DIY solid gold interconnects?

Well, I was under the impression that gold was a much better conductor than either copper or silver as it does not oxidize very easy. There are also much fewer impurities in the gold than silver or copper, both are fraught with cruddy alloys. By rhodium plating the gold you would then have an even more conductive currant. Why would so many parts be gold plated if not? Again, I don't know if this is the way to go and would love to hear if anyone has tried to use solid gold. Although malleable, it would, after having been annealed be a stiff non moving wire that would stay right where I bend it. Being a jeweler with the ability to fabricate and mill gold wire with some ease and being much less expensive [to me] than out right buying something pre manufactured by a high falutin' cord company of seemingly lesser quality, I thought maybe... I also understand that these same companies make an entire life's work from the cords they put together just the right sounding or "least" sounding cords. Being that transparency is all of our goal.

There are a number of threads commenting about gold wire (worth a search in the archives). I do not know of one referring to rhodium plating though it is easy enough to search the archives for that too. There are a number of "recipes" posted here and elsewhere for DIY single strand interconnects and I personally think Jadem6's thread on making/testing/reviewing interconnect materials/geometry is one of the classics on Audiogon.

Gold is not a very good conductor at all. RCAs and tube pins, etc are plated very thinly(as you observed) simply because gold does not oxidize. Silver's conductivity is not affected when it tarnishes, but it looks bad, so most people that sell silver connectors on their interconnects(like Silver Audio) include a special cleaning cloth with them, Actually the best connectors are made of solid, oxygen free copper. You just have to make and break your connections every so often the keep the juice flowing properly. Caig Deoxit is great for cleaning connectors, and blocking oxygen/dirt from the contact area.

Uh, just because gold is not a good conductor doesn't mean it doesn't sound good. You want to sit on your couch and listen to music, not sit on the ground behind your system with an oscilloscope, right? A lot of the hot new interconnects on Audiogon use gold as conductors. Check out the threads on the Gabriel Gold Revelation, KCI Silkworm, and the cables from Jade Audio. The reason the "high end" cable manufacturers don't use gold in their interconnects isn't because it's a bad conductor, but rather it's too expensive. These manufacturers sell their cables to dealers who double the price before selling to you. Making gold cables would be prohibitively expensive to these people, because gold is already expensive before the dealer markup. Gabriel Gold, KCI, and Jade Audio sell their interconnects direct, so they can afford to utilize gold. I have tried gold, silver, and copper interconnects, and I (and many others) feel that interconnects containing gold give you the best tonality, especially with vocals.

I agree that you should check out Jadem6's thread about interconnects. I use his interconnects in my system (Jade Audio Hybrids), and I can tell you he knows what he's doing! I would warn you that although it sounds like you can easily make wire from precious metals, getting them to sound good in an interconnect requires so much trial and error that you may be better off saving your time and paying someone else who has already done this!

Tomer

"Gold is not a very good conductor at all."

That is actually incorrect, though gold isn't quite as good a conductor as copper and silver it actually is a good conductor, not sure why some many people believe otherwise?

12 awg would not be "flimsy" at all but would cost a nice chunk of money. A 1M set of IC's takes 13' of wire, at your stated 12 awg you're looking at aprox. 8 oz of gold. At $1000 an ounce you're looking at $8000 just in metal value for a 1M set. I've done a lot of testing and thicker wire isn't always better, you'd be better off not using such a thick gauge conductor and save yourself quite a bit of dough. Also, I would skip the rhodium plating, it can really make it bright and/or grainy sounding and takes away some of that gold euphoric sound.

You will be able to make a pretty darn nice sounding cable but it takes alot of trial and error to get it sounding exceptional. Good luck and make sure and let us know how it turns out!

Regards,
John