Why gold?

Expensive? Unnecessary? Really? Gold has a warmer sound, silver more air and detail- all things considered. Of course there are more to the balance of cables and connectors then just "gold" and "silver" but all things equal (the exact same RCA or Wall Plug) the gold "item" will sound warmer while the silver will sound more open and airy.

Rare on XLRs? Only if one purchases the cheapest out there. Even my least expensive(Mogami) studio/mic cables' Neutrik XLRs are gold plated. All of the Kimber/Audioquest/Silver Audio balanced products I've owned have been terminated with gold or silver-plated Switchcraft XLRs(now the KS-1130s). I don't know where people get the idea that studios use cheap cables. I suppose it's because they never get to any quality recording venues, and/or have never seen what they actually use. Note what this studio says about using "high quality metals" at connection points, and realize that the plating(usually nickel) on inexpensive RCA/XLR connectors is ANYTHING BUT quality, or a good conductor: (http://denverrecordingstudioblog.com/2009/02/02/blogroll/the-benefits-of-using-good-quality-cables-in-your-recording-studio/) On this chart, you'll find that nickel has 25%(IACS) of the conductivity of the reference, annealed copper: (http://www.eddy-current.com/condres.htm)

I suppose it's because they never get to any quality recording venues, and/or have never seen what they actually use.

Perhaps, they just don't have training in "alchemy"? ;-)

Djembeplay,

Don't worry - your ordinary connectors are not stealing the air and warmth out of your music. Corrosion and making a good contact are indeed important - so give the RCA's a twiddle now and then and you 'll be ok. Certainly don't lose any sleep over these anything but good quality connectors.

One thing that should be avoided where possible is having dissimilar materials on connectors that are mated together. A lot of sources indicate that, for example, mating a nickel-plated jack with a gold-plated plug can hasten corrosion, due to electrolytic-type processes. I have no way of knowing how true that may be, but intuitively it seems to make some sense.

Gold is the connector material of choice in aerospace and other applications where long-term reliability is essential, and difficult environments can be expected. The reason for that, as was mentioned, is immunity to oxidation.
Silver can tarnish, as everyone probably realizes.

Although nickel has only 25% of the conductivity of pure copper, as Rodman's reference indicates, that in itself is not likely to be significant in a connector, where the length and resistance are negligible electrically. That is particularly so in the case of a line-level rca connection (as opposed to a speaker connection), due to the relatively high impedance levels of the circuits that are being connected.

As far as the different metals having identifiable sonic characteristics, I would say, particularly in the case of connectors, that it falls into the area of differences that are unexplainable and unverifiable, other than anecdotally.

Regards,
-- Al

Try using wire coat hangers. They are essentially free, just wiggle them around a bit to clean the connections and your good to go. Don't be fooled into believing you need to spend your hard earned money on gold and silver. You can use them for your speaker connections too.