So I'm doing some spring cleaning at work I I've come across an old TV transmitter Valve . These cost $10k and up new , So I'm wondering if thats gold plating on the contacts there and would it be worth salvaging, I can get a heap of these ! Thanks
I doubt they would be solid, but if i could get a heap of those and had enough storage space in the shed I know what I'd be doing The refiners might not wish to deal with it just now but maybe in the future... Besides it would look a lot niftier than some of the other piles of stuff in my shed :lol: If it is solid Au I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to put a ding in it - if you haven't got a hacksaw on you, smack it hard with the pliers and see what happens!
OK Just sliced a piece its definately plated , it sure as hell looks like gold plating , so not worth it hey ? Thanks
^^^^^^ Thanks for that , give me crazy ideas, my work would be full of scrap gold. I love making money out of others rubbish
Silver would be the first choice for high end solid parts- great conductor and miles cheaper than gold. Solid gold parts of any size would almost be unheard of,though fine gold wire has been used. REDBACK
Vintage sound recording desks have SOLID gold connectors Sound quality I moved 1 for Joe Camalari about 10 years ago ,the desk was stripped as far as it could be for transport And it still took 8 men to lift it into the truck
gold is a better conductor and a better heat transfer medium, the reason silver is avoided is due to its tarnishing nature which can cause interfernece in low voltage circuits
Gold is just a better conductor for sound quality Silver is second best ,there isn't any difference in mhz band width
What are you doing teaching me about sound quality . I thought I knew everything & now you go & teach me something about audio And it even makes sense
Most contacts in the electrical industry are Silver and i believe at room temp Silver is a better conductor,but quite right re tarnishing and low voltage circuits. Most Gold plating and conductor sizes in the hiFi industry are made to capture the consumer and have nothing to do with performance issues.These large speaker cable sizes marketed are totally unnecessary but certainly make the manufacturers huge profits. The laws of physics change dramatically in the Hifi industry but no where else. Resistance measured in micro-ohms/centimeter: Silver has a resistance of 1.59x10(-8). Copper has a resistance of 1.72 x 10(-8) Gold has a resistance of 2.44 x 10(-8) Aluminum has a resistance of 2.82 x 10(-8). So the best is Silver then Copper, then Gold, and last Aluminum. I have extensive research files because that was our job at one stage,sorry i can't find the original tables for resistance but from vague memory i had a recollection that Silver was always the best conductor. And band width for the rest of the world is important. This is going to go on for hours :lol: And please don't get me started on Oxygen free copper cables.Please Category 5 cable makes one of the best Speaker cables if you've got 40 hours to spare per cable and like braiding. What is this bloke on about?? REDBACK
Interesting... I can see how you could keep the cable capacitance low with Cat 5, and to a certain extent self inductance remains low if you already make us of the fact that they're twisted pairs, so J is OK, but owing to the fact that they're solid conductors, won't the skin effect tend to increase impedance on high current transients? That makes R dynamic with respect to varying peak values, so surely the damping factor is effected in speakers with a higher Q? Still, I can see for shorter runs at lower power... yeah, very economical for the result... Please tell me you don't strip it and braid, like, 40 pair to reduce the impedance... that would be hell..... (not the braiding so much as the terminating!!) Ok, I'll try and get out of autistic engineering mode now... Sorry to all you guys going' "WTF????"
OMG Silvertongue that was priceless!!! You actually have to unbraid the cat5 strands and re braid a particular configuration. Being individually insulated decreases the skin effect,the catch is the sheathing can't be standard PVC plastic found on generic Cat5's available it has to be Teflon coated.The Teflon insulation has a low dielectric coefficient and is considered one of the best dielectrics available. Belden sell this cable,from memory 3 metres was about the ideal length.Man you are clearing out the cob webs!! Just realised how much i used to love this stuff :lol: quick search found this link~ http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html
Thanks for the link! I can see how this was considered as a way to do it with Cat 5 cable 15 years ago, but far out, the J content of the impedance plot would be pretty high. I can't agree with "the high capacitance is virtually a non-factor as far as sonics go".. In fact the high frequency content is going to roll off another octave for each doubling of capacitance... That's basic filter design... These days external Cat 5 has a lower dielectric constant anyway (2.2 - think now it's partially polyethylene...), and probably closer to what the Belden was back then (2.1). I think internal stuff is still a cheaper sheath. Possibly a better alternative would be to try and keep C low by not braiding individual pairs, but simply running two lengths, one cable (4 twisted pair) for each terminal, "may-poled" around a broom stick or piece of small diameter PVC conduit. Much less effort. Probably only good to about 100 watts @ 8 ohms. I always found the OFC cable debate one I tried to keep out of, from an engineering perspective. I always used to be amused to see esoteric preamps that I'd have to work on, with gold/rhodium connectors on the outside, cryogenically treated PCBs inside, and the terminating medium in between? Common 60%tin, 40% lead solder.... Hmmm... And my apologies to the OP for going off topic - yeah, the base will be gold plated, but from memory I don't think it's 24k.
I'm definitely going back to the books next year,i feel like the world has left me behind.The pleasures of being self employed~No time for yourself Awesome input Silvertongue i wish i had your knowledge. Cheers REDBACK
I hear what you say about self employment, my friend. Some days it's the best, and some days.. well.. you know...
