[fraseyboy]

Damn... The static and hissing in the right channel has become worse and I have isolated it to be one of the driver tubes. I emailed Little tube and they said to use Isopropyl Alcohol to clean the pins.

Isopropyl alcohol is quite hard to find and the person behind the counter says thats because it can be used to make drugs... So does anyone know if there is there some alternative I can use to clean the pins? Would Methylated spirits work as well?

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fraseyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Damn... The static and hissing in the right channel has become worse and I have isolated it to be one of the driver tubes. I emailed Little tube and they said to use Isopropyl Alcohol to clean the pins. Isopropyl alcohol is quite hard to find and the person behind the counter says thats because it can be used to make drugs... So does anyone know if there is there some alternative I can use to clean the pins? Would Methylated spirits work as well?

I use a spray can of "tuner cleaner" on mine. I shoot some in a paper plate, and use an old tooth brush dipped in it, to softly brush the crud off the pins. You should be able to get this or "contact cleaner" at a home depot type store, or some automotive stores. Deoxit brand is the best, but costs more. Just get the smallest amount, because it doesn't take much at all.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fraseyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Damn... The static and hissing in the right channel has become worse and I have isolated it to be one of the driver tubes. I emailed Little tube and they said to use Isopropyl Alcohol to clean the pins. Isopropyl alcohol is quite hard to find and the person behind the counter says thats because it can be used to make drugs... So does anyone know if there is there some alternative I can use to clean the pins? Would Methylated spirits work as well?

Hmm, try rubbing the pins gently with some fine sand paper to get rid of the oxides and other gunk. Sometimes NOS tubes will have dirty pins that will compromise performance.

It's possible that you have a bad tube, though. In which case I would try to get LD to send replacements or better yet upgrade to some premium tubes.

- DoA

 

[fraseyboy]

Would Electronic Cleaning Solvent do? I have a can of it here...

Oh also, I have a Parastat record cleaning kit. Would the record cleaning fluid from that do?

 

[headcheck]

Well I knew one guy who pulled out some petrol and cleaned his pins (his reason was that it will clean anything.To a point, true). Lets just say I took a few steps backward when he fired it up (didn't even wait for it to vapourise off). I could have told him it was dangerous, but you can only do so much for idiots. They have to learn sooner or later! Lucky for him it didn't ignited.

 

[Dorito123]

They wont sell you some rubbing alcohol at the drug store? Sheeeeesh!

 

[fraseyboy]

Well I took a chance and used the Electronic Cleaning Solvent on the end of a cotten stick thingy. No more hissing static noises! Yay!

 

[Dorito123]

Cool!

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fraseyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well I took a chance and used the Electronic Cleaning Solvent on the end of a cotten stick thingy. No more hissing static noises! Yay!

Good job! Makes you want to check all the pins on all the tubes, huh!

 

[chuck94022]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sword_yang /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tomorrow is the traditional Chinese New Year - the Rat Year, I wish all friend Happy New Year!

Yang Shenshun, Gong Xi Fa Cai! (You'll have to accept Mandarin, I'll surely screw up the Cantonese!)

FYI, I received my MKIVse! The box was beat up pretty badly - seems the shippers were ready for a holiday! However, the unit appears to have survived the abuse - it is well packaged. The tubes were slightly misaligned in their sockets. (Two were slightly tilted, leaning on the gold protective ring. But they were not broken and readily reseated properly in the socket.)

If shippers are as rough as they appeared to be with this unit, it might be better to ship the unit with the tubes packaged separately. However, I don't think any harm came. I'll power it up and have my first listen tonight!

 

[ethebull]

I really am enjoying my MKIII, the more I listen to it the better it sounds. Since my AKG 240's are close to 25 years old, I decided to update and bought a pair of K701's. They are burning in as I type this. For the time being, I switched back to the Mullard tubes from my Amperex. The Mullards take the edge off on the fresh 701's, but I'm told the cans will mellow after some seasoning.

Pass the word to any Vintage K240 Sextett lovers out there - I put mine on eBay at $.99 with no reserve!

AKG K240 K 240 K-240 Sextett Headphones vintage 1982 - eBay (item 280199045314 end time Feb-14-08 11:38:52 PST)

 

[penguindude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fraseyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Isopropyl alcohol is quite hard to find and the person behind the counter says thats because it can be used to make drugs... So does anyone know if there is there some alternative I can use to clean the pins? Would Methylated spirits work as well?

REALLY? Isopropyl alcohol = rubbing alcohol, the most common disinfecting agency available in North America.

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fraseyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well I took a chance and used the Electronic Cleaning Solvent on the end of a cotten stick thingy. No more hissing static noises! Yay!

I had the same phenomenon on the MKIII. Hisses + static.
I bought a spray can of contact cleaner and applied it with a toothbrush to the pins of the 4 tubes.

The first 30 seconds was dead silent then the hiss come back.

I am adding time in the burn-in process, but would like to be free from hiss + noise!

Any suggestions...

regards

 

[penguindude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caribou679 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had the same phenomenon on the MKIII. Hisses + static. I bought a spray can of contact cleaner and applied it with a toothbrush to the pins of the 4 tubes. The first 30 seconds was dead silent then the hiss come back. I am adding time in the burn-in process, but would like to be free from hiss + noise! Any suggestions... regards

Put your finger on the front plate of the MK3 until the static noise goes away after 5-10 seconds.

 

[MontyPythizzle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penchum /img/forum/go_quote.gif LMAO, I blew coffee all over my monitor! The best, and I mean everyone I know with the LDII++ believes this to be the best, tube for power is: Uly 6S19P-V (6c19pi-B) NOS Little Dot Amp, Darkvoice - eBay (item 280197525617 end time Feb-08-08 18:24:00 PST) This is just an example, you may find better prices for like 8 or 10 from one of the Russian sellers on ebay. Have a good one!

Just bought them, now to sell the ones that came with the LDII++, also got the driver tubes today, can't wait to plug them in after I get off of work.

Some Finny (I think) (he said he was on Head-Fi, would have to read the email to get his Head-Fi name again) let me buy them, although he wouldn't have outbid me ^_^. 28$ shipped was still kind of steep.