[zuhayr94]

Just out of curiosity, what plugs would you recommend even if your not in the uk ? And yeah.if anyone else can still recommend me any plugs that are made of copper that are not overly priced than I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for all the replies so far everyone ...

 

[Steve Eddy]

Why the insistence on copper?
 
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[zuhayr94]

Well sir, because I know it is a good conductor and because it obviously cheaper than ones with a solid silver signal conductor. And because brass and nickel are really bad and impure conductors compared to the two offering higher resistance also... I am really trying to find silver plated copper Rca plugs that are not eichmann, wbt oyaide etc.. and only have found Japanese ones so far ...

 

[zuhayr94]

Well sir, because I know it is a good conductor and because it obviously cheaper than ones with a solid silver signal conductor. And because brass and nickel are really bad and impure conductors compared to the two offering higher resistance also... I am really trying to find silver plated copper Rca plugs that are not eichmann, wbt oyaide etc.. and only have found Japanese ones so far ...

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Well sir, because I know it is a good conductor and because it obviously cheaper than ones with a solid silver signal conductor. And because brass and nickel are really bad and impure conductors compared to the two offering higher resistance also... I am really trying to find silver plated copper Rca plugs that are not eichmann, wbt oyaide etc.. and only have found Japanese ones so far ...

 
The difference in resistance is meaningless. Even the resistance of the metal in a brass RCA plug is going to be a tiny fraction of an ohm. In fact, it will likely be less than the resistance of the wire in the cable. And if you're going to worry about this microscopically small amount of resistance, what are you going to do about the output impedance of the source component that you connect it to? It will likely be on the order of 100 ohms and perhaps even more. Are you really going to worry about 100 ohms versus 100.001 ohms versus 100.0001 ohms?
 
And the nickel plating on the plug isn't going to cause any problems. It's microscopically thin and provides good protection.
 
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[zuhayr94]

Hmm. I have to agree with you there. So that brings me to my first question... Are all these expensive plugs just a simple waste of time and money then ??. Would copper or silver plated copper plugs provide any sonic enhancements at all ??

And I read that many plugs including the switchcrafts are made from a kind of cocktail of metal alloys and plates that degrade the sound quality as it travels through the different metals. Electrical wise. All metals have a different specific gravity and resistivity (different to resistance) so it does kind of make sense.

I am from an electrical background so these things may just mentally make more of an affect on me than they should but in theory these big brands theories do make some sort of sense ...

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Hmm. I have to agree with you there. So that brings me to my first question... Are all these expensive plugs just a simple waste of time and money then ??. Would copper or silver plated copper plugs provide any sonic enhancements at all ??
 

 
I can only speak to the physics. I leave it to the individual to assess whether something is worth the time and money.
 
Quote:

And I read that many plugs including the switchcrafts are made from a kind of cocktail of metal alloys and plates that degrade the sound quality as it travels through the different metals. Electrical wise. All metals have a different specific gravity and resistivity (different to resistance) so it does kind of make sense.

 
Resistivity isn't really different from resistance. Resistivity is just the resistance of a given volume of a given material. It's useful for comparing different materials. There's nothing to brass which will distort the signal as it's a linear, paramagnetic material. Nickel is ferromagnetic and therefore is hysteretic. But when it comes to the microscopically thin plating on a plug, it's meaningless. An acquaintance of mine once measured the distortion of a cable made using RG174 coax, which has a copper clad steel center conductor. This would be far more significant than a thin layer of plating, but even then, if you look at the distortion plot, there's no more distortion than that of the residual distortion of the Audio Precision System Two Cascade that he used to measure it.
 
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[noahbickart]

Quote:

Hmm. I have to agree with you there. So that brings me to my first question... Are all these expensive plugs just a simple waste of time and money then ??. Would copper or silver plated copper plugs provide any sonic enhancements at all ??

Yes.
 
You can spend as much as you want on cables, but any differences you hear are likely the result of factors other than auditory ones.
 
That's fine, pretty colors and fat cables might make you happy. If so, great. If you are after sound quality, spend your money on the transducer.

 

[BlueSystem]

what you said here are so true!! Finding some "silver" plated RCA plugs are rare as hen's teeth. Very few are offering plugs that pure copper core. Mostly are made from either brass or bronze. Now, these 2 metals are THE worst electrical conductivity as far as 'sound quality' are concerned. So, if you can afford them...it is the the best investment and you will be satisfied for many years to come! Oyaide and Viablue plugs are true to their statements. I''ll post some online stores for you when I get home from this 12hrs shift.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Mostly are made from either brass or bronze. Now, these 2 metals are THE worst electrical conductivity as far as 'sound quality' are concerned.

 
All those metals bring to the table is a microscopically small amount of linear resistance, so there's nothing there to have any effect on the signal. And one reason why you would want to use something like a bronze alloy, at least for the ground barrel, is because the ground barrel needs to maintain spring pressure on the connector. Pure metals such as copper or silver are not very good at this, which is why the female contacts in most every other connector out there are made of bronze, typically phosphor bronze, as it can be tempered in such a way as to retain good spring tension.
 
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[BlueSystem]

Hi Steve,
yeah, you've made some good points here. After extensive research for pure copper 3.5mm and RCA plugs, I've come to conclusion that even the well respected brand name from the likes of Oyaide, Viablue, Switchcraft etc...are all used either brass or bronze. But for the sake of helping our friend on this forum , I think I've found one for you. You can't get any better than this....so here it is: www.partsconnexion.com/product23190.html

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Hi Steve,
yeah, you've made some good points here. After extensive research for pure copper 3.5mm and RCA plugs, I've come to conclusion that even the well respected brand name from the likes of Oyaide, Viablue, Switchcraft etc...are all used either brass or bronze. But for the sake of helping our friend on this forum , I think I've found one for you. You can't get any better than this....so here it is: www.partsconnexion.com/product23190.html

 
Unless you already noticed it, it's only the center pin that's made of copper.
 
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[BlueSystem]

Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

 
No problem.
 
Like I said, the barrel needs to be able to retain spring pressure. The pure metals just aren't good for making springs. They'll just want to bend and soon you won't be able to maintain a good contact. So if you want spring, you need an alloy. And the proper tempering of course.
 
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[zuhayr94]

thankyou very much bluesystem and mr eddy. i have been doing some research myself. even contacted some independent custom cable makers and he had told me that i will hardly hear a difference between a neutrik and a WBT. there will be a difference in measurements and price only but nothing noticeably audible. yes there is a huge difference theory wise, but not in the real world. i will indeed try the japanese branded ones as they are not too expensive for the sake of good looks if anything.
 
thanks everyone for all your help so far.
 
a different question. has anyone had experience with the sommer cable- sc stratos cable ? they claim that its operation is for a phono cable for the highest demands. can anyone back that up ?