Bare naked or...?


Is there a big difference between bare speaker cables over terminated ones? Can anyone tell me if really terminations can effect sound quality a lot? If yes, what is the most common problem? Also, squeezing bare cables on tighten bolts can "compress" or "compromise" sound?
Thanks for any suggestion from a confused audiophiler.
carloscotland
Ok, but does oxidation occours on the whole cable or just on the termination point? Nordost uses air in their cables to improve speed, is that he case or maybe I'm just mistaken?
Air is the best dielectric. I use pure silver solid core DIY cables with no terminations what so ever. I have used them for over a year now. There is no oxidation that I can see with my eyes under the teflon. The ends will show a slight discoloration..it hasn't effected the sound from my observations.I live in the humid climate of the south as well. Once the oxygen is used up between the wire and the teflon..there's not much oxidation going on. Some audiophiles use speaker cables only surrounded by cotton tubing. If I were you, I really wouldn't worry about it. Audiophiles can get a bit carried away with this stuff some times. :-)
Thanks Gmood1, sounds (pun intended) good to me...Got another question: Have any of you used a special paste made of silver to help the connections between components?
Silver and copper are very different. Silver oxide is conductive while copper oxide is not. That is part of the reason some people really tout silver. Even when silver oxidizes the oxidation transmits the signal very well. Copper oxidation does not transmit the signal there-by harming the signal. Cotton tubing is used on silver wire due to these characteristics. No one I know of would ever do this with copper wire.

If you want to use bare ends on copper wire that is fine. I simply use some de-oxit and then pro gold every couple of months to keep the ends clean.

Termination is no guarentee of less oxidation. Unless the wire was sealed off from oxygen when terminated it is oxidizing. If you have a cable that is a few years old with spades or bananas that are attached with set screws and you remove them, there is probably going to be some oxidation on the wire.
Understand. So has anybody heard of silver terminations? So far I don't think I ever seen any silver plug ever.
By what you say (and I appreciate your effort) terminations are usually in copper so them too are very prone to oxidation.
What if some terminations were dipped in silver by a jewellery?
Could that help?