2. cables
  3. 1137643521

Interesting discovery

I found this interesting today. I was having a hard time connecting my Better Cables speaker cable with spades to my Dynaudios because they are stiff and the spades are too large. I decided to cut off the spade and expose the bare wire. I found a white powder around the soldered spade connector and terminal end of the speaker wire. One soldered connection was slightly loose, as though the solder had cracked. Also, the wire was solid copper, twisted with two pair (no wonder it is so stiff). Anyway, is that powder oxidation or the solder breaking down? I don't know if the sound is better, but the wire connection to the speaker is finally very secure. It makes me wonder what I spent my money on. Any thoughts?
tgrisham
tgrisham OP
1,179 posts
 
I appreciate everyone's responses. I will leave them as bare wire and keep them clean with contact enhancer.
uppermidfi
277 posts
 
Green copper takes A LONG time to develop, the first sign is white powder, then the copper turns brown, then, years later it turns green if it's exposed to enough moisture.
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,333 posts
 
Just replaced the battery in the car today..... a huge amount of white powder with hints of green was what I found all over the +ve terminal and inside the connectors and wires leading to the starter motor circuit...so Uppermidfi is right about copper corosion being initially white. Absolutely no corrosioin or any signs of powder over the negative (Grounded) terminal.

Of course a car battery is polarized....DC always +ve at plus terminal...so this increases the pace of corrosion on one terminal enormously.....which begs the question why should Tgrisham's speaker wire do the same when audio is AC....?

This suggests possibly some rectification going on some where or a DC offset in the amplifier?

=> Tgrisham, I suggest you check for a strong DC offset from your amp....this might explain the white powder build up. BTW, to get rid of the corrosion on your cables (if that is what it is), simply soak the affected parts in a cup of water with Baking Soda....it shoud all fizzle and wash away.
More to discover