Aw geez my speaker wire has turned green inside the jacket.

[Gudstufshevy]

Just wanted to thank you guys for the great info. The PVC reaction seems to be at the heart of the matter. A quick google of "HD green wire" gave lots of results, on almost every other forum the discussion quickly degenerated into oxygen free, or all brands are the same. Lots of bad attitudes and mouthy moron know it alls. I love this forum!

For kicks, I called the local HD. spoke to an associate in the electrical dept. who sent me to a mgr. Even without any proof it came from them, he's willing to sell me a new roll at 1/2 price. Unfortunately they only stock some G.E. Speaker wire or Carol. As I believe the "Godzilla Green" is Carol, I'm hesitant, and I wouldn't buy anything from G.E.

As fate would have it, Belden is not so readily available locally. I've called two electrical supply houses and both have Cerro, Southwire, or Carol (same story at HD and Lowes)
checking the labels and packages revealed nothing as to the composition of the wires insulation.

Anybody know the straight poop on the Carol or Southwire insulation (including #s).

 

[Gudstufshevy]

Found Cerro 14-2 at another HD, Cerro #260-1402G3 any clue what the insulation is made of? (I'll try contacting Cerro)

It would be nice to get new (hopefully not PVC) wire for 1/2 price.

Another option would be some Ratshack wire (I've got some that's 25 years old that still looks fine.)

 

[markd51]

Makes me think of an old story, of the 1980 Jeep Cherokee I bought new. What a piece of junk that vehicle was. The worst I ever owned.

Every spark plug wire on the truck read different with an Ohmmeter. So, out they came, and so did the Air pump, EGR Valve, and every other piece of junk hardware they threw on the engine.

On went Packard 440 pure Copper Plug Wires, re-tuned engine, and it ran much better, but I tortured the living hell out of the truckers on ther CB's, with the electronic hash!

I used to laugh my ass off, but then again, was very aware that these guys wanted to literally kill me for the hash coming through their radios. I had a CB in the Jeep myself, so I was aware of what they were hearing. Murder! lol Mark

 

[david moran]

I have a ton of perhaps 10awg speaker cable (came with house, plus some 12awg) that is oxygen-enriched, black-green in color under the sticky vinyl jacket, and it sounds awesome: rich, deep, colorful, slammin' and velvety at the same time. Liquid midrange, inky detail, highly resolving.

Seriously, lots of bunk here, but some good sense too. The patina carries signal just fine. No resistance increase worth sweating, no audible difference. (Compare honestly, meaning blind.) Oh, and electrons are NOT "moving" through the wire, however clean it appears. If it bothers you, get new, and not clear. This does mean you will be discarding perfectly good wire, if recycling matters to you. It does matter to me, more than any possible trivial, minuscule change in RLC.

 

[goodolpg]

Monster wire sometimes turned green, especially on exposed parts like near the ends.
They used to offer free replacement (this was a few years ago), maybe they still do.

 

[Mark B]

Seriously, lots of bunk here, but some good sense too. The patina carries signal just fine. No resistance increase worth sweating, no audible difference. (Compare honestly, meaning blind.) Oh, and electrons are NOT "moving" through the wire, however clean it appears.

https://www.uu.edu/dept/physics/scienceguys/2001Nov.cfm

 

[Fred_B]

I have some 30+ year old Monster cable speaker wires and the copper is still shiny inside the clear plastic insulation. The cables that turn green inside must either have some contamination or the composition of the insulation was changed to be incompatible with copper.

 

[devo391]

I too have some really old monster cable and over the years it turned very dark green and black at first glance and yet I am still using it after discarding a bunch of the worst I kept enough that was only mildy discolored, not sure I am suffering because of it but this is of great interest to me and now am second guessing my decision to continue to use them.I read the link to dept of physics etc and my head hurts a little, cannot grasp this particular factoid " 1.2 inches per minute ", I read the whole thing twice and that just don't make sense, hell at that rate I could go watch a movie after cueing up my tunes and still not miss the first song!!! Can someone who gets it can explain further or tell me what I totally do not understand about electrons or is this part of quantum physics where electrons can appear in two places at the same time??? or have I just revealed the true depth of my stupidity concerning this? Same wire in each photo just peeled off what they called their high frequency carrier wires because they were too fat for my jacks at one time. In my case the discoloration is on both jacket and wire.

