can still corrode (oxidize; copper turns green) for a variety of reasons. It does not significantly increase resistance unless it is very bad; the top layer tends to seal the surface of the wire and block additional corrosion.

I am not a fan of CCA. The dissimilar metals can accelerate corrosion and cause poor connections, and Al is a worse conductor than pure copper.

Aluminum does oxidize but it tends to change from more shiny to a dull grey so it is harder to tell.

FWIWFM - Don

 

[microstrip]

Insulated wire can still corrode (oxidize; copper turns green) for a variety of reasons. It does not significantly increase resistance unless it is very bad; the top layer tends to seal the surface of the wire and block additional corrosion. (...)

Although resistance (measured with DC) will not change significantly in some wires, copper oxide is a semiconductor - this means that the external layer of the wire, responsible for the conduction of high frequency signals will have a non linear behavior. The nice thing of silver wire is that silver oxide is a conductor and silver plated wires do not suffer from this problem.

The quality of the insulator is a critical aspect in copper cables - some insulators release chemicals that react with copper. I have some cables, more than thirty years old, that show strong evidence of oxidation when stripped and sound really miserable. But in other cables from Van dan Hul, having the same age and insulated with a special non out-gassing compound, the copper surface is still shiny and looks as just manufactured.

 

[Speedskater]

My cable TV signal arrives thru a copper clad steel coax center conductor (CCS). Corrosion doesn't seem to be much of a problem up to one GHz.

***************************
The only time wire surface corrosion is a problem is when you try to attach a new connector.

 

[DonH50]

The nonlinear behavior occurs at frequencies well above audio IME. Skin effect is not a big concern at 20 kHz. I agree insulation is critical, both for the chemicals in it, how it degrades over time, and its permeability to water and corrosives. Construction plays a part as well since the condition of the wire and insulating material and application (fabrication) environment also determines the quality of the cable. It's not rocket science but there are certainly some sub-par cables out there. Ditto the connectors, which tend to be the weakest link in a lot of the cheapest audio cables. Again IME/IMO.

CCS is fairly common for RF transmission; copper on the outer layer for HF conduction, steel for strength in the center since at RF skin effect does come into play.

All IME/IMO/FWIWFM/my 0.000001 cent (microcent)/etc. - Don

 

[Folsom]

The only true reason to use silver solder is for soldering parts that have silver on them. I wouldn't solder to a silver part without it, it's inadvisable.

Aside from that, the difference? Please, zero percievable. I used it for years and it doesn't change anything but your wallet size. If anything were it really a much lower resistance (considering the exceeding alone of regular) it could cause instability if it did anything.