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New Tweak --- Its Fantastic

THE NEW TWEAK

Over the good part of this past year I’ve been beta testing a new tweak, the name of which is "Total Contact." Its a hi-bred graphene contact enhancer that is different from all other contact enhancers that have come and gone for one reason or another. I’m not new to these contact enhancers, having had quite a bit of experience with a product developed by the late Brian Kyle and his "Quick Silver" contact enhancer. The "Total Contact" is different ... a LOT different.

"Total Contact" is graphene based and is not a vibration control. It eliminates micro-arching between two contacts. Micro-arching, much like Micro-vibration smears the sound in our stereo systems. Its the type of distortion that we don’t know is there .... until we eliminate it. There is no break-in as we know it. The sound is improved right off the bat, but what you hear is only a smidgen of what’s to come.

I tested three generations of "TC," each of which was an improvement over the previous incarnation. The final mix was cryogenitically treated and made for a more effective, much smoother application. It comes in a large hypodermic needle type plunger containing 1.5 ml of product and includes a instructional DVD and an application brush.

The application should be applied with a very thin coat to all of your electrical connections .... from your cartridge pins to your power cords. I did my entire system, including the ends of my fuses.

Upon initial application, you will notice an improvement in clarity, correctness of tonal balance and a more overall organic sound. But ... that is just scratching the surface of what this magic paste does. As it cures, the improvements become more apparent. Much more!

There are two real break-through events that happen almost to the day with "Total Contact," one at four weeks and another at eight weeks . At four weeks, you’ll get a real jump in clarity and overall improvement. That’s only a taste though of what’s to come at eight weeks. At eight weeks your system’s focus will make a jump in SQ that is so real - its surreal.

After 40 years in the hobby, and a total tweak nut, I have never heard anything that does what this graphene paste does. The see-through clarity at eight weeks becomes simply amazing. The "paste" eventually cures into a kind of polymer plastic and it seems that the sound improves with each listening session. So, its important that you leave your contacts alone for the duration. If you’re the type of person that continually switches wires in and out, you’ll have to re paste until enough time has elapsed to get "the cure."

The only problem I had was with the first batch and that had to do with shorting out a tube pin in the line stage. Use the "TC" very sparingly on tube pins, if at all. I only had problems with the line stage tube pins. The Amp, CD Player and Phono Stage has had no tube pin problems at all.

Tim Mrock, one of our fellow A’goners, is the developer of the product. Its taken Tim 15 years and several patents to get it right. Tim has "pasted" every electrical contact he can find in his audio system, all of the switches in his circuit breaker box, every contact in his car ... and has used it in commercial applications such as hospital circuit breakers, surgical lights ... and other places where efficiency and long life of electrical components are deemed important.

This product is highly recommended to anyone who truly wants to get the most out of his/her audio systems. There’s enough product in each tube to do at least two audio systems as it just takes a very thin coat on each application to be effective. The last tube was enough to do my system twice and then a friend’s system this past weekend.


Frank

PS: There were a couple of other A’goner beta testers of this product as well. Hopefully, they will chime in here with their experiences for comparison. I "pasted" both of Steve Fleschler’s systems a few days ago, perhaps he will comment on his results too. We forgot to paste Steve’s power cords though, so there’s a lot more to be had from Steve’s two fantastic systems.

Frank
oregonpapa

Showing 10 responses by tuffy72561

tuffy72561
184 posts
 
Any more news on when this TC is available? I am at day 28, after applying Quicksilver Gold to the tube pins of my NSO Mullard 12au7 1950's longplates, in my preamp part of my hybrid integrated and the increase in performance across the board is very noticeable. When I first swapped out my RCA clear tops for the Mullards the difference after 72 hours of breakin wasn't as much as I had expected, but the RCA''s had the QS Gold put on them about 4 or 5 years ago. So it wasn't until after 28 days after putting the QS Gold on my Mullards that it was fair to judge them. I am now very happy with my Mullards. Very full,  smooth and detailed sound and . I was afraid I might lose some detail at the frequency extremes but I haven't found this at all.

I bought my Mullards from Brent Jesse here in IL and he was very helpful, patient and a gentleman to work with. I tried his top tube dampers too.

The QSG has always yielded great results on all my connections for the past 5 years. Additinally, I do not feel the QSG'S performance ever deteriorated after going past the inital 30 day mark as Oregonpapa and some others have. 

I was just told about this thread about two weeks ago by my friend and fellow audio nut "dorkwad", after I had already applied QSG to the tubes. I have followed Oregonpapa on many threads and bought the SR fuses, power cords based on his and others recommendations. I have found his reviews/opinions of products to be very helpful and to be close to what I have experienced upon trying them. I still have a little QSG left but I am very tempted to try the TC for future changes. I am not sure I want to pull everything out and reapply with the TC though. Lol
tuffy72561
184 posts
 
Oregonpapa,

The Quicksilver Gold was the final version, I believe, of the original Quicksilver contact enhancer. I am still getting great results. Brian Kyle the inventor was a great guy. He sent me some type of oil to add to the QSG as it dried out on me after a year or so. 
tuffy72561
184 posts
 
