CardinalFang;214268 Wrote: > High frequency AC tends to travel near the surface of metals. A company > I used to work for used to exploit this skin effect to look for cracks > in welded joints and pipes, the voltage drop was higher in a cracked > sample as the current travelled along the surface and up and down the > sides of the crack. In an OK sample, it didn't pass through as much > metal, so the potential drop was smaller. > > So it is entirely possible that a corroded cable can affect the higher > frequencies, but how corroded it needs to be and how high the > frequencies would have to be would be hard to tell. > > There's a link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect
That pretty much comports with what the guy at DH Labs said. At the end of the day, if there's some sort of outside factor (oxidation, corrosion, breakage, solder-joint failure, etc.) that would cause an audio cable to be less than immortal -- or at least, not age as gracefully as Dick Clark -- is that such an unreasonable expectation? Capacitors leak, tubes fizzle out or go microphonic, styluses wear out with enough contact wth vinyl... the list goes on and on. Whichever camp you're in, it seems that metalurgically, as DH Labs' and Cardinal Fang's findings show, there is some evidence out there that supports that oxidation will affect audio cable performance. But even if you're a non-believer, ask yourself this question: Would you REALLY continue to use a pair of green, 20+ year old speaker cables to drive your mega-buck speakers -- resolute in your belief none of that gunk would be causing a problem? And if you didn't, would you replace them only for aesthetic reasons? Most of us who define ourselves as "audiophiles" (as this board is titled), would likely repair or replace ANY item that seemed remotely suspicious; lest we dare experience less than stellar performance from our system. Or even more likely, we would grow bored with the item and a case of upgradeitis would mean it would be gone well before it reached the problem years. -- Videodrome Two-channel System: SB3, into Musiland MD-10 DAC; Outlaw 970 Pre/Pro; McCormack DNA-125 amplifier; Quad 11L speakers; Sota Sapphire ttbl. w/ Grado Ref. Platinum Cart. into Rolls Bellari VP-129 tube phono stage; Marantz 10b; Nakamichi RX505; Cables Used: DH Labs, Van den Hul, Distech, Monster, many more. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Videodrome's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=11727 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=36658 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
