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Would you class this as a silver cable?

post #1 of 18
9/15/08 at 9:08pm
Thread Starter 
Or even silver plated copper?



The piece of metal on top is a magnet taken from a harddisk drive.

I guess my question is how pure are silver cables meant for audio use? Should they exhibit any magnetism?
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post #2 of 18
9/15/08 at 9:41pm
Oo WTF?
Err sorry for that.
Silver isn't supposed to be magnetic unless in a magnetic field, even then it only become slightly magnetic....
That said even copper is not magnetic.

So that cable is probably silver plated iron? I couldn't tell you but it may be like 99%iron 1%silver or the like...

Where'd you get that from?

Dave
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post #3 of 18
9/15/08 at 10:10pm
something in it is probably steel. I doubt it is a high quality cable because steel is only used in the cheaper stuff built for durability. I could be wrong though.
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post #4 of 18
9/15/08 at 10:35pm
Thread Starter 
It was claimed by the shop that its a silver cable. While I know that silver cables usually are NOT pure silver but usually alloyed with other metals (usually copper?) for ductility, I'm just wondering if the good quality silver cables would have any iron or steel in them.
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post #5 of 18
9/15/08 at 10:46pm
I believe they should not, i.e. the big deal of the 99.9999% pure copper, but that is copper. I would believe silver should be the same because you do not want anything polar pulling on the electron stream in your cables....that would be ridiculous.
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post #6 of 18
9/16/08 at 5:14am
Thread Starter 
I see, so silver (or copper for that matter) audio cables should not be exhibiting any magnetism then.
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post #7 of 18
9/16/08 at 10:26am
I don't believe so, it would go against logic, especially since they are supposed to be pure (copper anyways). If you ran a current through them technically you could grab em with a magnet (dont try this near ur amp tho =D) if the shielding was bad enough, because the positive pole would pull the negative electrons, again you'd need a darn strong magnet and bad shielded cable.

Cheers
Dave
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post #8 of 18
9/16/08 at 10:40am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the info Dave, much appreciated!
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post #9 of 18
9/17/08 at 11:48am
So, if I'm not wrong, copper can be attracted by magnet?
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post #10 of 18
9/17/08 at 11:58am
Thread Starter 
Copper is non-magnetic and thus would not be attracted to the magnet.
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post #11 of 18
9/18/08 at 1:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fiiophile View Post
So, if I'm not wrong, copper can be attracted by magnet?
yup, copper cannot be attract by a magnet
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post #12 of 18
9/18/08 at 1:12pm
Might have some kind of steel shielding?
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post #13 of 18
9/18/08 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Lee View Post
yup, copper cannot be attract by a magnet
Unless, as stated earlier, it had a current driven through it, thus making it an elecromagnet, or was alloyed with something like iron or nickel.
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post #14 of 18
9/18/08 at 1:55pm
Like the old-school "wrap a wire around a nail and attach it to a 9V battery" elctromagnet...
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post #15 of 18
9/18/08 at 3:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Golden Monkey View Post
Like the old-school "wrap a wire around a nail and attach it to a 9V battery" elctromagnet...
Pretty much. Or more like the drivers in the headphones that you're listening to... The driver coil is electrically a moving solenoid pushing and pulling against a permanent magnet to the tune of what you're listening to.

Unless they're electrostats.
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