[mresseguie]

Hello, Pete.

I've had my TWL RCA ICs for darned near seven years now. In that time, my cables have been inserted into and pulled out of more amps, preamps, and DACs than I can possibly remember. Every time I went to someone's home or attended an audio get together, I took one or two pairs along. Heck, one or two pairs even made it to Taiwan! I'm pretty sure they weren't designed for that much abuse.

What options exist to repair the gold plating on the pins? Is repair an option, or must the connectors be replaced?

Regards,

Michael

[RDavidson]

Connector replacement is probably your best option. Sure, you might someone who could replate them...but at that point it would be an unreasonable amount of work and cost for such a thing. You'd have to remove the connectors from the cables at that point anyway. Just replace them. Reach out to TWL.

[mresseguie]

Connector replacement is probably your best option. Sure, you might someone who could replate them...but at that point it would be an unreasonable amount of work and cost for such a thing. You'd have to remove the connectors from the cables at that point anyway. Just replace them. Reach out to TWL.

Thanks for your input! That's pretty much what I expected.

[Triode Pete]

Hello, Pete.

I've had my TWL RCA ICs for darned near seven years now. In that time, my cables have been inserted into and pulled out of more amps, preamps, and DACs than I can possibly remember. Every time I went to someone's home or attended an audio get together, I took one or two pairs along. Heck, one or two pairs even made it to Taiwan! I'm pretty sure they weren't designed for that much abuse.

What options exist to repair the gold plating on the pins? Is repair an option, or must the connectors be replaced?

Regards,

Michael

Hello Michael,
You are correct in stating that the RCA connectors were not designed for multitudes of "unplugging" and "reinserting" into various equipment. Also, your subject description of the gold "flaking off" appears inaccurate. It's not "flaking off", it's "wearing" off, from the friction generated when "unplugging" and "reinserting" into various equipment. I'm pretty sure you would find that with any RCA connector. The high quality ones I use are 24 kt, flash-plated gold over pure copper with an aircraft aluminum barrel.

With that said, the high quality copper used is actually a much better conductor than the 24kt gold. The gold plating is there to prevent oxidation of the copper. If the equal mass RCA copper conductors (both '+' & '-') are not tarnishing green, you should be in great shape. If you are experiencing some oxidation, have it removed with a good contact cleaner (DeoxIT products) and then use a good Contact Conditioner (such as Cardas or Jena Labs) to keep it pristine!

Bottom line - no worries! Happy Listening!

Cheers,
Pete

[mresseguie]

Pete,

Thank you! I'll check the pins for oxidation. I've got DeoxIT somewhere in the house.

I changed my subject line to better reflect 'wearing'.  I didn't mean to imply a negative experience with your cables.