NOS Western Electric wire used for power cables??

Elizabeth

First off, ALL old wire is corroded.

No.

First, copper doesn't corrode under normal conditions. It's not like steel where any surface corrosion (i.e. rust) continues throughout the metal until it finally turns to dust.

Copper develops an oxide on its surface which acts a protective layer preventing further oxidation.

Second, most of that old WE wire was tin plated copper so it has even further protection against oxidation.

I've had samples of it that was going on 80 years old and it was still in good shape.

Second it is not nearly as pure as ANY current production. (impure means it sucks at transmitting current well)

Insignificant.

Copper used for electrical purposes is only marginally more pure than it was back in 1913 when the International Annealed Copper Standard was set at 5.8 x 10^7 siemens per meter. Conductivity is often referred to as % IACS. Today, the copper used for electrical purposes is only 101% IACS.

As I said, insignificant.

That being said, I WOULDN'T recommend using it for power cords and I'd be careful using it for speaker cables.

If you want to experiment with it, the best stuff in my opinion is the stranded, cotton braid over silk serve which is typically also impregnated with wax.

Check out Jake's Old Western Electric Stuff store on eBay.

"Copper developes an oxide which acts as a protective layer which prevents futher oxidation"..AND prevents current flow. Copper oxydation is BAD for signal transfer. since the wire carries the signal ON THE SURFACE OF THE WIRE, and the wire has oxydation, it SUCKS at carrying the signal.
Nice you put a LINK. so the crazy know where to blow money spent foolishly
I suspect a conspiracy here to start selling some crap useless wire to unsuspecting audiophools.
IMO.
PS if someone want inexpensive wire, go to eBay and check out MilSpec wire. At least most of it is silver plated and Teflon coated.

Looking up the wire on Google finds one seller apparently selling the wire in power cables at $200. a pop. "Big sale"?. So, wire that is worth a few bucks, 'unique' plugs.. (read cheap) so for $200 you get some home made cords worth???
Whooptie doo. He has lots of 'avertorials' in the eBay ad praising his stuff.

Simply q is correct, some of the old WE wire was tinned. I am not sure if all of it was. Making a power cord sound good comes down to the design. You can place two wires and a ground in a sleeve and it will work and then you can twist wires, add ferrite clamps, beads, etc., and they will sound different. Ribbon wire will also sound different as will adding blends with silver, gold, etc. So while WE may be good for making audio cables, there may be better wire out there. It comes down to experimentation. The person selling on ebay offers a trial period on some of his cables (see the store website) so you can try them for yourself and come to your own conclusions. The "cheap" plugs are almost exact clones of the higher priced plugs and again depending on the material used in them such as pure copper, silver, gold or brass plated, they will change the sound of the cable. Hey someone has to make the expensive plug sets, maybe they are all made in China? Find the thread tee Jade has on Agon about making cables. It took him years to find his own formula and probably even that won't work the best in all systems.

So try them if there is a trial period, and make up your own mind.

Happy Listening.

I have no particular knowledge of this wire, and so I express no opinion about its performance, aside from emphatically seconding the cautions that have been expressed about safety. For instance, if the user were to bend an assembled cable or cord, what degree of confidence is there that the insulation within will not crack or disintegrate?

Beyond that, in terms of sonic performance, I think that Elizabeth's skepticism is well justified. Given the revered status among many audiophiles of the drivers from 1930's Western Electric theater speakers, as reflected in the astronomical prices they go for, as well as some of their 1930's tubes (such as the 300B), it would seem entirely expectable that attempts would be made to capitalize on brand name recognition, by marketing other WE products that do not have anything special about them. Caveat emptor.

Best regards,
-- Al