Wot say U, gents??
I had always believed it was imperative to use insulated wire for signal wires - and by "insulated", I mean teflon coated! - otherwise the bare Cu would become tarnished from exposure to air and this tarnish would degrade the sound.
The main reason I thought that Cu tarnished from exposure to air was that, when renovating, I had seen household mains cable which had turned green underneath the ends of the PVC insulation.
Recently, I became aware of the following ...:
1. Yes, Cu will tarnish slightly with exposure to air but this oxidation is only a few molecules thick and then stops any further oxidation. (Unlike iron, whose rust "never sleeps"!!)
2. The green colouring I had noticed on household mains wiring is due to chlorine leaching from the PVC insulation and attacking the Cu ... not tarnishing due to exposure to air!
3. If you are using Cat5-sized wire or thinner for signal cabling, the signal is travelling along the complete cross-sectional area of the Cu wire. The fact that it may not be able to pass through the outermost molecular layers is immaterial.
The only proviso here is that you need to make sure the ends of the wire are clean and shiny, to make good contact before soldering!
4. "The best dielectric is NO dielectric." But, even if you think of the outermost "tarnished" molecules of Cu as a dielectric around the pure Cu wire (through which the signal cannot pass), this is so much thinner than the thinnest layer of teflon or polyurethane as to be immeasurable, in terms of its "dielectric effect".
5. Therefore one should use bare Cu wire for as many of the the signal connections inside an AKSA or GK-1 as possible. (No, I'm not suggesting you do this for mains or tube wiring!)
What say you, gentlemen, to this astounding conclusion??
Regards,
Andy
