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.
The point is it worked, when there were plenty of people who were positive it couldn’t. And look what it led to. There are tons of examples, history is littered with them. I'm sure you get my drift.
Just having a little fun 😉 You should be up for the Wet Blanket of the Year award.
To me the threads for the fuses and TC are some of the most interesting to read. I really am not interested one way or another whether or not the fuses or TC are "fantastic" or "snake oil". I have no interest in them at this time, as I have other hobbies that are priorities, but say to each his own.
But the banter between the so called "believers" and the so called "naysayers" is world class and fun to read. This is why I read these threads.
That said, I will give two to one odds that tommylion has his eight week epiphany in the seventh week. "Just having a little fun 😉"
So, not only are you speaking for Ozzy, but now you’re an agent for Geoff too?
Off topic, Jay? I asked you if you had ever held a 100% commissioned job in response to your prejudiced diatribe regarding used car salesmen. That kind of prejudice is based upon ignorance and fear. Its true that the average American is conditioned to not like and not trust salespeople, but that is based upon what, other than prejudice?
Frank,
I don’t speak for anyone else, nor am I an agent for anyone else, unlike you. You made an open question, to which I answered. Geoff is free to answer if I was incorrect about his intent. The rest of the comment stands.
I have not said one word about used car salesmen. I merely made a comparison of them and you. If there is a negative connotation and/or prejudice to derive from used cars salesmen, that just reflects your actions, intents, and/or writings are negative.
For the record, I did share the product sample that I received with several of my audio buddies and none of them liked it.
But again, I had the 1st version not the latest version. SO maybe, just maybe it has been improved. I mean why 3 versions then?
I do think Tim needs to come to the plate and provide me the latest and greatest version to prove to me and anyone else that the product I received to sample was an anomaly and has been improved with the final version. If I like it I will pay for it, if not I will return everything.
I promise to post my thoughts even if I have to admit that the new product is awesome like so many of you have stated in this thread.
I believe I have a good reputation on Audiogon and will be totally honest about it.
@ozzy Sounds like a reasonable proposal to me. If Tim doesn't want to risk a full vial of TC, he could at least send you enough to try at several contact points that would allow you to see if gen.3 is the big deal that the flatterers here attest it to be.
In Mr. Mrok's favor, to have a former naysayer be converted to a product supporter would give TC gravitas beyond what the flatterers have stated.
Thanks for the response. I hope Tim agrees. If the product lasts 6 months and I only have to use a small amount I will return the balance priority mail ASAP.
So far you’ve enlightened us with Ozzy’s dilemma and commented on what Geoff is thinking .... but you don’t speak for anyone else? Meh!
You also said this:
"Right now you are coming off as a a combination of the archetypes of the used car salesman ..."
Yeppers, Jay, I guess you didn’t mention used car salesmen either ... except in the post alluded to above. <Geeze!>
What, in your opinion, would an ’archetype’ of a used car salesman be? Have you ever sold cars for a living, Jay? Do you have any car salesmen in the family, or count any of them among your friends? What are you basing your opinion on, Jay?
So Jay ... what is your intent in posting here? So far, I see nothing positive in your contributions. You ask a lot of questions, which is okay by me, but you never seem to be satisfied with the answers. Are you truly interested in Tim’s product, or are you just trying to stir the pot and trying to pull chains?
If I haven’t answered a question thoroughly enough, what is it?
Have you checked with A'gon and asked them what the return policy is? I believe that was the final unanswered question, wasn't it?
The first incarnation of TC was fantastic in its own right. Both the 4 week and 8 week breakthroughs occurred for me.
The second incarnation was smoother with fewer black "chunks" of graphene, which were reduced to little "specks." I got the same results with the second batch as I did with the first batch. Fantastic.
The third and final version was treated cryogenically and came out much smoother and was easier to apply. It was a through mix.
In treating connections with all three, I found the sound to be about the same. Very close. This is why I said to you that after treating your complete system with the first product, leaving it on for several weeks, and not hearing any difference, or it even being a detraction, that getting a sample and using it just to paste your fuse ends would be a moot point. I mean, if you couldn’t hear the improvements made by the first batch, you won’t hear the improvements afforded by the third batch on the fuses ends either.
So far, you and "your audio buddies" are the first to try it without getting a positive result. All of my audio buddies have been blown away with what they’ve heard.
Its not that I don’t believe you, Ozzy ... but something is going on and is not right. I was going to say perhaps "system dependent," but then there are those "audio buddies" of yours who didn’t get good results either.
