Gold Plated or Silver Plated Interconnects

[boe]

Hello,

I was checking out some interconnects and I have a choice between silver plated or goldplated - depending on what type of cables I get -any thoughts/recommendations. I'm having a hard time choosing between some audioquest interconnects and Ultralink Ultima II's RCA. They all go for about $100 for a 2m pair of the ones I'm looking at.

Thanks

 

[Haoleb]

silver is a better conductor, but can tarnish

Gold really isint the greatest as far as conductors go, but it wont oxidize. Gold is actually a worse conductor than copper. Silver is the most conductive metal for the time being if you dont count cryogenic superconductors. Will you hear a difference between either? Probably not.

 

[MDS]

Silver is at best 5% more conductive than gold. It is a non-issue and as Haoleb said, the audibility between the two will be Nil.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Silver is at best 5% more conductive than gold. It is a non-issue and as Haoleb said, the audibility between the two will be Nil.

I think you meant to say it is 5% more than copper
Gold is only 65% as conductive as copper.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hello,

I was checking out some interconnects and I have a choice between silver plated or goldplated - depending on what type of cables I get -any thoughts/recommendations. I'm having a hard time choosing between some audioquest interconnects and Ultralink Ultima II's RCA. They all go for about $100 for a 2m pair of the ones I'm looking at.

Thanks

Is this for the connector or the whole cable?

By the way, there are interconnects for about 10% of that price, just as good in performance. monoprice.com

 

[boe]

Since my cables are exposed, I'd like them to look nice - I know some people are like wtf - they are for sound - not to be looked at but since they are exposed I'd like them to look nice - maybe techflex or something. I like BlueJean's cables and use them for a lot of installs but frankly I would love it if they had a standard line for all of us looking for the absolute bang for the buck and a fancy line for those times when are cables are going to be exposed. I realize the techflex won't add one iota to the sound quality but there are times I'd like to have good looking cables as well. I had another company that makes similar cables to bluejeans do a little techflex for my last speaker job and they really came out looking great! I feel some bizarre loyalty towards BJ's though so I wish they made a special line for exposed jobs.

I'd insert a picture of my last cables so you could see what I'm talking about but I can't do it from my hard drive.

 

[MDS]

?????

I'd insert a picture of my last cables so you could see what I'm talking about but I can't do it from my hard drive.

Why not? Most digital cameras take pictures in JPEG format and you can upload it to the computer via USB. With WinXP you don't even need to use the manufacturers picture management application as long as you have the TWAIN drivers for the camera loaded.

If I'm not mistaken, BJC does offer tech-flex or something similar for their cables at something like $1/foot extra.

 

[boe]

I never noticed the paperclip before. I thought I needed them on a web site.
I'm not great with a camer so I included a couple of pictures to try and show the texture. While their are a lot of brands that make similar stuff - these were very reasonably priced compared to the major brands.

BJ does offer some tech flex option at $1 a foot but it isn't the same type of techflex, and as far as I know it doesn't include the cables ends, just the center to group them - otherwised I'd be happy to buy my exposed cables from them since I like their work and their prices are GREAT! Again - I'm sure most people would say who cares about the fancy cables but there are times I'm willing to pay more if I have to leave them visible. I'm guessing BJ doesn't get enough demand for that sort of work so I can understand they wouldn't want to do 2 fancy ones a year as that probably wouldn't be profitable but it would be great if I could just buy all my stuff there every time.

While I could buy much cheaper ones and at least as good of ones from BJ's I'll probably end up getting these - for about $100 for the 2meter ones.

 

[MDS]

Well those sure are pretty cables and I do agree that it is worth it to have good looking cables if they are visible...but only to a point. I personally wouldn't pay a huge markup just for the nice looking jacket but a few bucks extra is just fine.