If they look good and crimp properly in your crimping tool, they are ok.
CRIMPED TERMINATIONS SPADE LUG TERMINALS
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If you are doing crimps that need to meet an agency approval then you pretty much are limited to buying crimp terminals that are type accepted (Think UL, CSA or similar approval) and must use the matching crimp tool.
For personal, one off use look for high leverage on the crimp die. Some crimpers use a geared down ratchet to accomplish this, others use massive handles for larger wire gauges.
I have an AMP brand non-ratcheting crimper for small 20-22 ish wire gauge terminals. I also have a similar generic crimper. A very large difference in the finished crimps.
I have some multi-hundred dollar ratcheting and pressure based release crimpers for specific connectors. The tools will accept different dies for different size of crimps.
I do have a few generic ratcheting pressure lock release crimp tools that are used for unbranded connectors.
The Klein style crimpers are well made oversized pliers with no specific terminal die.
Next up I have a pneumatic crimper for 10-12 gauge wire.
I also have a die set for my 100 ton hydraulic press.
Simply put for 20 gauge or thinner a simple well made lever only crimper is fine. 16 gauge and thicker I would use a ratcheting crimper. For 3/16” to 1/4” wire rope I have a crimper with 4’ handles and double lever design. The 100 ton die is for 1/4” wire rope loops.
Many folks will use uninsulated crimp terminals and then finish by soldering after crimping.
With the right tool and terminals crimps have a very high success rate.
So use terminals that are marked UL or CSA and the tool intended by the manufacturer to crimp them.
For personal, one off use look for high leverage on the crimp die. Some crimpers use a geared down ratchet to accomplish this, others use massive handles for larger wire gauges.
I have an AMP brand non-ratcheting crimper for small 20-22 ish wire gauge terminals. I also have a similar generic crimper. A very large difference in the finished crimps.
I have some multi-hundred dollar ratcheting and pressure based release crimpers for specific connectors. The tools will accept different dies for different size of crimps.
I do have a few generic ratcheting pressure lock release crimp tools that are used for unbranded connectors.
The Klein style crimpers are well made oversized pliers with no specific terminal die.
Next up I have a pneumatic crimper for 10-12 gauge wire.
I also have a die set for my 100 ton hydraulic press.
Simply put for 20 gauge or thinner a simple well made lever only crimper is fine. 16 gauge and thicker I would use a ratcheting crimper. For 3/16” to 1/4” wire rope I have a crimper with 4’ handles and double lever design. The 100 ton die is for 1/4” wire rope loops.
Many folks will use uninsulated crimp terminals and then finish by soldering after crimping.
With the right tool and terminals crimps have a very high success rate.
So use terminals that are marked UL or CSA and the tool intended by the manufacturer to crimp them.
Now THIS is a crimper.
QUICKCABLE 15 inL Crimper, 6 to 4'/'0 AWG - 5NFK4'|'307101-525-001 - Grainger
QUICKCABLE 15 inL Crimper, 6 to 4'/'0 AWG - 5NFK4'|'307101-525-001 - Grainger
You need compound leverage long handle crimper for 4/0 cable and ring terminals on diesel trucks. Diesel 11 L engines have cold start current of 1000 A. At least we tested the batteries for that current before winter arrived.
6 ga terminals on 15 hp riding mowers, I crimp the terminals with vise grip pliers and a #8 or #10 nut to make the dent. Glad I didn't spend $230 on real crimpers. The burglar got $30000 of tools in 2020 anyway. Including the Klein 16-14-12-10 ga non-racheting crimper.
So, who makes them then, and do they have any technical documentation whatsoever? Do you have any basis for your claim that they are "far superior" other than that they are purportedly gold-plated?
Gold plating of electrical contacts is recognized as being far superior to tin or other types of plating. That is the reason quality connectors are made with gold plated pins and sockets. Gold plating does not oxidize and as a result maintains its low contact resistance over time.
I don't know who makes the gold plated connectors that Madisound sells, nor do I care. I believe that the company is truthful in their representation of the product and have no reason to question their integrity. If you are troubled by the claim, then I suggest you call Madisound and ask them to prove it. I have no need to do so.
The gold plating is important for contact with the mating connector tab that this one slides onto. Those tabs are frequently gold plated as well. Especially in better quality drivers.
Have you ever seen one of the (male) receptacles after the female terminal is removed? There are two extremely obvious gashes running parallel to the axis of the connector. There is really zero point to having the gold plating.
Let me quote TE's Faston catalog:
Then again, I guess if you have a no-name connector with no engineering documentation whatsoever, you'll want the "gold" plating since you might not even be sure that the receptacle is properly wiping.
Let me quote TE's Faston catalog:
Then again, I guess if you have a no-name connector with no engineering documentation whatsoever, you'll want the "gold" plating since you might not even be sure that the receptacle is properly wiping.
Gold is very nice to have on connectors where the contact is superficial, especially with low voltages (<5 V or so). With quick-connect type terminals, the receptacles literally cut through the surface, every time they are connected, so surface oxidation does not matter.
I'm not troubled by anything on the Madisound product info, it's just that you seem to think a no-name connector is the best thing you can buy on the market.
