BETTER FLOW – CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY

To reduce the negative effects of material transitions between conductor and connector, it is common practice to use high quality connectors from accessory suppliers. For many audio connectors, the conductor material (high quality copper, silver or rhodium) is either used in its pure form or plated with a layer of gold, silver, rhodium, palladium, etc.  The latter protects against oxidation, often improves the contact properties and – due to the inherent tonal character of the plating – provides a desired or undesired compensation of tonal deficits.

In addition, conventional conductor material that has not undergone ATOMIC BONDING treatment (regardless of the material or material quality), including connectors of course, consists of many short crystalline grain structures, which are also arranged in an unfavorable way due to the manufacturing process. The signals therefore have to find a diffuse path through many of these grain structures. When crossing the grain boundaries from grain to grain, an enormous resistance potential is created, which slows down the signal transport. In addition, the transmission of information in the grain spaces can swirl, causing musical structures that belong together to be torn apart and delayed in time. Grain gaps also enable movements of the grain structure. This can result in grain impacts whose resonances distort the information.

Connection between connector and cable:

Different elaborate soldering/welding processes are also intended to ensure an optimum connection between the solder joints. However, the transitions between the conductor and connector material as well as between the conductor, connector and solder joint material lead to compromises in terms of sound quality.

With a cheaply made soldered connection, the signal (even when using high-percentage silver solder, the silver content of which is usually no more than 5-10%) always fights its way through a “sound-destroying” layer of solder, which inevitably forms a barrier between the plug connection and the cable conductor.

Cold or spot welding are better alternatives, but again affect the material structure. In our experience, laser joining techniques in a vacuum are more suitable, as the connector and conductor material can be precisely dosed and gently joined together without contamination. The enormous equipment costs on the one hand and the material-specific dosing on the other are problematic.

In our experience, inferior connection techniques have a significant negative effect on sound quality, particularly for connections with very low currents (e.g. in the phono range).

The SCHNERZINGER approach:

Our research has shown that the sonic potential of a component is not determined by the material itself, but primarily by the crystalline structure of the material used.

The SCHNERZINGER ATOMIC BONDING conductor material minimizes the above-mentioned sound-influencing effects through a permanently compact and extremely homogeneous microstructure of the conductor, even in connectors, and eliminates the inherent sonic character of coated materials.

We use the highest quality connectors and conductor material qualities, which are matched to the material structure of the SCHNERZINGER signal conductor in the complex ATOMIC BONDING process. In the SCHNERZINGER RESOLUTION LINE, we disassemble all connectors into their individual parts and replace their contact pins with ATOMIC BONDING formatted contact pins, which have an even better base material than even the highest quality connectors supplied. In order to optimally shield the contact pins against interference fields and double the operational reliability, the connectors are given a double-walled housing. To reduce the contact resistance, the connector and conductor are subjected to ATOMIC BONDING again together after assembly using the cold welding process.

The cost and effect of these measures make the importance of the original material quality appear completely subordinate.

The decision for the connectors ultimately used was made after a large number of tests with the world’s most renowned plugs and sockets. The price and reputation of the tested components were of secondary importance, as the costs for ATOMIC BONDING alone are far higher than the costs of the expensive reference connectors.

We expressly point out that, due to the structural adaptation of plug and conductor material, any conversion to other plugs leads to a drastic reduction in sound quality and to irreparable destruction of the original SCHNERZINGER connection.