I have taken the plunge! I ordered TC this afternoon. I will report back here my findings of TC in my system. I currently have Xtreme Cables Quicksilver Gold contact enhancer applied to my system. Due to swapping out a cable (Teo Ultra IC), hybrid integrated amp and universal player  I figured now was a good time to start with a new and hopefully improved contact enhancer. I have had nothing but very positive results with the Quicksilver Gold. My QSG batch is almost gone and I hope to avert the initial  4 week roller coaster ride that the application of the QSG took you on sound quality-wise. QSG continued to improve in jumps after that (non linearly).
tuffy72561
184 posts
 
I meant swapping in the Teo Ultra as it is a really good cable. Several notches above the already very nice Teo Game Changer IC it replaced. 
tuffy72561
184 posts
 
Ultimatezap and Oregonpapa,

   Yesterday I applied the TC to only the tube pins in my hybrid modded Bada Purer 3.3 integrated amp and WOW!! I recently purchased an older modded version of my Bada Purer 3.3se. This amp replaced expensive separates so I know that it is an overachiever. When I saw the modded one up for sale I had to try it.  Well to make a long story short after one weeks time I felt the recently acquired one, older modded one, was sweeter but just didn't have the bass or portray the density or weight of the instruments like my present amp and I was disssppointed. After listening one day later after applying the TC to the tube pins, two 6922's, the increase in performance of the amp was startling. Bass is about equally powerful but more refined in comoarison to my old amp but now tonal density and layering of instruments is well beyond my old amp as well as soundstage depth and especially depth. Imaging is also wonderful now. I had good luck putting Quicksilver Gold on the pins of the 12au7 tubes of Bada Purer 3.3se so I new that this could help bridge the bass gap between the two amps. However the extant of the change was pretty shocking! Already psid for itself! Thanks Oregonpapa now I will buy a couple of new SR Blue fuses for my modded amp. This new TC is really easy to apply and has such a nice homogenous consistency to it. I can't wait to apply to some other connections next weekend!
tuffy72561
184 posts
 
Guys,

I guessed I missed it about the sleeves earlier in this thread somewher. What exactly are and where are you all getting these power sleeves from? 
tuffy72561
184 posts
 
geoffkait,

Thank you I found it.

I used to cut up Stillpoints ERS paper and wrap around some power cables using electrical tape. I had heard that these cables were unshielded. It did seem to make a difference but it was ughly. I also still use copper plumber sleaves over the plugs on my power cords as I heard this is an area that was supposed to be unshielded on power cables.
tuffy72561
184 posts
 
I would have reported this earlier in the week but didn't feel so well. After the 8th day of applying TC to my Teo Ultra Interconnect, Silnote Anniversary speaker cable and SR blue fuses (in my hybrid modded Bada Purer 3.3SE integrated amp) the soundstage developed great depth and became much more three dimensional. Background singers were now much more delineated. The sound just seems so much more natural and beautiful now. I feel as if I am now within the music, as it seems to kind of envelop me. I'm still a little under the weather but I honestly am shocked at how good my system sounds. The previous week I had only pasted the pins on the 2 6922 tubes in my amp. The next day of listening there was a definite big jump in sound quality from just this application alone.

I will report back after listening this weekend  (only time I get to listen). I am not expecting much change as my system already sounds way beyond what I ever expected without adding expensive components. For reference the rest of my system is Hales Transcendence V speakers. SACD/CD player is The Upgrade Company Signature modded Oppo 95 and Core Power Technology 1200 balanced power conditioner. I just thought of this as a good anology, I think, to the change in sound these past few weekends. Its as if you are looking at a garden of flowers in early spring and watching them continue to grow and bloom as spring passes into summer. The sound just blooms.

 Yes Frank, I used to think fantastic was a bit much for the description, in the thread title of this TC tweak, but not anymore. This stuff would appear to be a real game changer! Last Sunday's listening experience was literally jaw dropping! 

tuffy72561
184 posts
 
I am at 4 weeks on my tube pins in my Int. Amp and 3 weeks on the folloeing: Silnote Anniersary bi-wire speaker cables, my Teo Ultra interconnect and several SR Blue fuses. I still haven't touched my power cords though. The sound has definitely improved again over where it was two weeks ago when I last reported. I did feel that last weekend the sound may have slipped back a little. I thought I was hearing some sibilance on some of the treble area here and there. This week though a real nice increase in tonal texture and tonal density and furthering of the 3 dimensionality to the soundstage. Very happy. I can't wait to hear this system with my soon to be modded by Ric Schultz of EVS Oppo 205.
tuffy72561
184 posts
 
@ketoades
I pasted the 2 6922's in the preamp section of my integrated amp. I pasted the pins probably about 70% of the way. I bought a modded version of an amp that I already had and after listening for a few days I wasn't impressed. I remembered that the former stock unit had the tube pins pasted with X-treme AV  Quicksilver Gold. So I put the TC contact enhancer on the 6922 tube pins and only broke in overnight. The next day the amps performance was greatly improved and definitely surpassed the stock unit. Really made a BIG diffetence. Put as thin a coat on as you can for I think I always put too much on and it takes longer to breakin that way.
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