A while ago I bought some gold plated speaker binding posts from a popular Chinese website that seems to give a lot of Bang for your bucks. The binding posts are advertised as “gold plated” and they look very audiophilish - solid and expensive (because of the nice gold color?), but they only cost about $2 each - cheaper than local nickel connectors. They will certainly make my diy speakers look very professional. Also, almost all the connectors on this website have the same gold color, so the Chinese gold plating industry must be booming.
Now knowing the current price (per ounce) of gold, I have a few questions:
1. Am I getting any gold from China for $2, or is this a scam?
2. If it is not plated with real gold – what is it plated with? Maybe something that is less conductive than gold, or even copper or nickel?
3. Why plate with gold? Is it just to prevent corrosion, or is conductivity also an issue here? Why not plate with copper or silver then?
4. And then a controversial audiophile question – is there a difference in SQ between gold plated, solid copper, brass, nickel, etc. connectors?
This might have been discussed before, so links to other threads will be helpful.
Now knowing the current price (per ounce) of gold, I have a few questions:
1. Am I getting any gold from China for $2, or is this a scam?
2. If it is not plated with real gold – what is it plated with? Maybe something that is less conductive than gold, or even copper or nickel?
3. Why plate with gold? Is it just to prevent corrosion, or is conductivity also an issue here? Why not plate with copper or silver then?
4. And then a controversial audiophile question – is there a difference in SQ between gold plated, solid copper, brass, nickel, etc. connectors?
This might have been discussed before, so links to other threads will be helpful.
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It IS Gold, simply because it´s cheaper than anything else accurately resembling it.
It´s also a few atoms thick, so much so that there is a special solder made, containing some Silver and a teeny meeny weeny bit of Gold (micrograms? picograms?), because supposedly soldering gold plated terminals also *pulls* Gold from them because it´s soluble in tin.
It´s also a few atoms thick, so much so that there is a special solder made, containing some Silver and a teeny meeny weeny bit of Gold (micrograms? picograms?), because supposedly soldering gold plated terminals also *pulls* Gold from them because it´s soluble in tin.
Gold is not especially conductive; closer to Aluminum than Silver.
Silver 6.30×10^7
Copper 5.96×10^7
Gold 4.11×10^7
Aluminium 3.77×10^7
Nickel 1.43×10^7
Tin 9.17×10^6
Carbon steel 6.99×10^6
Lead 4.55×10^6
We use Gold because we like to breathe Oxygen-rich Air. *All common metals get oxides!* Aluminum Oxide is a great insulator. Nickel and Chrome oxides are thin, tough, and insulating. Silver and Copper tarnishes can be managed in electrical connections (not great insulators and not so tough) but black and green tarnish is ugly. Gold doesn't oxidize.
There are a couple Gold-like metals used to "stretch" Gold, and much work to minimize the Gold used to cover a surface (as JM says, atoms thick). But yeah any half-decent "gold" finish has some Gold.
not quite but close
Typically the gold is on the order of 10 millionths of an inch or less, maybe an alloy (called a flash) which is more than a couple of atoms. Cheap jewelry is usually plated to maybe 1 millionth, maybe a few hundred atoms (250 angstroms) enough for the color, but neither of these offer any corrosion protection. The nickel underneath is for that.
Typically the gold is on the order of 10 millionths of an inch or less, maybe an alloy (called a flash) which is more than a couple of atoms. Cheap jewelry is usually plated to maybe 1 millionth, maybe a few hundred atoms (250 angstroms) enough for the color, but neither of these offer any corrosion protection. The nickel underneath is for that.
Yes, the "atoms" label is colloquial 🙂 , suggesting the OP he shouldn´t dream of recycling it for "profit".
I am also into plating as part of my manufacturig processes, and in the 80´s as a side line started recovering Silver from spent fixer baths, visited Clinics and Hospitals bringing gallons from their X Ray labd.
Lots of work for iffy/little return so gave it up.
