Tube Socktes, Silver, Gold, Or Standard?

[Grainger49]

We often get posts about noise, a dead channel or hum that ultimately ends up being caused by a tube socket that is dirty, loose or just not making contact for one reason or another.  I'm a fan of the "Insert/remove" method of cleaning and have used it well for years. 

I have also known for years that tube sockets could be bought with gold plated pins but only recently saw that they were also available with silver plated pins.  Gold is a soft metal and because it is soft it wears easily.  Look at gold plated RCA jacks that have been used for several years.  Gold also tarnishes.  The tarnish causes poor connections so gold needs to be cleaned periodically. 

Silver is different from gold in that silver tarnish is easier to see than gold tarnish but silver tarnish is very conductive.  So even tarnished silver conducts better than base metals.  But tube sockets that are plated with gold and silver are only plated.  Plate wears off.

The question in all of this is do any of you guys, and women or two, have opinions for what the best tube socket metal is?  The standard socket, even when new, can have some corrosion on it.  Gold is soft and tarnishes, silver is a harder metal (than gold), the tarnish is conductive but plating still wears off. 

I keep my equipment a very long time, change tubes often enough that they cause wear on the tube sockets. 

What do you think?

 

[corndog71]

After several years of dealing with cheap ceramic sockets which invariably develop poor or noisy connections I decided to try something different.

http://www.partsconnexion.com/socket_belton_9.html

I tried these for my latest project and they are by far the tightest and most secure tube sockets I've ever used.  I think a tight, reliable fit trumps the plating material.

 

[Grainger49]

Rob,

And this gives a fourth option.  The pins are "solder-plated."  Yet solder sounds like a soft metal.  I'm guessing that it is soft before converting to liquid and back to solid.

 

[howardnair]

i have used the belton sockets  in a few projects-i would give them a excellent rating--at the moment i am building a second stereomour and am using the iag socket tag board combo's-they are ceramic with i think gold plating--i have some from a hongkong company that i can't seem to find the name of at the moment-the pin connectors appear to be well made -goldplated with springloaded clamps for each pin-they hold much better than the iag's but for my wood chassis i needed the iags for mounting--ah this is where i got them
http://www.vt4c.com/shop/program/main.php?cat_id=10&group_id=6&hit_cat=
the site takes a while to populate--all kinds of goodies-i have bought a good many things from them-i definitely endorse them
howie

 

[Grainger49]

Howard,

Thanks for the link.  I will bookmark the seller.

The four pin, top right, are what my 5 pin are now.  They get loose for some reason.  Maybe the metal anneals?  I just received a pair (5 pin) like the top left today from Angela Instruments.  I'm hoping they are better.

 

[intojazz]

What is the consensus on sockets? Is teflon, ceramic, bakelite or???? the best?  Sounds like silver plated contacts have an edge? Just wondering.

 

[Grainger49]

Teflon are all the rage now, but who knows.  Right now I'm concerned about good pin to socket contact.  That is what started the thread.

I do think that the socket material forms some kind of dielectric.  What affect it has on the sound has to be slight, but probably meaningful to some with better hearing than mine.  I do have a pair of Teflon sockets for my 2A3s but they are not installed.

 

[howardnair]

in my latest project i have iag tag bds with the ceramic sockets-those sockets are no different than the teflon ones as far as the actual tube pin connection-i decided to get rough with them they bend out of shape easily and all that really helps them keep their shape is the carbon steel retainer clip-not impressed- in the site i linked in my other post-the TS-CM04G and TS-CM04BG -i decided to use the 04G-look at the way they are constructed- a much better contact -they have 9 pin also which i used but for the 9 pin this plate is a big help
http://www.partsconnexion.com/CONNEX-74342.html
parts connexion also has this  http://www.partsconnexion.com/CONNEX-74339.html
just like the TS-CM04G/BG--in 4 pin and 7 ,8 and 9 pin

http://www.partsconnexion.com/socket_connex_strd.html--

 

[Grainger49]

Howard,

I'm not completely sure I follow your post but... The second link is to the same sockets I have waiting for installation for my 2A3s.

