To sand or not to sand? That is my question.

CH46E

I'm in the middle of wiring my entire room trough the attic and walls. I have stripped all my AudioQuest CF-bfa banana plugs off all my Type 8 speaker wires that I can no longer use because they are to short for my long runs.

As I'mentioned taking them off I notice they are no longer shiny. Just a dark tarnished look. I'm not sure if they are just copper or if they are gold plated. If they are copper I'd just put a light sanding to them. But if they are gold plated I don't want to take the gold off?

What would you guys do?

Thanks

Here is a pic of a few of them.

CH46E

Wait, I may have just answered my own question. From what I read even if they are gold plated they would not tarnish.

So I am assuming these are copper and will clean them up a bit.

Or should I not sand them?

[Deleted User]

I wouldn't recommend sanding, it would create too rough a surface and possibly reduce contact area. I would use a metal polish, such as Flitz to remove any oxidation.

F1nut

They don't look like copper and they don't look like gold. They do look like brass.

Is that clear jacketed speaker cable in wall rated?

F1nut

Ok, a little research shows they are gold plated beryllium copper. Only problem with that is gold doesn't oxidize, so that would indicate low quality plating.

F1nut

Well, I hope you see this before you run all that cable, which is going to turn green in a few years.

CH46E

F1nut wrote: »

Ok, a little research shows they are gold plated beryllium copper. Only problem with that is gold doesn't oxidize, so that would indicate low quality plating.

Beryllium

F1nut

Are you saying they are not plated because all the info I found says they come either gold or silver plated.

You didn't address the speaker cable question/comment.

CH46E

F1, sorry, the rest of my post got cut off for some reason.

I was saying that if they are a beryllium alloy I will not be sanding them. IIRC beryllium is very hazardous when disturbed (in this case sanded).

I will try a little of my wife's jewelry cleaner on them. Or is it even a concern for SQ?


The wire is not rated. I was originally planning to use 3 or 4 inch ( in room - on the wall) black pvc painted to match a theme I'm going for in the room to run the wires in. Kind of a industrial artsy mild steampunk way. That's why I picked up 500 ft of it. I pulled 320 feet today. 8 x 40ft sections for the front wall alone.

If I drop them down an interior wall they will turn green? The insulation or the actually copper itself? The heat and FL humidity was my main concern for the 6 feet of wire that would be exposed in the attic.

If I go the in room on wall pvc route it would keep me from having to buy a 40 ft HDMI. Mine is 35 feet and is a few feet short from the attic and walls route.

Thanks F1, Kenneth and Nbrowser .

F1nut

Were the plugs shiny when you bought them?

The wire will turn green, which seems to be caused by a chemical reaction with the clear jacket material. Oxidized copper is a poor conductor. Far better to use something else now so that you don't have to do it all over again down the road, IMO.

CH46E

Without having the right tools I had to cut a few extra holes in the drywall to get the wires down. It's an interior wall and it is FILLED with insulation. Augh eerrrrrr and that close to the exterior wall I was on my elbows trying to drill the top plate. Fun times. I waited till 11pm to start because of the extreme heat in there this time of year.

I've got a little sample paint and LED lighting on the wall so cutting the extra holes was no big deal. The drywall will get fixed as soon as I have all the other wiring done. I thought they may have put a fire brake in the wall too. Luckily there was not.

Back on topic. I don't recall if there were shiny when new. I can't find the wife's jewelery cleaner. I tried some rubbing alcohol. No change. I don't really care if they are shiny or not. Just want to make sure I'm getting the best connection I can.


As far as the wire goes it does state it is oxygen free copper. I've had this 500 ft spool sitting for two years waiting to get used. I have not noticed any degradation. 500 ft of AudioQuest was totally not in the budget! Lol.


I ran 8- 16 awg quad at 40 foot each So each run has enough for two channels. The SRS are getting two runs each. 4-16 awg for + and 4 for - . The center, front subwoofer ( amp is in the closet) and the RTA12B will all get 2-16 awg per + and -.

CH46E

F1, I see what you are saying now. That even if I have OFC wire it will eventually become oxidized. I hear ya. This will have to do for now.

I have 800 ft of cat 6e. Maybe later down the road I'll make my own braided cables.

Jim Shearer

Why not spray the bananas w/ DeoxIT, wipe them down & call it a day?

kenwstr

In my experience, even gold goes dull over time. I second Deoxit, there is an oxide remover (red) and a conditioner (yellow) to use after that. It works and is not abraisive though can take a while, several applications and a lot of rubbing if oxidation is heavy. Sometimes polishing is simply less work. I think the spray version is the conditioner and while it will improve conductivity, removing oxides first gives even lower measured resistance. I use it on both a PA and my home systems, recommend regular maintenance of every connection every year or two, though I don't always manage to meet that target. You can also get fader cleaner conditioner in a can. This can be sprayed into switches, potentiometers and faders etc to keep them working properly and noise free. Also use on internal trimmers without moving them. It maintains good (low resistance) contact in the trim to preserve original settings. Think amp bias.....for example.

Ken

DarqueKnight

CH46E wrote: »

I have stripped all my AudioQuest CF-bfa banana plugs off all my Type 8 speaker wires that I can no longer use because they are to short for my long runs.

As I'mentioned taking them off I notice they are no longer shiny. Just a dark tarnished look.

AudioQuest explains why their gold plating looks dull:

"Direct-Gold Plating looks dull because there is no distortion-causing shiny nickel layer underneath. It is optimized for sound."

http://www.audioquest.com/sig_bananas_spades/suregrip100-bfa-banana-gold

I made some jumpers a few years ago with AudioQuest speaker wire and AudioQuest bananas. The bananas were not shiny when new.



Most people are accoustomed to the "shiny gold" appearance of the gold alloys used in jewelry and the shiny underplatings used in most gold audio cable terminations. However, pure gold has a dull "glowing" appearance rather than a "bright and shining" appearance, as shown in the pure gold bar below:

K_M

Bar keepers friend will make it look new and remove any "crud", but not sure it is truly needed. looks like normal color change, due to materials.