06-21-14: Jazzonthehudson
To Almarg: as for reducing the resistance, should one consider soldering the joints additionally?
My guess is that use of a good contact cleaner would provide the same benefits (if any) that soldering would. As I indicated earlier:
The basic point to my previous post was to provide a quantitative perspective on the differences in resistance that were cited .... I believe that if in fact there are differences in the behavior of those outlets that are audibly perceptible to some listeners in some systems, the differences in resistance that were indicated in the reference are very unlikely to be the reason. And even if there is a difference and resistance is the reason, the difference could work in either direction (good or bad), depending on the happenstance of the line voltage at the particular location and on the design of the particular components.
Also, I would have some concern that applying enough heat to the terminals of an outlet for solder to flow properly, given that the outlet's internal conductors and the heavy gauge power wiring will conduct a good deal of that heat away, might result in internal damage to the outlet. Not something I would want to take any chances with.
IMO. Other opinions may differ, of course.
Regards,
-- Al