dispels some myths about speaker wire marketing hype. pretty interesting

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#oxygenfree

dead link

Link working fine here.

A bit of what I posted on AudioJunkies:

Oxygen Free Copper

First, the myth about "OFC" wires: many companies have grown quite proud of their superior Oxygen Free Copper wires. But does that really hold value? And what does it really mean?

There are three primary compositions of copper wire that are used for electrical transfer. They are:

1. C10100 - This is 99.99% pure copper with less than 0.001% oxygen and is the most expensive of the three. It's sometimes referred to as OFE (Oxygen Free Electronic).

2. C10200 - Made of 99.95% pure copper and has at least 0.001% oxygen. This is sometimes called OF (Oxygen Free).

3. C11000 - This is called ETP. If I remember correctly, that stands for Electrolytic Tough Pitch and is by far the most common form of copper. This is at least 99.90% pure copper with somewhere between 0.01% to 0.05% oxygen.

Now, as far as how they compare to each other, you can clearly see by their ratings that there is almost no difference from copper that is considered oxygen free, and copper that isn't. Based on conductivity requirements for each grade of copper, ETP and OF are identical! They both require at least 100% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard) conductivity. The practical difference from ETP to OFE is less than 1% IACS conductivity.

The primary reason that OFC was developed in the first place was for industrial use where copper under high-duress had a tendency to get brittle over longer periods of time. There is virtually no value in OFC for your vehicle or home.

Strand Count/Skin Effect

The second big myth is about the value of strand count. I can

What is funny to me, as pointed out in that article and I have pointed out many times to my friend who spends big $$$ on just the 2 ft of wire inside the speaker, people claim to "hear" a difference with a short distance wire change. What about the 100+ ft of wire in the voice coil or crossiver inductors??? That current is traveling a LONG path for 2 ft of wire to make a big difference.

Power cables is another one. Same guy I know has power cables for is tube amps that he paid $300 each for. I give him a hard time, because they are plugged into $10 surge protectors!!!! How about the wiring in house? I would have spent the money on a good line conditioner, although it seems to me if the amp has a good power supply, it really should not make much difference. . . .

Edited November 16, 200717 yr by BKOLFO4

Too bad it changes nothing... People that believe the hype start to get defensive even when the threat of double blind testing comes up...

I would have spent the money on a good line conditioner, although it seems to me if the amp has a good power supply, it really should not make much difference. . . .

Actually tube amps can benefit a lot from a good line conditioner if the local power sucks. Power transformers sometimes have lamination rattle from bad AC, it sounds like a mechanical hum coming directly from the transformer. A line conditioner takes care of this issue.

If you have seen some of the line voltages out there, you would understand why a line conditioner is a good thing. The power here doesn't look like a sine wave at all, just a slightly rounded triangle wave.

The skin effect is a factor worth considering for radio frequencies and, to a lesser extent, very high current electrical power transmission and distribution systems. To give you some real world numbers, the skin depth at 60 Hz is 8.57mm. At 10kHz, it is just under 0.70mm. Simply put, if passing alternating current through a wire at a frequency of 60 Hz, the skin effect would only be applicable if each strand was 9mm or greater in diameter. I have never seen a cable even remotely approaching this.

Shouldn't that be "radius". The strand has a skin all the way around. Makes your point even better. 3/4" thick single strand to have an effect at 60Hz. Almost a 1/16" to have an effect at 10kHz. That's some thick ass wire!

Power transformers sometimes have lamination rattle from bad AC, it sounds like a mechanical hum coming directly from the transformer. A line conditioner takes care of this issue.

yeah, i could even see the inconsistency of my power in my TV picture, the piece of equipment that had the most impact on the quality of my sound and picture was my line conditioner.

cool

:bigclap: Awesome. Monster, two words: SUCK IT!!!

very interesting read. nice find