gold plated connectors
 

In article , Ian Molton
wrote:
On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 09:24:12 +0100 Jim Lesurf
wrote:



The gold plating means I can expect them to make reliable contact with
gold plated phono sockets.

Be aware that gold can form insulating compounds when in contact with
other metals (IIRC, tin?)

Do you have a reference for that? I've not heard it before, so would be
interested to see the details of what kind of insulating layer it may form
with tin, and why.

I have assumed that gold might form an alloy or similar with most other
metals, but that this would usually still be reasonable ohmic low
resistivity. i.e. not an insulator.

probably best not to mix types of connector.

IIRC other connectors tend to use metals like palladium rather than tin. I
think that palladium also resists tarnish fairly well, and may be better
than gold in terms of resisting abrasion rubbing it off the surface.

My own pref these days tends to be gold on gold which seems reliable, and
does not seem expensive since you can get decent plugs/sockets for less
than a pound a go. Is tin used in applications exposed to the air for
connector surfaces?

I recall an article in one of the hifi mags a few years ago that
deliberately tried to do 'rapid aging' tests to get tarnish. They found
this was harder than they'd assumed - even for non-gold plugs/sockets - and
even when visibly dirty, the results still tended to give a low resistance
link. Must see if I can dig the article out and re-read it sometime...

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

gold plated connectors
 

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:44:49 +0000 (UTC), Jim H
wrote:

more from the 'Dave Plowman school' of uk.rec.audio-ism:

I'd not say the difference would be either measurable or audible. If
an ultra low resistance connector was desirable, you wouldn't use a
phono. ;-)


Good point. Think I'll just go with the 49p plugs I mentioned for now, they
look like they might take the thickish "low loss satelite coax" I just
bought 100m of pretty well.

Also, note that gold is *less* conductive than copper..............
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

gold plated connectors
 

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:44:49 +0000 (UTC), Jim H
wrote:

more from the 'Dave Plowman school' of uk.rec.audio-ism:

I'd not say the difference would be either measurable or audible. If
an ultra low resistance connector was desirable, you wouldn't use a
phono. ;-)


Good point. Think I'll just go with the 49p plugs I mentioned for now, they
look like they might take the thickish "low loss satelite coax" I just
bought 100m of pretty well.

Also, note that gold is *less* conductive than copper..............
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

gold plated connectors
 

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 17:27:26 GMT, (Stewart
Pinkerton) wrote:


Also, note that gold is *less* conductive than copper..............

It also has a higher work function energy.


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

gold plated connectors
 

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 17:27:26 GMT, (Stewart
Pinkerton) wrote:


Also, note that gold is *less* conductive than copper..............

It also has a higher work function energy.


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

gold plated connectors
 

In article , Kurt Hamster
wrote:


I was always under the impression that nickel placket plugs worked best
with nickel plated sockets, and gold with gold etc. Is that incorrect?

I think you are correct. Using dissimilar metals may in some cases mean
some sort of electrochemical action may occur. How much this matters in
practice, I have no idea, though. I tend to use gold on gold as it seems to
resist tarnish and being a soft metal can be expected to provide a good
contact area. However for all I know, some other choice might be just as
good or better. I've also used a variety of non-gold plugs and sockets over
the years, and most of the time they don't seem to have given me problems.
Main exception being some old loudspeaker DIN plugs/sockets which used to
tarnish or even 'burn' with time.

FWIW I prefer the 'high quality gold plated' Maplin plugs as much for the
way they can be fitted to cables as for the gold coating. My experience
with the cheaper phono plugs is that they fail more often due to a broken
solder joint or wire at the plug than due to tarnish as they don't give
much support to the wire. I also find them fiddly to assemble and
unsuitable for large diameter coax.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

gold plated connectors
 

In article , Kurt Hamster
wrote:


I was always under the impression that nickel placket plugs worked best
with nickel plated sockets, and gold with gold etc. Is that incorrect?

I think you are correct. Using dissimilar metals may in some cases mean
some sort of electrochemical action may occur. How much this matters in
practice, I have no idea, though. I tend to use gold on gold as it seems to
resist tarnish and being a soft metal can be expected to provide a good
contact area. However for all I know, some other choice might be just as
good or better. I've also used a variety of non-gold plugs and sockets over
the years, and most of the time they don't seem to have given me problems.
Main exception being some old loudspeaker DIN plugs/sockets which used to
tarnish or even 'burn' with time.

FWIW I prefer the 'high quality gold plated' Maplin plugs as much for the
way they can be fitted to cables as for the gold coating. My experience
with the cheaper phono plugs is that they fail more often due to a broken
solder joint or wire at the plug than due to tarnish as they don't give
much support to the wire. I also find them fiddly to assemble and
unsuitable for large diameter coax.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

gold plated connectors
 

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 16:19:58 +0100, Jim Lesurf
wrote:

In article , Ian Molton
wrote:
On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 09:24:12 +0100 Jim Lesurf
wrote:



The gold plating means I can expect them to make reliable contact with
gold plated phono sockets.

