gold plated truth or not ?

voyager

Hi guys, i just wanted to ask this question in response to something i (think) read on line, would gold plated scarts improve the picture quality when used with a sky box, or dvd player.
many thanks,

voyager :cool:

conax

believe it or not gold has a higher electrical resistance than other common metals used for scart plugs, but the reason gold (and the term "gold" is used loosley) is used, is it is a softer metal and makes for a better connection plus it is less prone to tarnish. Does it make the picture better? not on its own, there are far more important features of a scart lead that improve the picture quality such as the type of cables used in the construction the level of screening and so on.

watty

No effect at all.
Except unless BOTH surfaces are Gold, if there is the slightest moisture in the air, the Gold <-> Other Metal sets up a "battery". Gold doesn't corrode, but the other metal does.

Gold is only needed either on Microwave connectors (Because microwaves only flow on skin/surface and gold *IS* lower resistance), or medical low level connections.

On Audio / Video no good points only bad:

• Corrodes Nickel
• Serious damage to tinned conections (Tin Plague)
• Wears off too quickly as it is soft & thin
• No improvement in signal (Tin, chrome, Nickel are all fine, though Chrome poorest)
• Puts up price of gold for things that do need it

Nickel on Brass is best for external connections.
Tin to Tin best for never unplugged modules internally.
Gold to Gold for internal modules only if both parts gold.
Bare brass best for frequently used patch cords if a self cleaning design of socket.

For combination of performance, wear and corrosion resistance Nickel plated Brass is best for most non-RF applications. Because of the problems Gold causes (and price at decent reliable thickness of plating), professional very high frequency RF connectors use Silver on Brass. Cheap rubbish ones seem to be Chrome on Aluminium.

It it is very pretty and shiny be suspicious...

The most important aspect is that if you unscrew the cover it must NOT be a bunch of wires with one overall screen. That creates flicker on the picture from the sound and buzz in the background of sound from the picture.
It should have 9 minature coaxes (or at least 7)
3 for R, G, & B (bidirectional, for S-video tow are used for C in and C out)
1 each "video in" and "video out" (acts as sync for RGB, or Y for S-Video)
4 for L, R audio in and L,R audio out.

The rest of the wires can be individual in a common screen.

So if cable is little finger thickness it is probably rubbish and if thumb thickness may OK

Sam Radford

Michael, gold has nowhere near as low a resistivity as silver. High-frequency wiring is invariably silver-plated multi-strand, not gold. Otherwise I agree with your points.

beer enigma

Is it generally true that you get what you pay for ??

I had a cheap cable from my Sky box to my TV & when I replaced it a while back with a branded one the improvement was amazing.....I'm now considering replacing that with a Philips Gold that have in Argos for €21 ish....if its worth it ??

Andi

Sam Radford

Andip wrote:

Is it generally true that you get what you pay for ??

Absolutely! Get this Scart: http://www.glodark.com/audio/unique.htm

uncle_sam_ie

Sam Radford wrote:

Absolutely! Get this Scart: http://www.glodark.com/audio/unique.htm

My god, they're selling a €886 HDMI lead on that site! Are they joking? I know it's meant to be used with under water gear , but really. I would not trust that website.
If you want good scart leads go to e-bay. There is a shop on e-bay called etailer. Great deals on really good cables.

There is absolutely no need to be spending big money on cables.
I just had a second look at that HDMI cable. It's not meant for under water gear. They just clam that it's so good it can be used to go under water. What a scam.

Tony

I'm surprised that it seems to be associated with the sat cure site.

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

My god, they're selling a €886 HDMI lead on that site! Are they joking? I know it's meant to be used with under water gear , but really. I would not trust that website.
If you want good scart leads go to e-bay. There is a shop on e-bay called etailer. Great deals on really good cables.

There is absolutely no need to be spending big money on cables.

conax

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

There is absolutely no need to be spending big money on cables.

just you try posting that in an audio forum.:D

mustang68

I do believe that the site is a joke, this is from the site:

What's the point of buying oxygen-free copper cable if the oxygen gets in as soon as you expose it to air? Use our UNIQUE UV-TAPE to seal the connections. This self-amalgamating tape emits strong ultra-violet radiation which converts harmful ozone into ordinary sea water.
................

Sick of hearing that filament hum from your valve amplifier during the quiet passages? Our UNIQUE Supercell battery uses Lithium Trioxide cells to provide 6.3 volts AC. Fit it and forget it! This battery regenerates automatically when not in use. Gold-plated contacts ensure freedom from crackle. Guaranteed free from Cadmium, Mercury and Oxygen. (Contains arsenic and Lithium Trioxide).
Warning: Operating temperature 0 - 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Use of this battery outside its specified temperature limits can cause venting or explosion. Dispose of safely.
Order BAT6V3 at £49.95

uncle_sam_ie

conax wrote:

just you try posting that in an audio forum.:D

Don't get me started. I've friend in the US that spent over hundred grand on audio and home theater gear.