Maybe we can get to the bottom of things. How about listing what their systems consist of and what connections they pasted and what they didn’t paste. How long did they leave it on before removing it? How long was their listening tests?
If they didn’t like the product, there must be some reason why. You didn’t say what it did that they didn’t like. Is there a common denominator here somewhere between your system and theirs where we could determine that it IS system dependent in some way?
Since it’s going to be a long time before my can of Deoxit runs out, I plan to wait patiently to see if the audio community at large embraces the Magic Goo, and consequently wakes up to what is seemingly an epidemic of micro-arching. There’s a reason that "fabulousness" and hyperbole regarding products you didn’t know you needed is generally ignored by all but the "magic tweak faithful" and their agreeable wives, and that’s the fact that regardless of the relentless support of the salespeople involved in hyping these things, the audio geek marketplace overall actually isn’t so gullible. In threads nearly identical to each other, product promoters finding a product priced at a point that is often multiples of the cost of an established and generally accepted thing (Like Litelfuse stuff and Deoxit…both inexpensive and generally accepted as about as good as it gets), market it hard (and cheaply…like on a free forum) with floridly exaggerated subjective claims one dare not dispute (naysayers, negative Nancys, under qualified critics, trolls, left handed calligraphers). There’s the rub, and if Special Hat Racks, aluminum Ju Ju Bee "transducers," and Magic Goo that allows the path of an existing audio signal to be enhanced into something beyond itself ("Micro-arching Causes Brain Damage" news at 11!), do become accepted by the marketplace of perhaps rational listeners and their wives (or reviewed by reviewers not in the tight clutch of the magic enhancement sales fringe), you can count me in!
"There's the rub, and if Special Hat Racks, aluminum Ju Ju Bee "transducers," Magic Goo that allows the path of an existing audio signal to be enhanced into something beyond itself ..."
Quick! Close the patent office. "Everything that can be invented has already been invented."
How many Beta testers were there? That’s really the question. Nobody knows except one person. 😳 The other question, of course, is will customers of the commercial product report negative results? Maybe not.
You may have seen this already, it looks like $250.00 for one duplex outlet treated with Graphene, for what I have been able to treat two systems and I will still have some left over when I am finished.
Black UEF Duplex treated with Graphene. the claims are similar.
I decided to try the TC on my old EAR 324 phono pre-amp because I knew that I would gain more bass and more colorful, detailed mids using TC as it did everywhere else.
The problem I had with the EAR 324 was an impedance mismatch (too high or too low settings at 150 ohms and 400 ohms when I needed 220 ohms). With the middle gain setting and the 400 ohm setting,
I was shocked to hear a balanced, open, full bodied rich sound. Maybe my SUT and tube phono stage isn’t as clean/clear sounding as the 324. Now I’m using the 324 again due to TC adding what was not sounding correct in the equipment (open but too tonally thin vs, tonally rich but closed in). (Aside-Benz recommended a 400+ ohm setting but the cartridge has a 3.5 mv output and is a 45 ohm type so 220 ohms was recommended by several SUT manufacturers).
Look at the photos you can see where the graphene was added on the sides and on some screws..there are other safe places it could be applied for even greater resolution.
One of the first things I applied the product was on the end caps of standard glass fuses. Made something really good out of nothing. This product is of great value and is more than just a tool. Tom
I installed an audio grade duplex outlet, without any TC treatment (cost $80.00), about 6 months ago and it was a nice upgrade in musical resolution. However, after treating the Audience aRP2-TO power conditioner plugs last week with TC and just plugging it back in, it was an upgrade equal to those two upgrades together.
No extortion. I was asked by Tim to try his product. Perhaps the "blend" I received was faulty. It did come out of the syringe as a thick tooth paste.
But, you betcha I am not going to lay down $300 more to try another batch of goop. Isn’t that the definition of insanity? But, like I said, I WOULD PAY for it gladly if it was better than the first sample or I would return it immediately if it was again no good. I’m not looking for any freebie...
I have always been a tweaker and have posted about items many times in the Audiogon forum.
Frank, Tom, and you others my audio system is posted on Audiogon for all to see. I have no reason other than to let others know that this product should be tried first.
$300 bucks is not that much to pay for a product that provides that "awesome" improvement. But, since I tried it already I would need to "TRY" it again, hopefully to join the bandwagon.
@resolution1 Yes I have, and I get the point you are making. I am elated that you are enjoying my product, and thank you for your continued support and contribution!
