Would silver cables beat UP-OCC copper?

I have built gear and cables using both and one fact remains.....there is no answer to your question that is the final truth for all. It depends on your gear, musical tastes (type of music), sound preference, system synergy and on and on.....

I have found that if you're going to use silver, then go for solid core and go for as heavy of a guage as you can afford/find. The right silver, solid core, and thicker than 24 gauge can sound very good indeed.

Silver does sound different and has proven to be more resolving in each and every case I have used it. Great solid core copper is warmer sounding and more rounded if you will. This is also something I have witnessed time and time again. A mixture of the two throughout my system has yielded the best results. This has taken me several years and lots of experimenting however. The only way to learn for yourself is to try some. No other way I am afraid to say.

If you listen to mellow jazz and calm voice that is well recorded, then silver may be just the ticket. It may, but there are many other variables which folks have already stated. I have found that the recording quality plays a big role on which wire I prefer. Poor recordings suffer more on silver in my experience. If your musical tastes force you to listen to many mediocre to poor recordings, then copper may be a better choice for you.

Looking at your system page,I would stay with copper...

If you get yourself some thick copper cables wrapped in a tough jacket, they can take a hell of a beating. Every bit as tough as silver.

You would do better with copper given your horn speakers and SS gear. If you can afford them look for Cardas "golden" somethings,for a nice mellow tone. This will start another argument I am sure. The OCC copper cables are very good as well. There are many many cable makers try to get an idea of what you want from cables. And Zd is right you shouldn't use cables to beat anything.

"Best" is and for the forseeable future will be a word with no universally agreed upon definition, especially in this opinion laden environment. That being said, silver can sound different, but silver can sound different than copper depending on awg size, configuration, solid versus stranded, shield vs. non shield, rca vs.XLR, type of XLR, type of RCA, resonance factors, capacitance, inductance, resistance, not to mention termination skill. To look just at silver vs copper is leaving too many variables off the table. PT