On the other side I designed and built the current supplies and control systems for some guys who were making impressive looking but relatively cheap **hollow** wedding rings, by first injecting them in wax, then depositing colloidal graphite, then plating thick (as far as plating goes) Gold on them.
Not sure if there was some extra intermediate layer involved, but they looked like the real thing and if nicked, you could still see Gold underneath.
I am also into plating as part of my manufacturig processes, and in the 80´s as a side line started recovering Silver from spent fixer baths, visited Clinics and Hospitals bringing gallons from their X Ray labd.
Lots of work for iffy/little return so gave it up.
On the other side I designed and built the current supplies and control systems for some guys who were making impressive looking but relatively cheap **hollow** wedding rings, by first injecting them in wax, then depositing colloidal graphite, then plating thick (as far as plating goes) Gold on them.
Not sure if there was some extra intermediate layer involved, but they looked like the real thing and if nicked, you could still see Gold underneath.
Long Ago I replaced the RCA connectors on my Vintage Pioneer HIFI cables, and noticed when connecting / disconnecting them the Gold became silverish ...Just grabbing them with the hands made them prone to oxidation. They were replaced by Neutrik connectors some time ago.
The references have been deleted from wikipedia, but "gold plate" sold in the US has a minimum thickness. Tens of thousanths of an inch if I remember right. Most jewelry here is described as "gold flash" which is what "gold plate" really is in other countries not subject to the FTC.
Read up on "dry circuits" for the advantage of gold plate for currents under 50 ma and 48 vdc. These low energies cannot burn the oxide off copper and tin, so contacts without gold, palladium, or rhodium plate frequently cease to function after a few years. Read the delta relay catalog, now defunct, replaced by some oriental datasheet I can't read.
Binder terminals have a screw pressure on the speaker wires, so I don't suppose gold flash offers any advantage to those connections.
It has been known in factory wiring for years that crimp terminals done properly don't oxidize (see the AMP catalog, now out of print) and spade lugs under screw heads carry dry circuits very well for decades. As opposed to the punch block which uses spring pressure of a tin contact squeezing on a copper wire. The telephone company gets away with punch blocks because their base circuit runs on 48 v, which is not a dry circuit.
Another area where gold rhodium and palladium led to a noticable difference in brands was organ keyboard contacts. Hammond always used the precious metals before the Chicago factory closed, and those products are playing on into their eighth decade. They are killed more by fabric mains insulation to the switch and the power transformer, than by the key contacts. Other brands with copper contacts went to the dump years ago, with Wurlitzer hanging on some due to their silver plate key contacts. Allen & Rodgers are other notable keyboards worth playing on due to the gold, as are Pratt & Read equipped models.
Read up on "dry circuits" for the advantage of gold plate for currents under 50 ma and 48 vdc. These low energies cannot burn the oxide off copper and tin, so contacts without gold, palladium, or rhodium plate frequently cease to function after a few years. Read the delta relay catalog, now defunct, replaced by some oriental datasheet I can't read.
Binder terminals have a screw pressure on the speaker wires, so I don't suppose gold flash offers any advantage to those connections.
It has been known in factory wiring for years that crimp terminals done properly don't oxidize (see the AMP catalog, now out of print) and spade lugs under screw heads carry dry circuits very well for decades. As opposed to the punch block which uses spring pressure of a tin contact squeezing on a copper wire. The telephone company gets away with punch blocks because their base circuit runs on 48 v, which is not a dry circuit.
Another area where gold rhodium and palladium led to a noticable difference in brands was organ keyboard contacts. Hammond always used the precious metals before the Chicago factory closed, and those products are playing on into their eighth decade. They are killed more by fabric mains insulation to the switch and the power transformer, than by the key contacts. Other brands with copper contacts went to the dump years ago, with Wurlitzer hanging on some due to their silver plate key contacts. Allen & Rodgers are other notable keyboards worth playing on due to the gold, as are Pratt & Read equipped models.
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