Contact Cleaner

Products that claim to enhance connections like DeOxit do leave a small residue and do seem to enhance sound quality in my experience. But because they leave residue, I wonder if the residue protects the connections long term or does it eventually attract dirt or dry up and impede the connection. Or is it best to use alcohol or other non-residue cleaners.

Caig explains their products mechanically bond, on a molecular level, to seal the metal surface, and the resultant thin film moves as the contact is disturbed by vibration, effectively re-coating the surface.

I have used it for years on audio, car and motorcycle connections, computer boards, etc. The connections have never become gummy, dry, etc. The protection is not 100% of course. Thus, I periodically go through and re-apply. The product does not build up as it contains a solvent which cleans the surface.

It is impressive stuff.

thanks for the input! i did apply DeOxit gold and heard a definite improvement. i suppose a 6 or 12 month re-application would ease my concerns.

I find simply disconnecting and reconnecting cables improves the sound, likely by breaking through a little bit of corrosion, etc. I believe DeOxit slows the corrosion down, but does not eliminate it. Thus, I periodically re-clean and re-apply.

There are other wonderful contact enhancers, but I like the Caig’s products for their combination of efficacy and ease of use.

Another thing to try is a good metal polish, like Flitz, on power chord prongs, followed by DeOxit.

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good point. we used to have listening sessions where we would swap equipment in and out and i often noticed the following day when my system was back to its default state that it would sound better. make/break connections the reason? could be. then it makes me wonder if published equipment reviews are effected the same way. just moving cables will impact sound from my experience then there is the make/break contact effect as well. ah, the great mysteries of audio performance!

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I’ve used Caig Gold with good results, but after email discussions with Canadian company MG Chemical, I cleaned my contacts with their isopropyl alcohol and then applied their Super Contact Cleaner with PPE. I know Caig is well-established in the audiophile community, but the Super Contact Cleaner outperformed the Caig Gold in terms of my system sound. I clean and reapply about once a year with amazing results. A can of this stuff will last most of us a lifetime.

Wow! You folks can hear the difference in contact cleaners? I’ll have to try some of that Caig stuff; I just ordered some.
I’ve been using Cape Cod polish. I find it works better than spit. it makes the metal parts quite shiny.

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I have also had good luck with the Caig products.

Just did a CAIG Deoxit refresh on my AC and headphone connections. Surprising how much grunge gets tucked into the crevices. Did the tube pins too. Good results.

What do you guys use to clean the inner parts of the thin RCA or XLR Plug sockets?

Servisol Super 10 “switch cleaner” spray can here…

Just checked - I can get “MG Chemicals Super Contact Cleaner with PPE” via post from Australia (for 55 quid postage) or USA (for 15 quid postage), still, might be worth a try :slight_smile:

I use this: MG Chemicals 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol Liquid Cleaner.
Followed by this: MG Chemicals 801B Super Contact Cleaner with PPE

I have no relationship with MG other than I did contact their rep about how this compared with Caig. It’s the best stuff I’ve used, including the various Caig versions.

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With what kind of HW (not fluid) do you clean the thin plug sockets inside?

I take some of the cotton fluff of a Q-Tip (not the cheap store brands) where there’s just a bit left then I use that tip with some pure alcohol to clean them and then I just spray some contact enhancer in, then wipe up excess with a clean Q-Tip. Hope this helps.

Thanks, I recently tried to help myself in a similar way. Not very successful. I thought maybe a manufacturer of such a cleaning fluid has some suitable stuff to clean that.

I guess most mainly clean the mass contact and the male part of the plugs, which is not optimal.

High-heat tolerant GX version of DeoxIT Gold and a pipe cleaner and/or a straw cleaner brush.

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Thanks, great idea, a pipe cleaner if it’s that thin to fit into an XLR socket could work very good.

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Hadn’t thought of a pipe cleaner. Great idea!

Just order (well last month) Kontak’s Cleaner from the Cable Co the Speaker terminals on my Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento started tarnishing :frowning: so good time for a system clean.

Also grabed some New Orange fuses as well, how bad is the Post systems nowadays - waiting waiting and waiting …