“The system remains the same. The song remains the same, too”
The connection between the listener and song (music), however...
The connection between the listener and song (music), however...
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
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
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Robert is coming over tonight. He was here last Friday night and couldn't keep his feet still. Toe bone connected to the ankle bone. Ankle bone connected to the knee bone. Knee bone connected to the .... Damn, sit still will ya? Based upon the improvement over the past day or so, I'll have to chain Robert down tonight. This new "accessory" has me wondering once again... how much more information is hiding in those LP grooves and digital bytes? Frank |
Well I sure hope this new footer, mat, topper or disc is not crazy expensive. I do tire of the outrageous pricing we see in high end audio. I am as open minded as they come in terms of new technology in audio, but I also am reasoned and reasonable. The pricing of tweaks and all things HEA is just getting too high. What is too high? Well, it should be affordable. What is affordable? I guess each individual will decide that for themselves. |
The synergy between the TC and this “thing” is similar to the SQ gains obtained when I installed and broke in the the AU24 SX Audience interconnect, in my main system, about a year and a half ago. I am so glad that it was in place before I applied TC and this “thing” because they together have gradually created a more powerful musical experience that I did not think possible in my system. Enjoying the music, rc |
Source, Setup, Room; Pay attention to these. You will find that all these “tweaks” just tweak your wallet.Source-check! Setup-check! Room-check! tweaked my wallet-double check! lol (but I've read worth every penny, that's what matters) Sale #67-check! Can't wait to try it. |
Thank you Frank, I hope to join you in your listening room next week. On another post about speakers under $10K, I strongly urged the poster to consider used speakers, in particular, Legacy Focus and Signature IIIs. When available, they are excellent speakers the latter especially easy to drive, both with large room filling sound at 15% to 25% the price of $10K new speakers. |
The Synergistic Research Blue fuse has it's own formula of graphene applied to the fuse body. Adding Total Contact to the ends of the Blue fuse did not further improve the sound in my system. Total Contact has improved my system's sound after being applied in multiple other areas of the system. David Pritchard |
I applied Total Contact to where the Synergistic Research Blue fuse makes contact with the fuse holder. I removed the Total Contact from the fuse and fuse holder after 7 days of listening. I preferred the sound of the untreated Blue fuse. My entire system has been treated with Total Contact and this is the first location I did not experience a positive change. So far I have treated the entire Circuit Breaker box, wall outlet connections, power cords, interconnects, connections and components inside the SACD player and amplifier. I have found after treating over 100 connections or components in my system that it took longer for the sound to improve - stabilize with the last few parts I treated. I did not paste my entire system in one outing but did one area at a time and then waited a month or more before proceeding to the next step. I think Total Contact is a great product and I am glad I have treated my systems with it. David Pritchard |
tlong1958 ... Welcome back to the train wreck. :-) Believe me, even when very well medicated Robert still dances between the speakers. Oh wait .... could it be the medication that's doing it? With David Pritchard's experience with the fuses, I'm beginning to suspect that with so many items pasted with TC, it has an effect on the break-in time. I also have tons of things pasted with TC, some of which would seem ridiculous to most of you, but very, in fact, VERY effective. I noticed when initially using the new "accessory," there was an immediate degradation to the overall sound. It took the better part of a day just to start coming around. More on this later when Tim releases the product. I'll do a review then. Its really exciting as others have said here. Frank |
I've found this thread late so it took some work to go through. Thanks OP and others who shared "valid" experiences. Hope you guys trying out the new item get permission *soon" to disclose more. You are killing me with suspense lol. Are you allowed to give "clues" of what it is or how it does what it does? Inquiring minds want to know! |
Stray_cat, If you have not yet started using the TC I would start having fun with that, since in my experience it is the best value in tweaks that I have come across in my experience. It can be used on interconnects, power chords and other places that others have mentioned in prior posts. Doing that should bring you a great deal of satisfaction in the way your music is played your existing system. Have fun, rc |
