Hey all,
Further to my thread on what cores to use on the toroidal output inductors of my amp4 kit, I realised I now need to decide what wire to wind them with.
Now, I am using Metglas (Anamorphous) Cores, whom supplied them with the recommendation I needed 15 turns of AWG16 wire on each to make them ideal for my requirements. I thought getting the wire would be quite straightforward- a simple piece of standard copper wire.
However, I didn’t realise how much division there was over which material is best, and hadn’t even begun to consider insulation.
While some successful amps have used copper (such as the Red Wine Audio Signature 30), some people have expressed the view that silver is a sonically favourable material. As one person put it:
“The difference between copper and silver wire is far greater the then numbers would suggest. In fact, I doubt that the difference would be very noticeable if it were only the conductivity. Silver has an entirely different sound that is particularly noticeable in the higher registers and in the overall detail and soundstaging. The use of silver is what Audionote Japan famous. Hand drawing silver takes things a step further because, unlike machine made silver wire and ribbon, The successive drawing of the material through progressively smaller dies creates a material the is essentially a monocrystal.”On the other hand, some have pointed out that Silver is harder to handle, which as a result, means it is harder to wind both tightly, and evenly, around the core, factors which could have a greater impact on the result (apparently).
Additionally, silver costs significantly more, and some people have stated it could sound ‘brighter’, which might be an issue for me, considering Tripath amps are supposed to sound bright anyway, and my Monitor Audio BR2s are a tad on the bright side too.
As for insulation, whereas Teflon is common and cheap, natural materials are said to make a more natural sound. However I am undecided as to whether this is true.
Electrum Audio, who I go to to find many good audio bits cheap, have 1.2mm hand drawn .999% silver insulated with cotton that has been permeated with beeswax for $6.00 per foot with an additional $2.00 per foot cryogenic treatment option. However, unfortunately there is a 10 foot minimum order.
Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Peter
