If only the debate were really over

[LeMartinPecheur]

Don't mock. Introduction of a new malachite green livery definitely made the steam locomotives of the Southern Railway run faster pre-nationalisation

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I feel much the same about gold-plated speaker contacts.

[gradus]

Ditto

[LeMartinPecheur]

I feel much the same about gold-plated speaker contacts.

Um, I sometimes find tiny distortions creeping into my hi-fi which disappear if I give the plugs (phonos etc) a good waggle or a remove-and-replace. The distortion is presumably due to oxidation of the contact areas between plug and socket.

I do have gold-plated banana plugs on the amplifier end of speaker leads and these don't seem to need the treatment. Isn't one of the benefits of gold plugs this lack of corrosion which definitely has audio effects?

Sometime I might afford gold plugs everywhere. Or might need to afford, as reaching the backs of all that stuff in the rack is definitely getting harder as I age. (Thinks: retirement present, or use my pension lump sum?)

[MrGongGong]

Gold is an excellent conductor unlike ......................... (insert name here)
However, most 'gold plated' connectors have such a small layer that the benefit is lost if the lead is unplugged and plugged in again (it's not the hardest of metals).

Of course for real audio quality you need the gold to be mined by trolls and energised by moonbeams.

[Bryn]

Um, I sometimes find tiny distortions creeping into my hi-fi which disappear if I give the plugs (phonos etc) a good waggle or a remove-and-replace. The distortion is presumably due to oxidation of the contact areas between plug and socket.

I do have gold-plated banana plugs on the amplifier end of speaker leads and these don't seem to need the treatment. Isn't one of the benefits of gold plugs this lack of corrosion which definitely has audio effects?

Sometime I might afford gold plugs everywhere. Or might need to afford, as reaching the backs of all that stuff in the rack is definitely getting harder as I age. (Thinks: retirement present, or use my pension lump sum?)

Very much depends upon what metallic surface one is plugging into. If the contact on the speaker is also gold plated then so should the plug be, but if any tin is involved in the contact then gold should be avoided. A complex chemical reaction between gold and tin does itself generate an insulating layer. This used to be a fairly common problem with memory upgrades in computers a couple of decades ago when new SIMMs with gold plated contacts met tin plated contacts of some sockets. A little wiggle of the SIMM(s) would provide a temporary resolution of lost memory.

[MrGongGong]

http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/02/16/paul-glasziou-still-no-evidence-for-homeopathy/

and some other new research findings into the links between Vaccines and Autism

http://howdovaccinescauseautism.com