Hearing is believing!!!

CoolJazz

Yep2 wrote: »

Ive soldered 0 gauge power cable connectors (car audio) my whole life...
Not easy to "crimp"!

Of course you can. And it'd be a better connection if you did. Crimping properly is always better than doing a paste job with solder.

CJ

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pitdogg2

Golds only attribute is it doesn't tarnish. Silver does but still has all the electrical conductivity BUT it is soft and wears away easily. That is one of the reasons they flash silver with rhodium which is very hard and as you can see doesn't even make the chart.

Joey_V

Same thing happened to me about a year ago.

Nonbeliever turned into believer.

Gatecrasher

I used to do a lot of soldering both professionally and as an amateur. I got my Ham radio license at age 13 back in the 70's and learned to solder building Heathkit components for my radio gear.

After a graduated from high school I got a job with a company called Greenray Industries building electronic oscillators used by the military and some civilian applications. Some were used in the space shuttles and in cruise missiles. The circuit boards were all soldered in wave flux automated machines but we had to occasionally make some tweaks manually and as the final assembly, solder the housings together. The seal had to be perfect and the housings were leak-tested by submerging them in liquid fluorocarbon. If there was even the slightest pinhole you would see air bubbles. In other words you had to be good. No sloppy soldering would have been tolerated.

We used various types of solder for different applications. Primarily SN60, SN96, and 420 silver solder using soldering irons and torches. The SN60 and SN96 were both rosin core but the 420 silver required acid flux.

I still do a lot of soldering today with my pinball machine hobby and have multiple soldering stations and a de-soldering station too. It's kind of something I always took for granted but realize a lot of people (especially younger ones) have never soldered anything. Everything is "snap-together" and EZ coupled nowadays per say to remove as much of the skill required that us older dudes had to learn.

That's why I asked the question about soldering stuff. I personally like to take the extra time to do it, but with audio cables I like the mechanical connection too with the solder as a final step. That way you have the best of both.

CoolJazz

Yep2 wrote: »

CoolJazz wrote: »

Yep2 wrote: »

Ive soldered 0 gauge power cable connectors (car audio) my whole life...
Not easy to "crimp"!

Of course you can. And it'd be a better connection if you did. Crimping properly is always better than doing a paste job with solder.

CJ

15 years experiece here.
Your call.

40 years here. In a broad range of various high voltage and high current applications.

CJ

tonyb

Does the method really matter, crimping/soldering ? To me anyway the only thing that matters is the sound. Crimp it, solder it, encase it in concrete....how does it sound ?

Over the years, I've seen many claim the solder deteriorates the sound....as they solder onto a connector plated in tin. I've seen some say the quality of the connector is most important.....as they crimp them on to the cheapest wire they can find. That's like putting 3g's worth of tires and rims on a 500 buck beater.

I'm not saying none of it matters, but you have to start with a quality wire so quality connectors/solder compliment it. Otherwise your just trying to put spit shine on a t u r d.

lightman1

And Tony knows his concrete. Believe you me....

msg

tonyb wrote: »

To me anyway the only thing that matters is the sound. Crimp it, solder it, encase it in concrete... how does it sound?

It screams for help until it's covered up?

voltz

Crimping/Soldering? is so old school, Today we use set screws!

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motorstereo

Count me in to in hearing the big difference that MIT cabling makes. To me the increased amount of bass is the most notable and undeniable area of improvement. Enough so that it has made my 18'' sub unnecessary and my 1.2tl's actually sound better without it.

pitdogg2

I like to solder. I do it everywhere i can, that being said i also know there are many places where it just isn't needed. On patch cables i have done both but I've come to love the Canare crimp on RCA's. You must buy a special tool that will set you back some coin but boy are just nice. I once had problems with Cardas RCA's i called and chatted with them (nice folks there) and come to find out i was not getting the RCA near hot enough. I was too afraid i was going to melt the plastic insert that held the pin. The guy on they other end then said before you attemp to solder heat it up with propane torch and if course i thought he was joking but he wasn't things went much smoother after that.

Gatecrasher

Gatecrasher wrote: »

So can anyone guess what the eventual use for these odd-looking four-sided components would be?

The first one to guess the right answer really knows their sheet. lol

So no one on here has a clue as to what these (unusual-looking for the time) 99.99% pure Russian gold-plated electrical connectors would eventually be used for? The year was 1980-81.

This is a bit of electronic trivia.

pitdogg2

So Russian Gold is better than U.S. Gold?
I hear its all the same.....

