[Herandu]

Removing and reconnecting all your leads is a very good idea. It has very little to do with dirty contacts however. With such a forceful bonding, how is dirt goin to get between the contacts?
What does happen however is that the pressure of socket metal to plug metal eventually creates a situation where that pressure is reduced over time. Partly because of the metal giving way, or the loss of tension on the phone plug claw grip for instance. This loss of contact to contact pressure will in time reduce the surface area across which signal travels from contact to contact.
By removing and refitting everything you are, hopefully, restoring the original tension between the various contacts.

The cleaning fluids merely clean away the grease and grime from the (previously) exposed parts of the contacts. Clean the contact with meths, then polish them to a shine again. Now try them and if you have some high quality gear and leads my method will give you a far better improvement than any expensive cleaning fluid.

This is however not so straight forward with mians plugs and sockets. BSI regulations specify the strength of the grip between plug and socket. Cleaning the plug contacts is however recommended. Don 't play with the mains socket though!

 

[spudman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nelamvr6 What is haIII?

It's type 3 hard anodize, and I can't imagine deoxit or progold would be much of a threat to it. Several high end flashlights use it. It is harder than type II anodizing, if that's much help. It's much more scratch resistant.

Radioshack cleared out their deoxit and progold pens this summer. I can't remember the exact price but they were really cheap. That's when I got mine.

 

[music_man]

rs still has some at a lot of stores. it is like $4 now!

haIII is surprisingly easily damaged. i have found out the hard way.
harsh chemicals can etch it and dropping it will chip it since it is so hard. however, rolling it in gravel is what it is good at.

if your contacts on audio gear are not great quality you can actually remove the micron finishes by constantly plug/unplugging them. it is a tight grip and can scrape off a finish, especially gold or silver. some rca males fit so tight that they scratch even good females. i prefer high end gear with camac or xlr conectors for this reason.

again, do not go spray anything into powered ac!
regardless of if it says it is non conductive.

music_man

 

[neonextgenazn]

Do you guys prefer the Deoxit Pen or tube?

 

[warpdriver]

The pen Deoxit is more concentrated and perferrable.

 

[neonextgenazn]

Should I purchase the ProGold (gold) or the Power Booster (red) version? Not all of my connectors are gold plated. Thanks!

 

[mshan]

I like Kontak: http://www.gcaudio.com/cgi-bin/store...duct.cgi?id=26

High quality cleaner that's supposed to leave no residue.

In a high resolution system, it removes a very subtle layer of fine grit / grundge that you might not be aware is there before you clean the contacts (though you will notice the difference after the cleaning).

Subtle, but worthwhile for finishing touches on a well balanced system you are already happy with.

 

[nelamvr6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neonextgenazn Should I purchase the ProGold (gold) or the Power Booster (red) version? Not all of my connectors are gold plated. Thanks!

I use standard DexIT (DN5) for cleaning, and then treat gold plated or silver surfaces with DeoxIT Gold (GN5, formerly called ProGold).

The directions are easy to follow. You don't need to use much, a little goes a long way.

 

[Patrick82]

After a year I stopped cleaning the connectors, there's all kinds of dirt on them now

. It makes a too small difference and I only care about night and day improvements now. After the system is finished, then it's time to clean it. Having dirty connectors makes it more consistent when tweaking.

Small bottle of Deoxit is included when you buy QuickSilver Contact Enhancer. I already used it up after a year (I was obsessed).

 

[neonextgenazn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 After a year I stopped cleaning the connectors, there's all kinds of dirt on them now . It makes a too small difference and I only care about night and day improvements now. After the system is finished, then it's time to clean it. Having dirty connectors makes it more consistent when tweaking. Small bottle of Deoxit is included when you buy QuickSilver Contact Enhancer. I already used it up after a year (I was obsessed).

Does the contact enhancer work well?

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neonextgenazn Does the contact enhancer work well?

It gives more warmth and low-level detail. But if you unplug it you need to clean it and re-apply. It also takes a few months to fully burn-in. QuickSilver GOLD takes faster to burn-in, it was warmer from the beginning than the original QuickSilver was after 100 hours of burn-in!

 

[Merkurfan]

I like all of the above suggestions and have used some of them over the last 10 or 15 years.

Presently, I am using the following products with great success and enjoyment. First, for cleaning, I use 99% alcohol or Caig Deoxit. Second, I used a metal polish either Flitz or Simichrome with a dremel tool(this can remove gold plating on connectors don't do it if you want to avoid removing the gold plating). Third, I clean off any remnants of the polish with alcohol . Finally, I apply the Quicksilver gold contact enhancer. I have tried Walkers' Extreme SST but I like the Quicksilver gold better.

I have found that this treatment practice works well with AC plugs, interconnects, speaker wire and fuse ends.

I am only interested in dramatic changes and these steps have provided a dramatic change.

YMMV