The third link doesn't work for me. 

Thanks,

 

[Beefy]

Teflon are all the rage now, but who knows.  Right now I'm concerned about good pin to socket contact.  That is what started the thread.

The 'tulip' pins that come installed in most good Teflon sockets are awesome. Easy to insert, while still being very tight (hmm, sounds WAY dirtier than I intended). So from a physical standpoint, I find them MUCH better than the pins I have used in any ceramic socket.

 

[Grainger49]

Beefy,

Have you seen my description of how to clean your tube pins, socket?  It gets worse.

I'm getting rid of ceramic sockets.  I bought some 5 pin sockets from Angela two weeks ago.  I haven't decided on 9 pin sockets quite yet.  I need many more of them.

 

[howardnair]

grainger -sorry about the vague post- i replaced the iag board sockets with what beefy calls the tulip style-now that we have tulip style, we still have the question -silver or gold?
this is the link to the parts connexion--connex tube sockets standard teflon in gold and silver
they are not cheap -the economy connex is less expensive
http://www.partsconnexion.com/socket_connex_prem.html

 

[Grainger49]

Howard,

Hoochie Mamma!  $20 for a 9 pin socket, I will truly look elsewhere.

But thanks.

 

[HF9]

Check out eBay Grainger. You can get them directly from China / Hong Kong at a decent savings. The only problem is the shipping takes a good 3-4 weeks. They usually run ~$10 each for an 8 or 9 pin socket (Teflon), or a little less for machined ceramic.

 

[Beefy]

Hoochie Mamma!  $20 for a 9 pin socket, I will truly look elsewhere.

I've seen folks spend more than that on hook up wire. For a critical electromechanical connection, that is also something tactile that you actually see and feel, it is definitely worth budgeting for.

 

[Grainger49]

Beefy,

Look at the line below my dog's picture.  It explains my slant.

 

[ssssly]

I have used the Connex as well as the generic ebay gold plated teflons for half the price and if they aren't identical, I sure can't tell them apart.

Have also used these http://www.partsconnexion.com/socket_tefcom.html and found them to work very well also. A bit snugger than the average bakelite. And at $6 not too much of a hit on the wallet.

On a side note my favorite sockets are a set I had made for me by a company in China. I'll see if they have some info in english now a days. They are milled black acrylic with pre-tinned solid copper pins. At $70 bucks a pop for the prototypes they are a bit much.

But if you can find something in a solid copper for a reasonable price I would go with that. My next fav would be gold, then silver. Might just be the sockets I got, but the silver plating seemed to come off faster. And I couldn't tell the difference between the sound of them.

The solid copper sounded better to me than either of the plated.

The gold/silver plated sound better to me than the standard $0.50 plug.

 

[ssssly]

These for the Eros by any chance?

 

[Grainger49]

ssssly,

Yes, and for my other pieces that use 9 pin tubes.  I wanted a tube socket that doesn't corrode.  I guess I can't keep the tube pins from corroding.  

I have gold tube sockets in my old ST-70.  I bought the sockets 20 years ago and they haven't given any problems.  They were probably old stock in 1990.  In industry silver is often used because of the conductivity of the oxidation.  It is almost as good as the silver itself.

I have never seen copper tube sockets.  Sounds interesting.

 

[Paul Joppa]

Sadly, there is no known-to-be-reliable current manufacture socket that I am aware of. Too much stuff is simply not repeatable - just because one person had a good experience is no guarantee that you will have the same if you order now. Between this lack of quality control, and the lack of long-term experience with new designs, I know no way to be confident that a particular socket will still function well 10 or 20 years later.

Western Electric tried to address this problem 80 or 90 years ago. I see no references these days to whatever they developed; it may just be lost. If anybody knows better, I am most extremely interested to hear about it.