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RE: The sound of silver

Michael, hi. Try 22-23 AWG annealed silver wire with Teflon tube sleeve. I'd skip the shield in initial trials. The tubing can be much larger internal diameter than the wire so metal to wall contact is reduced. I'd put the first pair between your D/A converter and amplifier. Try this before advancing. I predict you will hear improvements. As far as speaker wire is concerned 18 AWG will work just fine. Ditto 16 AWG. You will observe costs increase geometrically as the metal cross section increases.
I made 10 meter lengths of 16 AWG for speaker use just as a test of a long run. It worked great until an "associate" of mine at the time took it upon himself to cut my 10 meter runs up in 4ths and twist them up in a bundle without asking permission or even telling me he was thinking about doing so. This is how they were returned to me following a CES show in Las Vegas. Needless to say my relationship with this bozo ended with the butchery of my wire. It is better to get your silver wire annealed or the break in time can be excessive. If you are patient - no problem. Just don't "loan" your speaker wire to anyone with delusions of grandeur. Try just a single pair before you get star quad fancy. Stick with 22 or 23 AWG for small signal. You don't need to go larger. Also - use a solder with zero lead content. I suggest 96.5% tin and 3.5% silver with activated rosin core. Have fun and happy listening.


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