Craig Detoxing

[shep]

I ordered the starter kit from Canada and spent about two hours cleaning and treating everything, including AC (yup I turned off the main breaker otherwise I couldn't write this!) It was filthy, especially the female jacks on my cdp. I don't think I've done this for twenty years... the result is like cleaning your plate glass window. It's not dramatic but very obvious. Pain in the butt, especially as they only give you a few of the cleaning swabs and you really need a lot to do it right. Cost 16 canadian plus shipping. There's enough to do a lot of cables and plugs.

[rollo]

    A clean contact does wonders for the sound as you now know. ProGold after the cleaning further enhances the sound. This simple exercise is most overlooked and mandatory for our critical listening.
   Next up change that old breaker in the electrical panel. Retighten the house ground and be prepared to be be Godsmacked.


charles

[tmazz]

      Next up change that old breaker in the electrical panel. Retighten the house ground and be prepared to be be Godsmacked.

Or have someone do it for you if you are know knowledgeable in the ways of commercial electric. Breaker boxes are no place for amateur tinkering. They fight back.  

[rollo]

      Next up change that old breaker in the electrical panel. Retighten the house ground and be prepared to be be Godsmacked.

Or have someone do it for you if you are know knowledgeable in the ways of commercial electric. Breaker boxes are no place for amateur tinkering. They fight back.  

  Hopefully that was understood. Well if not interested in being Frankenstein hire an electrician.


charles

[shep]

The kit has progold in it so of course I did  and as for circuit breakers, i'm in a rental and have no desire to excite the owner with strange and unlikely requests.

[richidoo]

Don't get Caig gold on plastic fader contacts.

[Face]

I don't like the gold due to the residue it leaves behind.


A heads up on Deoxit, PartsExpress has it on sale for the month of July.

[BobM]

I use Gold, after cleaning with alcohol and a cotton ball or Q-tip, on my power connections (AC prongs and such). I didn't like it on RCA's or speaker connections. I prefer using TPC on those after again, a thorough cleaning with alcohol.

I used to use Silclear on everything, but since have removed it from everything except my fuses. I still find it helpful on all fuse ends on all equipment that has them.

YMMV,
Bob

[shep]

Ouch! now I'm facing an open can of worms...I just assumed...I'll be damned if I'll take it off now; got to be better than dirty contacts right? I don't know what you meant Rich by platic fader contacts.

[richidoo]

Inside most volume and balance potentiometers, is a strip of conductive plastic along which slides a contact which varies the voltage of the signal in proportion to its position along the plastic strip.  Only use plain contact cleaner on pots, or maybe caig's special pot cleaner (with residue lubricant), not Caig Gold. It will cause problems.

There are some pots made with all carbon contacts, I dunno how those like Gold, probably just fine.  I just use radio shack contact cleaner in a spray can, no residue.

[shep]

No problem there Rich. I have a passive resistor- based pot. Self-wiping. I was carefull with excess though, so as not to have shorts.

[richidoo]

No need to worrry about shorts, Shep, because the Caig gold residue is non-conductive so it can't short. It works by preventing micro arcing near the contact point. I think your "pot" is actually a multi position switch, with metal contacts which switch between the discreet resistors? A potentiometer has infinitely variable resistance, no clicks. Like Alps, with plastic strip inside. There is a special Caig for plastic faders.

[Face]

Yep, it's called Fader Lube, and it works very well.  I used it on the switches of my old McIntosh MX-115 and it worked like a charm, no more noise.