No I haven't placed concrete slabs on top of my speakers or elevated my leads with toilet rolls,

I spent most of this afternoon on my hands and knees cleaning every connection in my HiFi system. The improvement was immediately obvious and reminded me this is something we all should do regularly.

In my case the most notable 'upgrade' was the totally silent background that must have deteriorated so slowly that I hadn't noticed it. The other benefit was the removal of a faint hum or buzz that would occur only when I touched the arm lift on the SME. This has completely gone.

I started with the cartridge connections and worked my way down the chain via the IC connections and finally to the speaker connections. I even cleaned all the connections on the valves on the Yarland amp. OK I'm a sucker for punishment.

Each connection was removed, the surfaces sprayed with Circuit Board Cleaner ( not as savage as contact cleaner) wiped with a microfiber cloth, and then reconnected. The push type connections on the cartridge and RCAs were pushed on and off a few time to help clean the contact surfaces.

Although this was an hour or two of my life I will never get back it was certainly very productive, besides the weather was crap anyway.

Cheers

Graham

don't forget your power plugs

That sounds like something I need to do again soon. I did go over the amp not long ago using some Deoxit products on the tube pins but some of the IC connections haven't been apart in some time.

Ah yes good stuff Graham, a timely reminder for everyone - it's always an ear opener, every few yrs.

For information, most 'hifi audio' connectors now are precious metal plated (eg gold) & heavy duty cleaners are unnecessary.
PCB tracks are mostly unplated & PCB cleaners are often designed for strong cleaning, eg to remove solder flux, residue, oxidation, etc

After many years of using cleaners & 'contact enhancers' (some leave oily residues that attract dirt), I am a fan of the Caig Deoxit products too - unfortunately, local agent TradeTech have just closed up.

So, for plated connectors, use something like Deoxit Gold (Progold), which is a dilute cleaner & importantly, designed to leave a protective film that resists corrosion, enhances surface contact & is 'self healing' they say.

Unplated contacts (eg most valve pins), usually need solvent cleaning first with say alcohol/meths - tricky on small valves, use a cotton bud or such - followed by say Deoxit (I find that the 'pen' version most handy & economical - Deoxit products are not inexpensive).

I even do bare wires (lspkr connections) with Deoxit - however not so easy for you multistranded guys
Cheers.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

And don't forget to tighten the screws holding your loudspeaker drivers in place on the speaker enclosure. After a few years of vibration they do loosen up and can add colouration.

Lest you mock my toilet roll cable risers !

All good suggestions there guys, I use IPA on the interconnect and speaker connections and Jif on the power plugs, followed by IPA to remove any residue. I try and give my system a good birthday every year, on or about my birthday. This includes a complete strip down and re set of the Gyrodeck.
New belt, bearing, oil etc. Everything else gets a good cleaning up. Best to allow a couple of days depending on how many conections and components you have. I also recheck speaker position.

We are an obsessive little bunch of cleaners aren't we.
My usual source for Deoxit products was Tradetech but I see Jaycar carry most lines also.
Keep up the good work guys.
The golden rule is 'check that the existing component is clean and adjusted correctly before blindly rushing out to upgrade it'.

Valve sockets - you need something like this, for small 9-pin & larger 8-pin sockets:
(Or larger, for 4-pin sockets)
China-made ones, of course are now avail on Aliexpress.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

i remember an old issue of stereophile with jonathan carr sitting in michael fremer's listening room cleaning all his mains plugs with nothing more than a can of flitz metal polish (like brasso) and a pack of q-tips.

May 1, 2017 10:26:38 GMT 12 Graham said:

My usual source for Deoxit products was Tradetech but I see Jaycar carry most lines also.

I haven't bought contact cleaner from Jaycar for a few years now but they have a funny brand that I thought did a rather questionable job... Any thoughts team?

In terms of my cleaning regime: I'm of the opinion that as there is no way I can justify the purchase of any component that might be considered "the best" or "class A" anymore then the best I can do is to make sure that my system is at least performing to the best of it's abilities. I.e To be the best that it can be. This means set up and cleaning.

I don't have any Deoxit products, so I usually end up just cutting off a bit more of my speakers bare wires every few years.

I might just try dipping the wires in the Ultrasonic cleaning machine instead!

An attachment to your ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning 3 pin power plugs would be very useful as I find them a pain to clean with earbuds and jif...

Had wax build up in left ear syringed out last week! Now left speaker sounds just as loud as the right!

Well geeks, thanks to you and this thread, I've spent a little over six hours this weekend going over the system from top to bottom. Change of cart, full service to table, relevel, reterminate cables, reposition speakers, tightening drivers, all pots, switches and RCA's on amp as well as circuit board cleaning, tube pins etc, etc, etc... And the end result? I'm astounded to say, it's not unlike a change of system. The joy has retuned to my listening, the gear has moved back into the background - it's been right upfront and bugging me this last little while. Whodda thunk? Not this little Heathen. Chuffed.

As Dodgy-connection used to say the best audio upgrade is 2 x beers & a single malt whiskey ;-)