Gatecrasher

pitdogg2 wrote: »

So Russian Gold is better than U.S. Gold?
I hear its all the same.....

Actually it's an oxymoron. The term "Russian Gold" is an industry name for a gold alloy that consists of 75% gold and 25% copper (aka Rose gold). So why AMP inc. called it "99.99% pure Russian gold" was kind of stupefying. It's hard to understand how an alloy can be 99.99% pure but that's what they called it back then.

But as for the the question posted... no one on here even has a clue to what this high-tech project was for?

[Deleted User]

PinBall machines?
IBM 360?
how many guesses to I get?
oh wait, the IBM PC?

afterburnt

Gatecrasher wrote: »

Gatecrasher wrote: »

So can anyone guess what the eventual use for these odd-looking four-sided components would be?

The first one to guess the right answer really knows their sheet. lol

So no one on here has a clue as to what these (unusual-looking for the time) 99.99% pure Russian gold-plated electrical connectors would eventually be used for? The year was 1980-81.

This is a bit of electronic trivia.

VGER

Gatecrasher

rednedtugent wrote: »

PinBall machines?
IBM 360?
how many guesses to I get?
oh wait, the IBM PC?

redned has it!

The four-sided chip carrier and socket that we were developing in 1980-81 was to contain the CPU microprocessor chip for the 1st IBM PCs that would come out a few years later. It was used by Intel up to the 286 CPU I believe. You still see them today used for smaller microprocessors.

Unknown

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msg

Gatecrasher wrote: »

Gatecrasher wrote: »

So can anyone guess what the eventual use for these odd-looking four-sided components would be?
The first one to guess the right answer really knows their sheet. lol

So no one on here has a clue as to what these (unusual-looking for the time) 99.99% pure Russian gold-plated electrical connectors would eventually be used for? The year was 1980-81.
This is a bit of electronic trivia.

I was going to ask - I thought I said, well, don't keep us in suspense

Unknown

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[Deleted User]

"gold plated over brass"
I hate the idea of G over B

Anyone take the rhodium route?
Starting w/ the $250 wallplug??

Unknown

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mrloren

DonnerUndBlitzen wrote: »

mrloren wrote: »

DonnerUndBlitzen wrote: »

I just ordered some 10 gauge wire from Douglas Connection and am hoping for the best.

Doug's 10AWG Furez is good wire. Do yourself a favor and use a good end to terminate with. I had GLS locking bananas and changed over to Audioquest silver BFA and it is a HELLO from my speakers.

I need to call Doug and order a few more feet to make jumpers with.

I went from HD lamp cord, it was ok. Then it was Monster XP and again a little better. Then Monoprice 12AWG with GLS locking banana, ok we're good. Now it's 10awg Furez with Audioquest BFA, oh yeah I am good for the equipment I have.

I used Mediabridge deadbolt banana plugs for the Douglas Furez 10 gauge wire. The wire barely fit through the center channel hole of those plugs. These plugs are are rated for up to 10 gauge wire. They are gold plated over brass. They have crimping teeth and form a very solid connection with the wire and with my speakers and receiver. I like them better than similar Monoprice banana plugs I'm also using (easier to use). I bought enough wire from Douglas for my L C R speakers and I will use 12 gauge OFC CL2 for my two surrounds. I won't be making jumpers or buying pricey banana plugs/spades for at least a year or two.

I listened to many of my favorite recordings since last Saturday with the Furez wire and my system still sounds wonderful. This morning I listened for several hours at low level -45 db (Wings Over America, Band on the Run, etc) and the speakers are still clear and detailed at low volumes. Then I put on some very loud music - Rush Moving Pictures and cranked it up to very loud (-32.5 db) and even louder (-27.5 db) and at loud levels still wonderful. I'm happy with my speaker wires. I got the 33 year old stuff that had turned green out of my system last year. Until the last few months, I had not really thought too much about speaker wire and just took it for granted.

I thought I was there with the GLS G over B locking plugs. Switching to the Silver Audioquest plugs made a nice difference. You can do you front 3 for $60 with the Audioquest. I would like to use the silver Furez Doug sells but that's $150 for the front 3.

Rush moving pictures, what a great CD/LP, one of my favorites along with 2112 and Queensrych Empire. I can never get tired of those.

-27.5db loud? wow I normally have mine around -15db or so. Yes that does get the wall shaking a bit.

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txcoastal1

Solid silver can be a big hit or a big miss. I own 3 different pairs of solid silver IC's that I have collected over the years.

I don't own any solid silver speaker cables. Demo'd one pair on loan, but couldn't justify the cost for the purchase.

Unknown

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