How often should speaker cables be replaced?

Just making the point that the so called oxidisation is probably nothing much more than surface tarnish rather than the metal loss erosion of oxidisation.

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Out of interest, is the jacket on NACA5 completely non oxygen permeable??

No, itā€™s quite oxygen permeable (I believe itā€™s primarily a polyolefin)ā€¦ however, it has quite low permeability to water vapour and both are requited to achieve a significant rate of oxidation.

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My NACA5 cables are just over 30 years old, and sound (and look) fine to me.

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Already 4/5 members with 30+ year old NACA5 cables still going strong. Pretty cool imo. Something about value for moneyā€¦ :sunglasses:

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25 years old and vfm. Cost Ā£4.95 per metre in 1996.

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40 year old A4 - was Ā£1-00 per metreā€¦

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You should probably have your electrons flushed from the cable and topped off with new ones after that many years.

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If you are worried about your 'speaker cable oxidising, then you should worry about the wiring inside components doing the same!

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The cables should still be fine IMO. I vaguely remember an online discussion (not sure if it was this forum?) that suggested a periodic trimming of the ends and retermination with new plugs was worthwhile though. Am I dreaming that or does anyone else recall such an idea?

For copper to oxidise they need to be exposed to oxygen. The clue is in the name of the process, oxidation.

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Rght! I am getting the 40-year-old Monster Cable out of the garage!! :grinning:

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Chord Odyssey - 18 years old although re-terminated at both ends by the good Doctor @Cymbiosis a couple of years back.

I bought two 7m lengths of ā€˜usedā€™ NAC A5 last year. The previous owner couldnā€™t remember when he bought it but was more than 25 years ago.

I trimmed off about 10cm and the copper was in pristine condition. I doubt I needed to chop even that much off.

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NAC A4 from about 1985, pretty sure I got it with my NAIT back then. It sounds fine to me. There is some 3 or 4 year old NAC A5 connected to the Nova upstairs, every so often I vaguely think about swapping them over to see what difference I can hear, then I pour another glass of wine and listen to music instead.

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Exactly. Less worry, more musicā€¦

I have Rick Wakeman on currentlyā€¦

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Perivaleā€™s finest.

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?

Canā€™t say I would consider replacing my speaker cables ( 7 metres of SL), however I do find a yearly wash and tumble to do them a world of good. ATB Peter

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What are the thoughts on items like SNAICs - the ones that came with my olive HICAPs are over 20 years old, I seem to recall some comments that newer stock ā€˜lavenderā€™ cables may be better sonically.

Iā€™m probably going to need a new one anyway.