On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:54:48 -0400, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:



Why would you want gold? You are aware that gold has higher
resistivity than copper, right?

C'mon Don give him some slack...He said he was a non-metalworker.

I meant no disrespect. Ya don't have to be a metalworker to look up
resistivity in a book. I was surprised when I looked up the
resistivities. I thought I was going to say that gold isn't enough
better than copper to make any difference in a speaker termination.

Then I discovered that Wilson (not Wilsong) uses stainless
terminations. That happened because Mr. Wilson saw some audio gear
in Mazatlan with terminations so corroded they were green.

Imagine what partial rectification might do to your $4400 sound...
Tawk about distortion!

If a guy had more time than money (like me) and further had
audiophile zeal for the best possible repair ..... I may have an
idea.

It would take some experimenting to get the process right, but I
wonder if one could make a fixture to spin-braze the joint.
Liberally "tin" the end of the new (stainless) post with a strong
silverbrazing material like H&H Easy-Flo 45. After tinning, machine
the new post round in the lathe so there's a "slug" of silverbraze
material fused to the end. Then, with fixture holding the parts
parallel and concentric, spin the pin with axial pressure so friction
at the point of contact melts the silverbrazing material. Then
abruptly stop the spin. Result: a strong butt-braze that is
probably very nearly as strong as the parent material, with only very
localized heat due to the rapidity of the operation and the specific
heat and relatively low thermal conductivity of the materials being
joined. Electrical properties of such a joint would be excellent.

One could then brush-plate the new pin (or spade) with gold if
desired.

I really don't know if this would work, but I do know that
spin-welding is done as a production process.