Connector materials - Affect on sound?

[4krow]

I usta use one of those hydraulic crimpers at work. It work produce 14 metric tons of pressure! Once, it locked upright in the middle of a crimp. I was thinking maybe I could just a couple hundred rolls of tape and hide it, but quality inspectors are so friggin picky. Like they know so much. Point is, you might get the crimper off the half crimped cable, but it will take a saw to get even a half crimped crimp off the cable! Pretty freakin good connection I'd say. With the right connecters and tools, I do believe that it is possible to do just fine.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

I usta use one of those hydraulic crimpers at work. It work produce 14 metric tons of pressure! Once, it locked upright in the middle of a crimp. I was thinking maybe I could just a couple hundred rolls of tape and hide it, but quality inspectors are so friggin picky. Like they know so much. Point is, you might get the crimper off the half crimped cable, but it will take a saw to get even a half crimped crimp off the cable! Pretty freakin good connection I'd say. With the right connecters and tools, I do believe that it is possible to do just fine.

Watch your fingers!

 

[Armaegis]

Silver was initially added to solder to prevent silver platings on component leads from dissolving into the solder ("silver migration") and forming brittle joints. Having silver in the solder reduces migration, so you may want to use it on silver joints. (Note: this logic doesn't entirely make sense to me. If silver getting in the solder caused embrittlement, how does adding more silver prevent this?)

While I don't know the specific metallurgical/embrittlement reaction taking place there, atomic diffusion/migration of any sort is usually unwanted. I would imagine for silver plating which is very thin that this could affect the adhesion of the plating to the base metal as well. Any sort of concentration gradient can also lead to unwanted microstructures developing. Having the silver content in the solder in the first place would be enough to minimize diffusion (and my guess is that the unwanted stuff was happening in the 1-3% range anyways, so if the solder is at 4% then there's nothing to worry about... and a quick glance at a silver-lead phase diagram shows the eutectic point at 4.5% Ag, so there's that).

Hmmm, but I've seen folks elsewhere take the opposite position, i.e., that the best connection is the best mechanical one (crimping with the kind of force that produces a 'cold weld', without solder.)  Is that just the cable manufacturers bragging on their hydraulic crimp presses?

Well the best connection really is no connection, so an actual weld would be most ideal. I don't know if a crazy hydraulic press would necessarily be the best method though. I imagine a spot welder would do the trick as well.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

So, FWIW, based on Eric's tip I picked up "high-quality copper" rhodium plated RCA jacks from hificollective.com for $26.64 a pop (they look well-made), and Cardas CCRR-S silver & rhodium plated copper billet dual binding posts for $52.49 ea. (good price, BTW).  Finishing-off the connector round-up were 3 sets of Neotech DG-203 gold-plated OFC copper RCA plugs from pcx. They discounted them 20% to $40/pr., pretty hard to beat if you don't need plugs able to accept larger wire (using Belden 89207 twinax, which is less than 7 mm o.d.).

 

[earwaxxer]

Hey Mike - I did get those sockets installed by the way. As far as 'sound', Thats a bit hard to say. What I think I am noticing is a slight lack of 'harshness' and a bit better and bigger staging. They seem to just get out of the way. Not as big of a difference than say a tube roll or a cap change. Well worth it though IMO, although if they cost $200 for the set of 4 I'm not sure they would be worth that much.

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Eric,

I 'hear' you. I doubt I'll be able to tell the difference by substituting well-made connectors with better materials. What the heck. I thought it probably couldn't hurt while I was inside the Seduction changing coupling and output caps (not to mention replacing one of those tiny little 1 uf 50 v ceramic caps on the tube socket that I snipped by accident while trimming the lead on a resistor. Its still connected, but only by a solder blob). 

 

[Downhome Upstate]

Well, wrong again. Replaced the stock RCA jacks with the copper/rhodium stuff from hifi collective, and I can hear the difference. Much better contact has got to have something to do with it (one pair of the stock jacks had an intermittent loose center pin connector that was a real pain in the ass). I'm hearing better leading edges, more clarity overall. So I didn't waste the money after all. Go figure.

 

[4krow]

Hmm, I thought that I might be the only one who was critical of the loose connection of the original jacks. I found the same thing. And the new connectors have a great center pin grip. That is the one that counts most.