I was wondering what type of cables you guys are using with the TC compound? My cabling loom is the new top of the line Cerious Technologies Matrix cables (power, interconnects and speaker cables). These use the Shadow XLR's and WBT speaker connections. Perhaps with lesser cabling adding some TC material on the ends would make for a better conductor?
I had not thought of that. The logic is sound. I will do that once I am done with the rest of the main system then treat the same audio grade duplex in the office system as well as the standard builder grade duplex that the TVs are plugged into. That ought to be a fun experiment. I will let you know the results when I get to it.
In the office system: All Audience power chords, 1- Powerchord SEi and 1- AU 24SEi MP, aR2p power conditioner, Audience OHNO interconnect, an Office Depot (I know a bottleneck) powerstrip and an Audio quest diamond usb to the Dac.
I've been following this thread with some interest and am in theory interested in using TC in the context of my system (although given it's complexity and number of connections applying TC is not something I'd relish short of a full breakdown if/when I move).
Anyway I was struck by some of the varying experiences with this, and with other similar system level tweaks (e.g. fuses, footers, damping materials etc) and a possible expalantion of what might be going on
In a nutshell my hypothesis is that for tweaks of this nature (i.e. those that address spurious noise, interference, resonances, subtler room effects and all sorts of potential impediments to hearing what was originally in the recording) far from there being a law of diminishing returns there is in fact a system of increasing returns
What do I mean? I mean that as you reduce noise (I'll use this term to mean all potential sources of non original signal distortion) of all sorts the marginal benefit of removing each additional level of noise is larger i.e. as you can resolve more you gain a greater appreciation of removing each additional bit of interference
This effect should be independent of the absolute level of investment in active hardware (assuming a decent source and resolving speakers, plus enough room treatment that you can hear any type of change)
Certainly it's my experience that the more I address "problems" in reproduction the greater benefit I get from each small tweak (e.g. most recently careful application of foQ material). This also helps explain the "aha"/big change experience sometimes associated with what may seem minor tweaks -- in the context of such an optimized system the change may seem large while in another system no or little effect may be apparent
Of course the other approach to getting to this audio nirvana is to simplify the system to remove potential sources of interference (lets call this a Kaitian philosophy) -- unfortunately not the route I've chosen to go down 😉but if I was to start again it's quite appealing
The last thing I wanted to do was crawl behind the equipment again and do all this stuff but after I changed out the duplex outlet and got the gains in resolution that I got, application did not seem so bad.
As as per the isolation vs power cleanup, I can only tell you about a story involving Still points. I had just gotten the Audience the Ones V2, in the office, and the 1+1 V2+ in the main system. All was fine, but I thought it could use further resolution, so I got four boxes of stillpoint minis, for a week and half long trial from my dealer/friend to float the speakers As per the stillpoint hierarchy.
Within 4 days I removed them from both systems since I got an ear ache after listening to both systems almost immediately. My dealer had never encountered this in his many years of experience. At that time I asked if I could try out an Audience power cable for a couple of days and it was a substantial improvement, at the time. To make a long story short, the the power got cleaner, over about a year of cable replacements. The stillpoints came back using their hierarchy. They are finally under all components of both systems and no ear aches.
This might be the reason that the TC treatments have made such a profound effect in my system. I’m glad I took the plung.
I just reported to Audiogon an email concerning shadorne LYING about anyone receiving a commission. This forum is not a promotional venue for anyone other than Tim Mrock of Total Contact. This forum is for presentation of a new tweak's properties by those who have used it and for those who are interested in it's use.
Can someone test this stuff on a circular saw ? Or a table saw ? Maybe a vacuum cleaner ? Common sense says it should make an improvement after reading the testimonials .
“Highly recommended! Graphene is the future of audio...”
Well, let’s not get crazy. Graphene has been used in audiophile products for what, at least two years. And exotic contact enhancers have been around for at least fifteen years. This thread is a little bit like Boy Scouts looking at their first Playboy.
“Stereo is the future of audio!” - excitable audiophile, 1955
Why not get excited about something that actually makes significant, clearly audible, improvements? Isn’t that what this hobby is all about? It’s supposed to be fun! What a bunch of wet blankets. You're so worried that somebody might be taking you for a ride, that you lose the joy of it all.
I am am having a great time listening and trying out new music. The only complaint I have is that I am listening longer into the night and losing sleep but that is on me.
For those who have tried, can you describe which part of the SR Black Duplex you have pasted TC on? I am planning on getting the electrician who installed my duplex over to remove it as well as the distributor box for me to paste the TC.
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