binding post break in

"That anyone can be "blown away" by binding posts is cause for a sizable step back from the precipice of audiophilia".

LOL!

jallen, if you look at a wbt nextgen binding post you will see that the back of the post, or where it gets soldered to the wire is a flat pure copper gold plated ribbon. I cleaned the ribbon with a polishing cloth and contact cleaner, then folded the ribbon in half to form a crimp connection , inserted the wire in the fold , crimped it first then fluxed the area and added solder to the crimped connection. [solder was wbt lead free silver solder, soldering station was xy tronic model 68 900f . I was carefull not to use to much solder as this can ruin the solder joint. it is hard to see , since the solder is inside the folded ribbon, however I think the solder flowed nicely into the connection. thanks, chris

Chrissain asked:
"rlwainwright, have you never heard a difference in sound between a new product, what ever it might be, and the same product with some time on it? if not, you must be joking right !!"

Indeed, I have heard differences in aged components over new ones. But they were manifested in speakers, cartridges, and, to a small degree electronics. The first two are easy to explain - you have devices that are converting one form of energy into another and doing so using mechanical processes.

Speaker surrounds will loosen up a bit and achieve a "set". The same can be said for the cantilever of a cartridge and its rubber surround. I can also envision the wires and various circuits of a pc board having some of their properties altered slightly via the heating and cooling cycles that take place when the unit is first put into service.

However, I cannot see ANY reason that a binding post would undergo some kind of transformation that would be measurable, let alone audible. It is not being subjected to temperature extremes, it has no moving parts, and it is not being subjected to high voltages or current. It's a lump of metal, plain and simple.

My best guess as to why your system sounds different is because of the processes involved in effecting the upgrade: the unit was removed from its usual location, speaker cables were removed from the original binding posts, the unit was opened up, and fiddled with. Tubes got jostled. Wires were heated up in order to remove them from the original posts. Wires were again heated up when attaching them to the new posts. The unit was then re-assembled and the speaker cables were re-connected.

Any of these could cause some small change in the sound. The breaking-in of the binding posts was most certainly not the culprit, there is nothing there to break-in...

-RW-

Give it some time and let us know. I have had good luck with Edison pure copper Music posts. When I did mine I also added Vampire pure copper gold plated RCAs.
When all was said and done, I found there to be a tad more weight with the bass and mid bass being more noticeable.

Don't expect a big difference, but is is all the little ones that add up and if you can do the work yourself, it's even more rewarding.

Give it a little time. Don't worry about the naysayers, just be thankful that you can hear a difference, many can't!

I cleaned the ribbon with a polishing cloth and contact cleaner

Hmm, was the contact cleaner Pro Gold or something like that, which I think is designed to leave a microscopic residue. I wonder if that's a good idea for a soldered connection -- I don't know the answer, but it causes me to wonder.

Also, I suspect the answer to this is yes, but just to be sure -- did you follow the old adage about heating the part and not the solder?

Regards,
-- Al