Thanks resolution1 I'm sure I will. I have the sequence planned out, every system power and speaker connection first, low level next, and will progress to the insides of the electronics like some have done. It will be interesting to see if one order is enough, but I see it keeping me busy on the week of the 4th I have off work. Is the new item based on graphene as well or does it act more on unseen "forces"? |
Hello all, New to the Audiogon experience, but thoroughly enjoying it. Don’t know if anyone yet has mentioned mad scientist audio? They sell a graphene product as mentioned here: http://www.madscientist-audio.com/graphene_ce.html Dont know if there really ally is a ranking of quality or superiority as it would relate to the refinement of such a product, but this version seems a much more reasonable price! Happy listening |
Stray_cat, I treated my office and main system and still have one third of my TC tube stored in my freezer. I did not go inside my gear, so I do not know how much you might need. I treated all my systems’ wall plugs, power conditioners, power strips, power chords, computer usb cable, speaker cables, tv, cable connections, and all interconnects. As as for the new “item” I do not know what technology it is based on so I will have to wait along with you for an explanation. But I will say that is easy to use and it has given the music a more organic effect on the CD player’s presentation. Have fun, rc |
Okay ... the review on Tim Mrock’s new product is up and running. Also available for sale here on A’gon. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/omega-e-mat-another-fabulous-tweak Frank |
Sweet, more left to be used later on other systems, cars, bulbs, appliances, breaker box etc. My curiosity is finally satisfied! My guess about the new item was in the ballpark. Impressions of the item give great insight into what we can expect. I had sticker shock with TC but sensed "potential" long term value specially since having gone through 2 bottles of cramolin red since ’87 superceded by de-oxit and pro-gold a few years back which have no audio effects (to my ears), it doesn’t come close to my sticker shock with this one lol. |
Stray_cat, If you read my much earlier post I had just got done tweaking my main and office systems with Audience power conditioners, power chords, interconnects, shunatta venum defenders and stillpoints. With that in mind, TC was the least expensive tweak of all the above tweaks, considering that it treats and upgrades the Sound Quality of your aoudio and visual system(s). Further, I have not heard any negative or reduction in Sound Quality over the last four months. Have fun, rc |
I just placed my order. I have previously used the Walker audio contact enhancer. I thought that it made a subtle improvement. I have just moved and I removed all the contact enhancer from Walker audio before setting the system up and running the new dedicated audio lines. I look forward to applying the TC starting with the breaker box, outlets and power cords. I believe this is my first forum post by the way. |
Hi David, I don’t recall seeing any exposed connections the few times I’ve had to open the breaker door to reset a tripped breaker. Which (and where) at the breaker box? Simply shutting the main breaker, unscrewing wires etc? To hear the improvements, I’d have to live through it first lol. One other thing, is there a risk of voiding insurance coverage? (if you or anyone might know) |
I worked side by side with an electrician when treating the breakers with TC. He would remove the breakers, one at a time, and turn them upside down. After I applied TC, he placed them into the same slot in the box. Every breaker was treated, not just the ones responsible for music reproduction. We were done in 20 minutes and intentionally did not replace the breaker box cover. |
@stray_cat The insurance question which is a great and important one to ask! First UL certification and listing will be done on TC by years end. Once your electrician opens that panel, and changes just one thing, he is now responsible for the panel, including all previous work. In the event of a fire, last electrician in, his insurance would fight with yours. In the end no UL listing, both insurance companies would be looking for me. The odds of my product contributing to a electrical fire is ZERO. Some electricians will not use it without a UL cannot blame them in the least. Actually a fully treated electrical system, is as safe as it gets. |
Thank you David and Tim. I'd been considering replacing some outlets. A good opportunity to get into the breaker box with an electrician on-site. I’m thinking that treating/servicing the box will in reality LOWER electrical risk. Although a slightly different product because it migrated well and was not easily removed, the now discontinued (for environmental compliance) Cramolin Red claimed treatment of 1A UL listed switches brought UL ratings up to 5A. I found a few off label uses including soaking automotive alternator & generator brushes in it. |