What I have said, and I will say it again, is that gold plated connectors are preferable to other finishes. And that is particularly true when mating them with the tabs connectors that are also finished with gold plating as found on better quality drivers.
It is the very reason that the driver manufacturers provide gold plating on those tabs in the first place. To assure the best possible, low resistance, stable connection over time.
There is no reason to believe that the rolled over edge of a Faston type connector results in a lower resistance than a gold plated version of the same connector mated with a gold plated tab. Nor does Faston or anyone else make such a claim. These are claims that you are making and they have no engineering basis.
And with regard to Madisound, you continue to attack them and call their integrity into question without any proof, which I find to be very unfortunate and misleading to others.
It is the very reason that the driver manufacturers provide gold plating on those tabs in the first place. To assure the best possible, low resistance, stable connection over time.
There is no reason to believe that the rolled over edge of a Faston type connector results in a lower resistance than a gold plated version of the same connector mated with a gold plated tab. Nor does Faston or anyone else make such a claim. These are claims that you are making and they have no engineering basis.
And with regard to Madisound, you continue to attack them and call their integrity into question without any proof, which I find to be very unfortunate and misleading to others.
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False. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that conventional Fastons are "better" than ones with gold plating, on an apples-to-apples basis. I'm saying that they are just as good (with standard caveat that they are used as intended).
I see you are not interested in learning more about what goes into the design of these things. Let me just finish with this:
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This should be a filter that gives 2,181 results (give or take on any random day). The pre-selected filters are: no insulation, standard crimp termination, and "active" part status. You can double-check these filters yourself using the drop-down buttons at the bottom of the selection tables.
Now, go ahead and select "gold" or even "gold-palladium" in the Contact Finish filter table. How many results do you get? Hint: It's less than 10, and none of them are receptacles - only the tabs (male).
Very interesting that only 8 of 2,181 available non-insulated crimp connectors that are "active" come with gold plating. We've now established that, for all intents and purposes, no one makes these terminals with gold plating. I'll leave the "why" as an exercise to anyone reading this.
Contrary to your opinion gold plating IS the quality standard for signal connectors. As I have already tried to educate you the reason is low contact resistance and immunity to oxidation. In other words, a very stable and reliable connection over long periods of time. No other type of plating offers comparable advantages.
Your effort to make it seem that gold plated connectors are rare based on the Digi-Key website is laughable.
Here is a link to just one page of numerous gold plated connectors offered by a wide variety of sources worldwide. There are many others that are not shown here.
gold plated faston connectors - Google Search
Your effort to make it seem that gold plated connectors are rare based on the Digi-Key website is laughable.
Here is a link to just one page of numerous gold plated connectors offered by a wide variety of sources worldwide. There are many others that are not shown here.
gold plated faston connectors - Google Search
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You classicalfan are ignorant. Gold plate is suitable for RCA plug & jacks that carry low low voltage + low current signals (1.5 v @<1 ma) and have minimal contact force. RCA plug is a 1940's design. Gold is not required for higher speaker currents that are the subject of this thread, especially using forks or rings under screws with high contact force or proper flag terminals with medium contact force in the flag socket from original manufacturer AMP (now TE connectivity) or adequate copies T&B Ideal 3M Panduit . ****ese copy terminals are garbage, too thin, and should not be used. Your google search came up with a lot of nobody manufacturers. To get real crimp terminals I buy AMP from Newark or Digikey or 3M from mcmaster.com . The market is flooded with trash for the ignorant. Dorman used to be reliable but they have started sourcing from ***** in a dive into the cesspool to be popular.
Low contact force is one reason pin & socket circular connectors like Cannon & Bendix have disappeared in favor of screw to wire connectors soldered to the board like euro terminal strips.
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Now that wasn’t very nice. Particularly since you are on the losing side of this debate.
Frankly I’m not impressed with all of your claims of experience and buying various products only from major distributors. It proves nothing at all about the points being made here.
To wit:
Virtually all commonly used plating for connectors other than gold oxidizes over time. This is not debatable.
The resultant surface oxidation adds a certain amount of resistance to the connection. This is not debatable either.
Now the question is whether that added resistance can be heard or not. That is debatable.
But for those who would rather be sure it doesn’t affect the sound the simplest and easiest answer is to make sure that no oxidation occurs in the first place. Then there can be no effect on the sound quality whatsoever. And the easiest way to accomplish that is to use gold plated faston type connectors to mate with gold plated tabs on the drivers.
Most better quality drivers are manufactured with gold plated tabs for the very reason to prevent them from oxidizing. Unless you are going to solder the speaker wire to them, which is still the best possible option, it makes perfectly good sense to mate them with gold plated slide on connectors.
There is an alternative and you can find some posts here where people will periodically disconnect their speaker wires, clean everything, and then reattach the wires. The purpose, of course, is to remove any oxide that has built up. However, most people don’t want to bother with this practice so for them the best answer is to use gold plated connectors and not have to worry about oxidation in the first place.
This is really a pretty simple point, and I don’t know why some of you who claim to be such experts are having a problem understanding it. It really calls into question your claimed expertise.
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