Anyone else thought that Not using Gold for Planar conductive grids is inexcusable?

[Cahudson42]

The most malleable, conductive, non-reactive metal on earth. When rolled thin enough, disposable on wrapping paper.

Why isn't it used universally on $100 Planars and up?

 

[DonH56]

My guesses: cost, and longevity -- gold costs a lot more than Al or Cu, and is soft enough that it will flex more (higher distortion) and wear quickly in a high-excursion environment like a headphone or speaker diaphragm. It is used on a number of microphone diaphragms.

 

[Cahudson42]

will flex more (higher distortion) and wear quickly

Hmmm..'flex more' seems to me, better following the waveform.. 'Wear more? ' - well, being so soft the connections certainly might be an issue.. More cost - yes, per gram. But can be rolled thin. thin, thin. And still not crack with flexing. (Little or no 'work hardening' - if I remember from Materials Science )

Costs? When a $300 headphone, let alone a $1,000 one, likely has less than $50 in materials, why not another - what $20? for gold?

 

[Cahudson42]

@Dan Clark
Your opinion would be very interesting?

 

[somebodyelse]

Mass may also be a consideration, in which case the ratio between density and conductivity would be more important than the absolute level of either.

 

[solderdude]

Gold isn't a great conductor anyway and expensive.

 

[DonH56]

Hmmm..'flex more' seems to me, better following the waveform.. 'Wear more? ' - well, being so soft the connections certainly might be an issue.. More cost - yes, per gram. But can be rolled thin. thin, thin. And still not crack with flexing. (Little or no 'work hardening' - if I remember from Materials Science )

Costs? When a $300 headphone, let alone a $1,000 one, likely has less than $50 in materials, why not another - what $20? for gold?

Flexure is essentially a function of the membrane (substrate) to which the gold is applied. For drivers the goal is to make them as stiff as possible so they respond to the input signal provided -- and nothing else. Any flex beyond that distorts the signal. Think of cone breakup in loudspeakers. Planar diaphragms are sensitive to modes across the panels so, like any driver, require a trade among things like stiffness, weight, impedance, and so forth.

Other than looking pretty and being a marketing point I can't really see any advantage to gold; maybe plating the connections to reduce oxidation. Other materials like copper and silver are harder and more conductive thus better choices IME/IMO. Nickel was experimented with ages ago but is too hard to work with. Aluminum is strong and can be plated thinly at fairly low cost so is another common choice.

 

[Mnyb]

Aluminum conduct better than gold and is much lighter . Even if copper conducts better than aluminium, aluminium still wins when you have weight penalty even if the aluminium traces needs to be thicker it still weigh less than the copper anyway .

 

[maverickronin]

The original HE-6 used gold traces.

I think the extra weight may have contributed to its excellent bass impact.

Anyone know if the" reissue" version still does?

 

[Shazb0t]

I believe the reason gold was used in the He-6 is that the technology to apply a very thin and even gold leaf was deemed the better method to create a conductive trace that was actually lighter than what could be done with aluminum traces at the time, despite the density of gold being higher than that of aluminum. The weight and thickness of the diaphragm is what drove Fang Bian to pursue these gold leaf traces at the expense of sensitivity. That's my understanding, it could be incorrect.

 

[Mnyb]

I believe the reason gold was used in the He-6 is that the technology to apply a very thin and even gold leaf was deemed the better method to create a conductive trace that was actually lighter than what could be done with aluminum traces at the time, despite the density of gold being higher than that of aluminum. The weight and thickness of the diaphragm is what drove Fang Bian to pursue these gold leaf traces at the expense of sensitivity. That's my understanding, it could be incorrect.

Maybe the resistance penalty is of very little concern in a headphone that’s not intended to be very sensitive anyway ?

Add more amp

Do you think they invented methods to apply thinner aluminium today ?

 

[maverickronin]

I believe the reason gold was used in the He-6 is that the technology to apply a very thin and even gold leaf was deemed the better method to create a conductive trace that was actually lighter than what could be done with aluminum traces at the time, despite the density of gold being higher than that of aluminum. The weight and thickness of the diaphragm is what drove Fang Bian to pursue these gold leaf traces at the expense of sensitivity. That's my understanding, it could be incorrect.

That could be it too.

I remember back in the day, before it was even released, someone on headfi asked why he used gold traces and his answer was...

 

[threni]

Gold isn't a great conductor anyway and expensive.

Aluminum conduct better than gold

Um... Gold is one of the better (electrical) conductors; better even than Aluminium!

 

[Mnyb]

Um... Gold is one of the better (electrical) conductors; better even than Aluminium!

Drat :/ thanks for the correction.

 

[solderdude]

but not nearly as good as silver and copper.
I have to say that Nickel is a relatively poor conductor but it is hard (doesn't wear when as much) and also doesn't oxidize very fast.

The choice is not a conductance thing for drivers as one actually wants quite s lot of resistance.

 

[AdamG]

 

[sq225917]

Because its too soft. And gold would give planers intrinsic value and as we all know they are generally massively overpriced 5hite.