So ENEPIG Printed Circuit Boards are actually Nickel plated boards with a flash of Gold and/or Palladium to stop corrosion of the nickel layer whose purpose is to protect the copper pads during storage before soldering processing....and to look nice.
Avid digital audio consoles that I have serviced run what looks like silver plated boards and are unusual sounding and unusually good sounding imo/ime.
I didn't check pricing but 6oz Heavy Copper Circuit Boards are good for welders and solar inverters, should be good for audio too !.
These epic Extreme Copper Printed Circuit Boards are the next level.
IME/IMO pcb platings have effect on sound of audio gear and Au/Ni looks nice but has signature not to my liking, silver plating causes clear good sound without empasis, tin plated pcb has another sound, perhaps slightly dull/damped (70's/80's US gear).
I reckon plain copper board with tin/copper solder works really well and this reduction of layers of metallic connections works out to be sonically preferrable imo, with clear conformal coating as long term protection.
Dan.
You have an outstanding talent to turn any interesting/useful topic in a pile of trash. Amazing!
Sorry, for ENIG I should say 2nm not 2um of gold.
When I was dealing with gold for connectors a flash coat thick enough to survive cosmetically but not really on a connector was 15 microinches or (per magic online calculator) .38 micron. Milspec for a connector was more like 200 microinches (or 5 microns) (more here: Gold Plating Thickness of Connectors - Advanced Plating Tech Blog ). Also an issue would be 24K gold or hard gold, which is an alloy that is more durable but not pure gold.
Early on HP used gold for the resist on their PCB's. Some without solder mask. Those have held up great. That level of construction came to an end in the '90s I believe. I remember visiting a shop that did lots of HP work because that had the large gold tank. At the time most shops could only plate an edge connector. The early Spectral boards were all gold as well. That tank must have cost a fortune.
Early on HP used gold for the resist on their PCB's. Some without solder mask. Those have held up great. That level of construction came to an end in the '90s I believe. I remember visiting a shop that did lots of HP work because that had the large gold tank. At the time most shops could only plate an edge connector. The early Spectral boards were all gold as well. That tank must have cost a fortune.
Good point, good point. The subjectivity of science in my own research lab and dealing with certain difficult personalities has gotten the best of me, I guess.
I think you are fine as is. Keep it up.
/
The above will give you a slightly different sound.
Please note: The suggestion has been made and your perception mechanisms duly primed
It’s cool Dan, I believe I’ve beaten it to death and have enough info to move forward on this part!
Please keep it as it is. The soldering points shown by Max in the first picture may be connected to the terminals with thin traces, can't see because they are on the flip side. To solder there if that is the case would make matters worse.
The other picture underscores Max's lack of insight. Of course, the Zobel does not have two resistors.
There is guaranteed nothing to be gained sonically from bypassing the PCB connector.
The intended outcome is that the amp is directly connected to the zobel, and I am sure there is plenty of track for the job of additionally connecting to the posts.Please keep it as it is. The soldering points shown by Max in the first picture may be connected to the terminals with thin traces, can't see because they are on the flip side. To solder there if that is the case would make matters worse.
As I explained in another post the two resistors arrangement is for convenience as the cap connects easily allowing for quick/easy AB comparison of capacitor types.The other picture underscores Max's lack of insight. Of course, the Zobel does not have two resistors.
We will wait for Bob's findings.There is guaranteed nothing to be gained sonically from bypassing the PCB connector.
Dan.
Vacco, how about you try to be a little more polite please, especially when you don't understand the deeper reasons for what I am suggesting.
Aaaaw, did you miss out this morning, bring her/him an aspirin next time..
Dan.
Vacco, how about you try to be a little more polite please...
Pot, kettle, black?
You insulted Bob on a previous post, now you are humiliating Pavel.... There is guaranteed nothing to be gained sonically from bypassing the PCB connector.
The intended outcome is that the amp is directly connected to the zobel, and I am sure there is plenty of track for the job of additionally connecting to the posts.
Dan.
Vacco, how about you try to be a little more polite please, especially when you don't understand the deeper reasons for what I am suggesting.
Dan, I am as polite as is warranted by the situation.
As you know, assumption is the mother of all f-up. So you are 'sure' there is plenty of track, must be by distant sensing...not good enough.
Edit: if you mean by 'deeper reasons' that thusly different capacitors can be evaluated with greater ease for their sonic qualities in the Zobel, that is really deep. It operates way above audio frequencies.
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Just a little joke that you would say to a friend.Pot, kettle, black?
Dan.
You insulted Bob on a previous post, now you are humiliating Pavel.![]()
I did not at all insult Bob, just explained that (line 1) any advise from a distance is better not followed unless you know exactly what you are doing. As to Pavel, I have great respect for his insights, diligence and willingness to share. How could I ever humiliate him? Of course, in a greenfield situation, soldered connections are to be preferred. But on working kit, designed in a certain way by competent engineers: goto line 1.
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Nah, you are sometimes just straight out rude, and not just to me.Dan, I am as polite as is warranted by the situation.
If you take a close look at the banana pcb I think you can deduce the layout pretty closely.As you know, assumption is the mother of all f-up. So you are 'sure' there is plenty of track, must be by distant sensing...not good enough.
The solution would be for Bob to remove the pcb and take a pic and post it.
My suggestion to Bob is to ditch the pcb, fit new R's and C and solder everything directly to the banana posts which was standard practice going back to Phase Linear etc days except they used ceramic caps in the zobel......I really don't understand all the agro about something so simple and proven.
My reason for alternative connection of amp output wires (bypassing the little connector ) directly to the ends of the Zobel network is to reduce the amp/zobel connection by one solder joint and some pcb track.
Perhaps you now understand ?.
Dan.
The Parasound boards are designated ROHS so afaik that declares that there is no lead solder in it from factory.Has your crappy lead free solder arrived yet Bob so you can set about wrecking your amp?
It might be illegal actually to not use LF solder, certainly Panasonic supplies a LF hand solder service part number presumably to retain originality of Panasonic products when repaired.
Like I have said, I find LF Sn/Cu tins and solders very nicely, perhaps if you were practiced in using it you might come to prefer it also......why use lead when you don't have to ?.
Dan.
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