Be aware that gold can form insulating compounds when in contact with
other metals (IIRC, tin?)

Do you have a reference for that? I've not heard it before, so would be
interested to see the details of what kind of insulating layer it may form
with tin, and why.

My chemistry is rubbish, but there's an electrochemical reaction which
takes place at a gold/tin interface which causes corrosion. It's a
well-known problem in computers, when tinned memory sticks are used in
gold-plated sockets, or vice versa. You should always try to keep the
connecting materials the same. Having said this, it should be noted
that most 'tinned' phono sockets are actually nickel-plated, which
doesn't cause a problem. With soldered connections, the problem is
leaching of the gold into the solder, which causes embrittlement and
eventual fatigue fracturing. The use of solder with a 2% silver
content (such as LMP eutectic solder) avoids this problem.


I have assumed that gold might form an alloy or similar with most other
metals, but that this would usually still be reasonable ohmic low
resistivity. i.e. not an insulator.

probably best not to mix types of connector.

IIRC other connectors tend to use metals like palladium rather than tin. I
think that palladium also resists tarnish fairly well, and may be better
than gold in terms of resisting abrasion rubbing it off the surface.

The best of all is rhodium, due to its crystal structure which gives a
good sliding contact, even under high contact pressure. Kimber and
others use rhodium-plated connectors.

My own pref these days tends to be gold on gold which seems reliable, and
does not seem expensive since you can get decent plugs/sockets for less
than a pound a go. Is tin used in applications exposed to the air for
connector surfaces?

Sure, as tin/lead doesn't tarnish easily - it's known as pewter in
other applications!

I recall an article in one of the hifi mags a few years ago that
deliberately tried to do 'rapid aging' tests to get tarnish. They found
this was harder than they'd assumed - even for non-gold plugs/sockets - and
even when visibly dirty, the results still tended to give a low resistance
link. Must see if I can dig the article out and re-read it sometime...

Quite so, and the very best professional connectors use 'easily
tarnished' silver in a gastight connecting system, of which the
ubiquitous XLR is the best known.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

gold plated connectors
 

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 16:19:58 +0100, Jim Lesurf
wrote:

In article , Ian Molton
wrote:
On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 09:24:12 +0100 Jim Lesurf
wrote:



The gold plating means I can expect them to make reliable contact with
gold plated phono sockets.

Be aware that gold can form insulating compounds when in contact with
other metals (IIRC, tin?)

Do you have a reference for that? I've not heard it before, so would be
interested to see the details of what kind of insulating layer it may form
with tin, and why.

My chemistry is rubbish, but there's an electrochemical reaction which
takes place at a gold/tin interface which causes corrosion. It's a
well-known problem in computers, when tinned memory sticks are used in
gold-plated sockets, or vice versa. You should always try to keep the
connecting materials the same. Having said this, it should be noted
that most 'tinned' phono sockets are actually nickel-plated, which
doesn't cause a problem. With soldered connections, the problem is
leaching of the gold into the solder, which causes embrittlement and
eventual fatigue fracturing. The use of solder with a 2% silver
content (such as LMP eutectic solder) avoids this problem.


I have assumed that gold might form an alloy or similar with most other
metals, but that this would usually still be reasonable ohmic low
resistivity. i.e. not an insulator.

probably best not to mix types of connector.

IIRC other connectors tend to use metals like palladium rather than tin. I
think that palladium also resists tarnish fairly well, and may be better
than gold in terms of resisting abrasion rubbing it off the surface.

The best of all is rhodium, due to its crystal structure which gives a
good sliding contact, even under high contact pressure. Kimber and
others use rhodium-plated connectors.

My own pref these days tends to be gold on gold which seems reliable, and
does not seem expensive since you can get decent plugs/sockets for less
than a pound a go. Is tin used in applications exposed to the air for
connector surfaces?

Sure, as tin/lead doesn't tarnish easily - it's known as pewter in
other applications!

I recall an article in one of the hifi mags a few years ago that
deliberately tried to do 'rapid aging' tests to get tarnish. They found
this was harder than they'd assumed - even for non-gold plugs/sockets - and
even when visibly dirty, the results still tended to give a low resistance
link. Must see if I can dig the article out and re-read it sometime...

Quite so, and the very best professional connectors use 'easily
tarnished' silver in a gastight connecting system, of which the
ubiquitous XLR is the best known.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

gold plated connectors
 

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 00:16:24 +0100, Kurt Hamster
wrote:

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 22:00:45 +0100, Chris Isbell used
to say...

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 17:27:26 GMT, (Stewart
Pinkerton) wrote:


Also, note that gold is *less* conductive than copper..............

It also has a higher work function energy.

And it's prettier ;)

I was always under the impression that nickel placket plugs worked best
with nickel plated sockets, and gold with gold etc. Is that incorrect?

That's correct, but only if you're *really* fussy. It won't matter at
all for audio applications, it's only really a problem for precision
measuring instruments, where the thermocouple effect is a pain.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering