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Sound differences between Copper and Aluminum Bus Bar Electrical Panels

I have a Square D Homeline electrical panel that has an aluminum bus bar and I'm wondering if anyone hear went through the trouble to change the electrical panel to a copper bus bar type such as the Square D QO or any other manufacturer.  What audio improvements were heard going from aluminum to copper????  My system consists of top end components with a full loom of SR Galileo UEF cables, SR Active Grounding Block SE and an SR Powercell 12 UEF ac power conditioner.
128x128mikeg
mikeg's avatar
mikeg OP
173 posts
 
David, I'm referring to the electrical panel bus bar.  In my Square D Homeline electrical panel, both the bus bar and grounding bus bar(s) are aluminum.  I have ask a few manufactures and I get a somewhat mixed response.  One says it's huge and the other manufacture says it's a slight improvement.  I am asking the question because I was quoted $1850 for this and I estimate there is $600 in material.  I'd rather evaluate the inputs before I take the plunge.
jea48
4,265 posts
 
david_ten
1,305 posts                                                                     04-16-2018 9:44am

Good question, Mike. I’m assuming you are referring to the grounding bar in the panel?

The neutral bar as well as the ground bar in the Square D QO panel and Homeline panel are made from an aluminum alloy, not plated copper.
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,735 posts
 
Well, Aluminum is certainly cheaper than copper that could be a motivation.
BTW: It's a harness not a "loom".
A loom is a machine to make fabric.
A harness is something to focus brute force in order to do work.
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
If I had to guess, I'd guess they went to aluminum when the price of copper went through the roof. IIRC, copper (price) is back down again, so they may have gone back to using copper.

I'm surprised they managed to get approval for an aluminum bus bar, all things considered:

Even though copper has a long history as the material of choice for conducting electricity, aluminum has certain advantages that make it attractive for specific applications.

Aluminum has 61 percent of the conductivity of copper, but has only 30 percent of the weight of copper. That means that a bare wire of aluminum weighs half as much as a bare wire of copper that has the same electrical resistance. Aluminum is generally more inexpensive when compared to copper conductors.

Aluminum conductors consist of different alloys known as the AA-1350 series and AA-8000 series. AA-1350 has a minimum aluminum content of 99.5 percent. In the 1960s and 1970s, due to the high price of copper relative to aluminum, this grade of aluminum began to be popularly used for household wiring. Due to low-quality workmanship at connections and the physical differences between aluminum and copper, high-resistance connections formed and became a fire hazard.

As a response, aluminum alloys were developed to have creep and elongation properties more similar to copper. These AA-8000 series alloys are the only solid or stranded aluminum conductors permitted to be used according to Article 310 of the 2014 National Electric Code*. AA-8000 series alloys meet the requirements of ASTM B800, Standard Specification for 8000 Series Aluminum Alloy Wire for Electrical Purposes–Annealed and Intermediate Tempers.
https://www.anixter.com/en_ca/resources/literature/wire-wisdom/copper-vs-aluminum-conductors.html

But what do I know,  I've not paid much attention to this area of panel tech, other than noting that copper is the way to go - the end.
acman3
4,116 posts
 
The real audiophile question is should we use Copper or Silver? :)
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