Tony

LOL or how about "Gold-plated HDMI cable 100m long." I think the picture disappears after 20m

See the note at the bottom of the page "Yes, it's a wind-up! Hope you enjoyed it."

Ulsterman 1690

The logic behing gold plating is that gold is a very low chemical reactivity and is less prone to oxidise (tarnish/corrode) or react with other metals.

Although the quality of the electrical screening (or lack therof) probably has more of an impact on the performance of a SCART cable

Ger Roe

I once bought a top of the range gold plated scart lead, to see what difference it would make - but I couldn't actually use it.

The cable was of far higher quality than the domestic entertainment appliances that I have and it was too heavy to stay connected to any of the cheap scart sockets on my standard TV, DVD, & Satellite box.

If you were using top of the line or broadcast standard equipment, then it would be worth the money and effort to maintain quality links in the distribution chain, but for most of the standard retail equipment that we all use, the connectors provided on units themselves are not made to a very high standard.

In my case, the weight of the gold plated, die cast connection lead was probably going to pull the 'made in china out of tinfoil' connectors off the pcb.

L1011

And, had it not been too heavy to be used on perfectly normal consumer equipment, you'd still have noticed absolutely no difference between the signal quality on a 20 quid lead and it.

I only use gold connectored cables on gold socketed equipment - because otherwise it'll literally turn to muck. Never, ever, ever mix gold and normal tin/nickel, as your "top of the range" cables will damage the equipment they're attached to.

TheDriver

anyone have ebay sites that they got good scart leads from?

Ulsterman 1690

MYOB wrote:

I only use gold connectored cables on gold socketed equipment - because otherwise it'll literally turn to muck. Never, ever, ever mix gold and normal tin/nickel, as your "top of the range" cables will damage the equipment they're attached to.

Noob question but how does one tell what kind of sockets are on their equipment ?

L1011

Generally you can tell from the colour... its a bit harder to see on a SCART but it should still be visible. Tin or nickel are silver or grey and gold is, well, gold...

mathias

Here is a link to resistivity tables ,

http://www.8886.co.uk/ref/resistivity_values.htm

You will see that gold has a resistivity approx twice the value of silver , which in turn is slightly better than copper .

However here is the clincher , and its a biggie , the ranges for all three are in the 10^-8 range , thats billionths of an ohm.

So to say that silver / gold has a significant advantage over straight copper here is pure and utter nonsense , tripe in fact !!!

The difference in terms of resistance for the volume of metal were talking about here could not possibly make any noticeable difference to an electronic signal.

As previous posters have stated , the best scart leads are shielded and fully populated , that means all pins connected.
The shielding prevents noise , and fully populated ensures the option to use RGB , these two points alone are the reasons for some cables being crap and some not.

The precious metal types are a blatant con , dont fall for it.

conax

errrr. you know when I mentioned gold and resistance, I mentioned that as a "Tit bit" of information and it is true. never said it helped the signal do not think anybody else did either. I think myself and everybody else said the cable and the screening was the defining part of a scart lead.

mathias

oops , reading that back it looks like I was criticising somebody elses post here but I wasnt , Its aimed squarely at the Sellers/manufacturers of these " golden cables " , sorry.

Tony

mathias wrote:

oops , reading that back it looks like I was criticising somebody elses post here but I wasnt , Its aimed squarely at the Sellers/manufacturers of these " golden cables " , sorry.

Guess that includes me

Sam Radford

Sam Radford wrote:

Absolutely! Get this Scart: http://www.glodark.com/audio/unique.htm

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

My god, they're selling a €886 HDMI lead on that site! Are they joking? I know it's meant to be used with under water gear , but really. I would not trust that website.

You didn't read the bottom line on that page then?
The word "gullible" springs to mind.

watty

I might have guessed, Martin Pickering, the founder of satcure does not suffer fools gladly.

Though I've seen real sites that are close.

• pens to colour the edge of CD.
• mats for top of CD.
• cable supports to hold speaker cable off the ground for better quality.
• Litz cable for speakers.
• Gold plated ferules on optic fibre for better sound.

conax

watty wrote:

Gold plated ferules on optic fibre for better sound.

I have heard most of the others, but thats one of the best. Must remember that!:)

if memory serves correct the pen for the CD was green and was somthing to do with absorbing and preventing refracted light from entering the pickup!

In a leading Hi-Fi magazine I once saw an advert (it was written like a review) about gold plated coaxial plugs. I went along the lines of (once the lead had been swapped) “neighbours and friends were immediately drawn to the crisp and detailed image, colours were defined and lifelike”