I've been having some rather irritating arguments with friends regarding
Oxygen free audio cables. I am fully convinced that they are a fraud and my
googling on USENET's sci.electronic.design only convinces me that i'm right.
However i was wondering if anyone on Grex has tried to climb this greased
pole. Any idea if there are scientific docs that bolster the case for O2
altering sound charecteristics? Inducatance and Capacitance and skin effect
yes, but Oxygen? In any case i thought all insulated wires were Oxygen free
in any case...the synthetic lamination on copper ought to enusre that..

Never ever get in between a audiophile and his pet mania, but in this case
it should read, mentally retarded friends and their oh so sensitive and finely
tuned ears.

9 responses total.

There isn't much skin effect at audio frequencies. Also, speakers have very
complex response characteristics and cable characteristics would be nearly
totally invisible among those. 

However if anyone knows of some coroborated science on the matter, I would 
like to know about it. I've always thought that all that special cable 
advertising is fraudulent. Any cable with the same resistance would behave 
the same within detectable limits.

Perhaps Vivek and his friend are mistaking oxygen free audio cables for
cables that inhibit oxidation. Copper is a good conductor so it is used
in electrical and audio applications, but since it also oxidizes
quickly, gold ends are placed on the cable (gold oxidizes more slowly).

I would think the cables would be soldered to their end connectors. Gold 
plating is useful on connectors themselves to delay corrosion, which can 
increase contact resistance.

Re 2: Are you sure gold oxidises in air? I thought it was a inert metal.

Foundwhat seems to be a interesting link:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8852
I need to re-read it more carefully in the morning.

The placebo effect is alive and well.  Anyone who pays big money for 
special cables is going to convince themselves that their system sounds 
better.  I've found it futile to argue with people about this; I just 
enjoy the horrified looks on their faces when I tell them I hook up my 
speakers with zip cord.

I hear concert PA systems often use 12/2 SO cable, the same stuff 
heavy-duty outdoor power extension cords are made from.

Actually, oxygen-free cables aren't even the worst example.  I think 
that award goes to the Pandora 202 mechanically-tuneable power cord:
http://www.vansevers.com/power_cords.html
I'm both disturbed that anyone buys this stuff, and admiring of the 
cojones it must take to put together such an amazing collection of B.S.
and post it as a legitimate website.  I wonder what this guy makes a 
year building these things.  I may be in the wrong business.

Gold is a reactive metal, and forms many compounds. It is recovered from gold
ores by dissolving it in a cyanide solution, which reacts with the normal
oxide layer on gold. However gold is very electronegative and is reduced in
solution to the metal by most reducing agents, including most other metals.
It is more a matter of the surface structure of gold that makes it unreactive
rather than being its being thermodynamically inert.

Re #6 wo! wo!! 300 freaking USD for a power cord! Ha! Ha! This is something
i should show my friends :) He he, imagine CRGO copper :) All the copper
atoms are aligned with no grain boundaries,  the electrons will zip through
with no collision :)

Thanks Rane.

Next thing will be refrigerators to cool the gold cables to 0.001 K. 

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss