Cheap Gold colored connectors are really gold?

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Former audio industry person involved in parts sourcing here, it may be gold-plated but usually is not. It might be gold-colored chromate plating too. Although gold chromate usually has a greenish tint there are decorative formulations that look closer to actual gold. A rule of thumb for "gold" audio parts is that if a magnet sticks it is likely chromate-plated as the substrate is steel. If a magnet does not stick it may be real gold plating.
 
Former audio industry person involved in parts sourcing here, it may be gold-plated but usually is not. It might be gold-colored chromate plating too. Although gold chromate usually has a greenish tint there are decorative formulations that look closer to actual gold. A rule of thumb for "gold" audio parts is that if a magnet sticks it is likely chromate-plated as the substrate is steel. If a magnet does not stick it may be real gold plating.

Well, I checked my gold colored connectors and none of them including $0.5 Ebay speaker terminal didn't stick to the magnet, whew. :p
 
The main advantage of gold plate for audio line level interconnects is not the minimal resistance. I certainly wouldn't worry about a nickel sub-layer. The benefit of gold is that the connectors don't go open circuit due to oxide the way tin plate and brass connectors do. I've had RCA plugs & jacks interrupt the signal from preamp to amp when left alone for several years. Then the connector had to be removed & replaced to scrape the oxide off. Gold won't get the oxide in the first place. Gold plate (.003 " or so) will stand several removal & replacement cycles without disappearing, gold flash (millionths of gold) can wear off quickly.
I've been happy with the gold plated RCA jacks I've been getting from tubesandmore.com who probably is aware of the FTC requirement on the description "plated" and since the gold doesn't wear off, complies. They are not cheap.
I don't see the point in gold plated speaker jacks, since the the current can go to 7 amps even on 50 W amplifiers. Those currents are not dry circuit and would burn off oxide if it occurred. 50 ma and below and 20 v and below, those are dry circuits.
BTW palladium & rhodium plate work as well as gold to avoid oxide signal blockage, as used in telephone relay contacts & hammond organ key contacts. But those alloys don't sell well to consumers, and aren't visible to the purchaser like gold, either.

excellent explanation
The only worse thing about buying cheap connectors is paying a premium price for the cheap connectors from a major supplier.
There is crap, and then there is great items at a wholesale price.
 
Also really brittle overall, the connector loses its shape really easily.

That's the problem I've found with some banana plugs (not just gold-plated ones) and also with RCA plugs.
I wouldn't call it 'brittle', but some plugs are too 'malleable' - change their shape easily, get 'bent out of shape'.
I've also had the ends of cheap banana plugs just fall off - this was the type with 4 'spring leaves' to make up the plug end,not the solid type.

OT:I've also bought eBay 'test leads' (wires with alligator clips) where some clips were crimped on to the insulation with no contact to the conductor... all part of the adventure with ultra-cheap parts. :D (eBay: 6 test leads with alligator clips for $2 including postage, US tech supply - $12 each plus $20 shipping...no surprise that the quality may be different.)
 
" ... 20 plugs for a dollar ..."
Actually, it's two dollars.

"Gold plate has to be a certain thickness ... . I'd like to see somebody take one of these E-bay bandits to the FTC. Then sue them for fraud, take their PC and their copy machine in damages. ..."
You are confusing regulations for jewelry, with regulations for electroplating. And there are no regulations for electroplating. So no fraud. Sorry, but it explains why no-one is "taking them to the FTC". Even if they could (they can't, the seller isn't in the US), they can't.

" ... the gold layer can be very thin, just a few atoms ..."
It's far more than "a few atoms" (a few x 0.345 nM; a single strand of DNA is about the same). But it is very thin, a few microns. A micron is a thousand times thicker than a nanometer, or three thousand times the thickness of an atom. A reasonable quality audio connector will have about 3 microns of gold electroplating.

" ... I wouldn't call it 'brittle', but some plugs are too 'malleable' - change their shape easily, get 'bent out of shape'. ..."
Almost certainly a low grade brass base metal, and what you are experiencing is metal fatigue. Copper is much more malleable than brass ... which means you can bend it easily without breaking.

Do I think these connectors are OK for audio? No, I think they are probably unsuitable for any purpose. A dollar wasted is still a dollar wasted, and in this case, you're wasting two. Which, if you are in your twenties and invested it for your retirement, would be worth $14 when you turn 65.

Do you really need 20? And if you are even considering buying these, you must be forced to watch every penny. In which case you should use bare wire, it's a nice copper connection, and it costs you nothing extra.
 
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Do you really need 20? And if you are even considering buying these, you must be forced to watch every penny. In which case you should use bare wire, it's a nice copper connection, and it costs you nothing extra.
Actually they do have their uses. I run several computer fans to cool my valve amps, as otherwise there is no airflow over them. And they are all plugged into a variable PSU, so at the moment I am using about 7 pairs.
 
" ... I wouldn't call it 'brittle', but some plugs are too 'malleable' - change their shape easily, get 'bent out of shape'. ..."
Almost certainly a low grade brass base metal, and what you are experiencing is metal fatigue. Copper is much more malleable than brass ... which means you can bend it easily without breaking.

??
The problem was that the 'spring' part of the banana plug had lost its 'springiness'....i.e. was malleable.
For a spring, copper or brass are usually poor choices - though there are many varieties of brass. I think some bronze alloys make good springs?

Anyway, back to the banana plugs..... the cheap ones I have with the 4-leaf spring tips are steel (I put one on the grinder to check- nice shower of sparks ), plated with either nickel or chrome. ..... either the wrong steel or not properly tempered, or probably both. But they aren't the gold (plated/coloured) type.
 
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