You are talking about the right application, not about conductivity.
So, at the risk of repeating myself, can you direct us to a data source with measurements of resistance that shows crimping being reliably better than soldering?
Thereās nothing particularly special about Chordās crimping tool: you can buy battery powered ones like that quite easily. Itās good, though, that they have one which is correctly sized for the specific job of crimping their plugs so that users shouldnāt get it wrong.
I think the lack of soldering skills amongst dealers is probably what has driven Chord, QED and others to offer these tools: Iāve seen some truly awful attempts at soldering by dealers, so yes, better a good crimp than a poor solder joint, whatever preferences you may have.
I think ohmic also are available as a solder plug. I donāt have any preference on this. Just thought the plugs could be a alternative
I already said what I meant to share, use your browser if you are that interested.
Iām quite a fan of crimping but like soldering it can be done well or very poorly.
Assuming both are done properly, they have different advantages and drawbacks. The contact on a crimp when two metals are fully integrated to each other is truly excellent. But it isnāt suitable for use with any pre tinned wire. And is more susceptible to oxidisation unless additional post crimp measures are taken. This step is often missed.
Soldering provides excellent protection for oxidisation but relies more on the skill of the person doing the job and is subject to far greater variability in quality. However, you can solder more types of wires than can be crimped.
Obviously there are use case differences too. You mustnāt solder any mains level voltage carrying or in fact on anything where a fault can push solder to melting point.
When done properly, I find both to be perfectly acceptable for banana plugs. For example the right gauge of cable in a Naim plug is a good example where the solder provides no real conductivity, only a fixative to hold the cable in place. But somewhat less than ideal with a very thin cable for which a similar small bucket solder plug or a crimp would be preferable.
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Crimp connections with heat shrink should be about as good as it gets, Iād have thought.
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My banana pins are Deltrons with solder bucket and screw connections
(the tightening of the screw makes a cable to terminal pressure very similar to crimping)
After the screw is tightened I then flow solder into the connection.
Best of both worlds.
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I donāt believe thatās possible. A proper high quality crimp totally blends the two metals and taking the top off the crimp would still not allow you to separate them. At the point of crimp, it ceases to be a multistranded cable. Unless it screws down so much that the wire becomes one with the screw and the bucket, it wonāt be anything like the same pressure.
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A pressure similar to crimping is not saying āthe sameā as crimping. Iām simply saying a screw applies a cable to terminal pressure that does not exist in a solder only joint.
A screw terminal pressure is probably greater in pressure terms than crimping, but itās over a small area, a crimp applies a pressure over a greater area.
Yes I agree a crimp connection - when using the correct āmade for that terminalā tool - is generally considered the lowest resistance.
Plus itās more consistent in quality terms for general semiskilled work environments.
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I do understand what youāre saying. I donāt think we are talking about the same type of crimp though. A true high quality crimp relies only on single point in time pressure to form a cold weld fusing the two metals. After which, with no pressure applied (such as if you removed half the ferule), the wire will simply not detach from the connector. They have become one bit of metal.
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I do know what youāre talking about.
Iām a long time electrical engineer working throughout in marine, auto, industrial, radio/radar and telecomms.
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When I bought some speaker cables during Covid lockdown, I did a bit of research, online only of course, and Chord or rather Audio T on their behalf, did claim that the ohmic plugs and crimping tool were the result of a ten year project. Could be just marketing guff, but the real point I was making was that a simple google search would likely overlook any such subtleties, so was not a very reliable guide to the relative merits of crimping vs soldering.
Roger
Thanks, that answers my question.
Back on the original forum, JV wrote about crimping plugs onto NACA5;
Some while ago a dealer persuaded a magazine contributor to write up a new crimp system for making speaker cables . . . the contributor phoned me up and said āIts amazing, have you tried it?ā I asked what was he comparing it with, he replied that it was his everyday NACA5 that had been in use for ages. Being a reviewer, he was changing equipment all the time and the connections had got pretty daggi - I suggested he cut off the ends and have new Naim connectors soldered on, and then make the comparison again. When he called back he said words to the effect āSod it, youāre right againā. I know of no way of encapsulating this sort of lifetimeās experience without spending the lifetime doing it.
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Thanks @ Richard.Dane
Solder it is then. I do not know who JV is but he/she seems to have the confidence of experience. I have identified a neighbour and friend (elec engr and professor no less) who I hope will teach me how to solder!
JV = Julian Vereker, co-founder of Naim Audio.
Good man. I owe some of my enjoyment to him!
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