Silver or copper cables?

Fpeel - I'm sorry that what I am saying sounds so inflexible. I'm really not just trying to aggravate people. I like audiophiles and spent 10 years manufacturing products for them. I came here to buy some B&W speakers and just had to jump into this cable business.

Perhaps I should simply state what I am trying to say. There are lots of people here reporting hearing differences to changes in gear which are not even in the signal path. People report hearing dramatic changes after their cables are "broken in". An idea that is so outlandish it is difficult to ridicule.

Now, I don't think these people are dumb or defective in some way. In fact, I'm sure the folks around here are at least a cut about the average Joe. And I'm sure their systems are topnotch. Because differences are reported, by thoughtful people, where there is genuinely no possibility of difference, I say there is a treacherous trap that we can fall into when comparing gear. We, and I don't consider myself any better at avoiding this, will almost always hear a difference when making a comparison.

Gents, I think this is being overcomplicated. For cables, silver would be a better choice simply because it has less resistance. This winds up to be a simple cost issue. Copper is an excellent conductor and less expensive while silver is a better conductor than copper but more expensive. It's as simple as that.

I appreciate your simple answer Liguy, if only others could give a simple opinion.

Silver wire has about 10% lower resistance. If you were to go from 16 gauge silver to 14 gauge copper, the copper wire would have about 50% less resistance.The same is true going from 14 silver to 12 copper.

And 18 gauge Zip Cord?