 

[Fred_B]

I too have some really old monster cable and over the years it turned very dark green and black at first glance and yet I am still using it after discarding a bunch of the worst I kept enough that was only mildy discolored, not sure I am suffering because of it but this is of great interest to me and now am second guessing my decision to continue to use them.I read the link to dept of physics etc and my head hurts a little, cannot grasp this particular factoid " 1.2 inches per minute ", I read the whole thing twice and that just don't make sense, hell at that rate I could go watch a movie after cueing up my tunes and still not miss the first song!!! Can someone who gets it can explain further or tell me what I totally do not understand about electrons or is this part of quantum physics where electrons can appear in two places at the same time??? or have I just revealed the true depth of my stupidity concerning this? Same wire in each photo just peeled off what they called their high frequency carrier wires because they were too fat for my jacks at one time. In my case the discoloration is on both jacket and wire.

Here's what my cable looks like, I think it was Monster cable, but there is no writing on the insulation. I think this was purchased in the early 1980's. The guy at the store just sold me what he had left on the roll.



As far as your other question about "1.2 inches per minute", yes, that is the velocity of an electron as it travels down the wire. The electron will take HOURS to get from your amp to the speaker, then more hours for the return trip. But there are MANY electrons in the wire. What counts is how many electrons per second go back and forth through the speaker voice coil. Imagine a straw filled with peas. You push one pea in at one end and another pea (not the same one you pushed) comes out the other end, but you would have to push a lot of peas to get that first one you pushed to come out the other end. The force that does the pushing on the electrons (the electric field) is transmitted very, very fast so as soon as your amp applies a voltage to the speaker cables, all the electrons in that cable start wiggling back and forth right away. They mostly just stay in the wire and wiggle back and forth.

 

[c.coyle]

I use 12 gauge stranded zip cord with opaque insulation. That solves the turning green problem.

Seriously, except at connections and splices, surface corrosion on speaker cables should not affect sound quality or electrical conduction, since skin effect is infinitesimal at audio frequencies.

 

[devo391]

I think I have a slightly better understanding after reading this simplified breakdown of how a signal travels through wire, if this was ever taught to me I do not remember it so thanks to all for the refresher.
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/a/248483

 

[Hobie1dog]

Monster Cable most likely, I wish I had a dollar for every foot of that crap I have thrown away.

 

[bimasta]

As far as your other question about "1.2 inches per minute", yes, that is the velocity of an electron as it travels down the wire. The electron will take HOURS to get from your amp to the speaker, then more hours for the return trip. But there are MANY electrons in the wire. What counts is how many electrons per second go back and forth through the speaker voice coil. Imagine a straw filled with peas. You push one pea in at one end and another pea (not the same one you pushed) comes out the other end, but you would have to push a lot of peas to get that first one you pushed to come out the other end. The force that does the pushing on the electrons (the electric field) is transmitted very, very fast so as soon as your amp applies a voltage to the speaker cables, all the electrons in that cable start wiggling back and forth right away. They mostly just stay in the wire and wiggle back and forth.

Colorful description ("a straw fill with peas"). Electrons can be particles (peas) and/or a wave motion. The wave travels through the peas, the way waves at sea travel through the water — but the water itself isn't moving anywhere (except up-down). Wind can produce the same kind of waves across a field of tall grass; but the grass isn't moving across the field, it's firmly rooted in the soil.

If it bothers you, get new, and not clear.

Exactly. It might still go green, but you can't see it, so you won't hear it.

 

[ETLS]

Sounds like the perfect wire for this.