Deoxit Gold...Not Just For Tubes?

@iani

Hi, first post here; I used Deoxit Gold G100L (100% solution in a glass bottle) and it was a bad experience. I carefully applied a small quantity of liquid as for instructions on all my gold plated connectors on interconnects and speaker cables. I wiped off with a clean soft paper and I was shocked for the result. The sound became harsh, bright in a negative way, cold, thin, coarse. I waited some days for a change, but the sound remained the same. On Naim forum I read of other people that had similar experience with 100% solution; so I cleaned two times all connectors with IPA (isopropyl alcohol) 99,9% and the sound came back as pre-Deoxit. The same experience on the audio system of a friend of mine. My advice: if You have high quality connectors plated with gold or rhodium, please don’t use Deoxit Gold G100L, just use IPA one or two times every year. Stop. If You have oxidized connectors no contact cleaner or contact protector will help; the solution is just change the connectors. Technically, Deoxit Gold is an insulator with a dielectric constant of 2.3 (similar to polyethilene); as we know an insulator can not increase conductivity. On their pdf papers Caig speaks of quantum tunnelling as the ’magic’ that permit to an insulator like Deoxit Gold to decrease contact resistance...but in this way of thinking the same apply to the oxide barrier on top of which the Deoxit Gold is applied. They don’t explain in details.

Thanks for the feedback! I will start applying and see where it takes me.

Helps with PC connections.

 but to tell the truth, I really dislike the sound of the system right after I use it. I just do it for maintenance purposes.

That's why I mentioned the old tubes with steel pins cleaned to "gleaming". A couple of the tubes I've gotten like that were absolutely shrill and unlistenable - very out of character from what I had come to expect of an RCA. One set was RCA 12AY7 black plates, another was RCA 12AX7 gray plates. 

It's clearly not just for tubes and says so on the literature that comes with it. I use it a couple of times a year, but to tell the truth, I really dislike the sound of the system right after I use it. I just do it for maintenance purposes.

My old dealer (who I miss dearly), back when I was new to this hobby, recommended a once or twice a year chore of going through all a system’s contacts (RCA, XLR, spades, bananas) with deoxit. I don’t believe he used Caig’s (it was a cheaper brand), but I forget what now. Caig deoxit is certainly good if that’s what you have.

It’s a good idea - I’ve certainly seen my share of L/R channel imbalance issues from poor contact quality gremlins. However for most of the past several years, I’ve swapped component & cables frequently enough that the wiping action (make & break a connection a few times) probably kept most of my contacts clean enough on its own.

Rhodium, gold, and platinum plated contacts seem pretty stable. These probably need far less cleaning? In the quest of audiophile nervosa, we now have pure copper and silver contacts, which are a real bear to keep clean! Audioquest claims the eventual blackening of their silver-plated contacts (pure copper underneath) is not a problem because silver-oxide is such a good conductor (it is). But I question that! Is that blackening really just oxide, or is it (more likely) silver tarnish (silver sulfide), which is NOT a very good conductor? Anyways, keeping your contacts clean of oxides and tarnish is always a good choice.

Vintage tubes with steel pins often look like a blackened mess, and I wonder about them. They usually seem to work fine, at least. Vintage tubes with gold pins held up well, and usually look great. VTS (Andy Bowman) thoroughly treats his tube's pins so they look exceptionally clean, gleaming steel. But I wonder if this changes the sound!