Hi Chris- not sure about the Total Contact, but have experience with the Walker SST - that is NOT a cleaner- it was a contact enhancer that was silver based and some sort of oil/lubricant that made it easier to apply, but that dried out over time and made the stuff a lot of work to remove. I used Kontak for years, but since IT is no longer available ( at least in the US), I now use Blue Horizon Clean-It. Same drill - twice a year take apart everything, clean all contacts, and put back together. With all the pollutants in the air, no such thing as "apply once" as far as I know.
What is preferred/best contact cleaner these days?
I have been using Caig Industries DeOxit contact cleaners for many years now. I am tremendously happy with the results after reapplying every 6 months or so. I am shocked at how much better my audio equipment sounds. The equipment really comes alive and becomes very exciting to listen to.
Several days ago, though I stumbled across a discussion in this forum about a contact cleaner than never needs to be reapplied and is evidently just short of miraculous, Total Contact - Perfect Path, in how it improves the sound. I went to purchase some and was very dismayed to learn it is no longer sold. Then I read about another one, Walker Audio Extreme SST that sounded good, but it is no longer being sold either.
Is there a general group consensus on the best contact cleaner available at this time? Preferably one that only needs applied once. :). Thanks. Chris
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well, @audphile1, the OP states at the very beginning,
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for anyone following, make sure that you use a contact cleaner that is ALSO a LUBRICANT. And, there are versions for faders, plastics WD40 is NOT a lubricant, it dissolves rust/corrosion, that's it. Audio Classics does not clean sliders with felt or foam strips, the chemicals dissolve them, they suggest just working them full range frequently. OR, skill/tools needed (if/when a diagnosed problem) take them apart, plan on removing and replacing felt or foam. Around the edge of vintage back-lit tuner faceplates, the foam is often dissolved by age, and disturbed by disassembly. I used a black shoelace to block edge light for my Fisher 500C’s tuner glass. Another one, I improvised, some soft u shaped strip that pushed onto the edge all around, something hanging around the shop.. Be very careful cleaning the tuner glass with printed info, very light touch, a camera-lens cloth, perhaps a speck of Windex on that smooth cloth, no other chemicals or textures, avoid perfection here. |
I replaced Kontak with MG Chemicals 409B-340G Electrosolve Zero Residue Contact Cleaner (previously used Cramolin/Caig-Deoxit stuff). It's doubled in price over that past 10+ years, but it is still a bargain for what you get (easily as good as Kontak - which I suspected may have been a Naphtha based dry cleaning fluid marked up a bazillion times).
DeKay |
+1 on DeKay posting re: MG Chemicals 409B-340G. I recently have been using American Recorder S-721-H, which is "Formulated to clean audio/video/computer tape heads, capstans, guides & rollers." I used Kontak for years until price and limited availability became an issue. I avoid lubricant or conditioning agents. |
I use Stabilant 22 contact treatment (it is not a contact cleaner). Stabilant 22’s primary function is preventing or slowing oxidation. Important for inaccessible avionics, etc. There’s no BS marketing with this product. It does what it’s supposed to do. No more. No less. Cleaning is easily done with 70% isopropyl alcohol, although Electrosolve is an excellent suggestion.
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+1 @tvad |
+1 @tvad
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This is a very interesting topic for me. Until I read this I totally forgot about cleaning my contacts for a few years now. I found what I was using and it was Kontak. I still have a half bottle left. I will do all my connections today. I was surprised to hear that this is not sold in the USA anymore. I also googled Total Contact Perfect Path. The owner of it died and so did his product. It was originally listed for $299 which is very expensive when it was available. I also saw it listed on AG that was sold a few years ago for $1200. lol. Even for $300 it is a ridiculous price to me. Kontak is selling but not in the USA for $28. And they will ship to USA. Don’t know how much shipping is but shouldn’t be much. As far as Deoxit there are so many to choose from. Which Deoxit does everyone use ? |
........Deoxit to me left a residue when I used it at one point in my '' career '' . Kontak in my system had the best results and amazed at the gunk that was on the pipe cleaner after using it. The issue is / was with Kontak is that if the bottle is not totally sealed it does evaporate. 1971gto455ho Typical response from this member who is here just to spread his negative words of non-wisdom.Funny how my friends day back in the day used liked the GTO's but always laugh as he does now with audio by always saying ; ' GTO ...Get The Tools Out ''...... |
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My audio friends and I have used the Q45T for the past several years. Yes, it is expensive, but it is the finest sounding of all the contact enhancers including Total Contact, Quicksilver Gold, that we have tried. Apply once and probably the only time you’d ever need to apply it again would be on AC plugs that you occasionally disconnect from the wall outlets prior to a storm. I’ve disconnected my 4 plugs from wall outlets about 15-20 times over the course of using the Q45T and still haven’t felt the need to reapply. The stuff stays on well and remains slightly moist so no drying out. The sound just keeps getting better the longer it’s on for up to 4-6 months. You can argue with my opinion, but who cares. Try to find a better spent $345 for the gain in SQ in other ways. If your system is not seriously extensive, you can share a bottle with 2 and maybe 3 friends and hit ALL the contacts. Bob
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@dorkwad Have you and your friends tried Stabilant22? |
No we have not. We have read many comments from those who've used it and other enhancers and have been more impressed with both Total Contact and especially the Q45T. I have about 245 individual contacts to treat if you count each pin on a tube of which I have 9 tubes in my system. My friends and I are pretty heavy into trying out many different tweaks, many of which have raise the SQ of our systems considerably. If one of us tries something that really works great, we share it with the other two and it usually is a group home run. The Q45T is just one of them. If you are gonna go to all the trouble of treating all of your contacts, you'd really like to have as much prior info on the different choices as in my case, it's about a 3-4 hour job to do mine. Not something you want to have to do over and over. I'd pretty much guarantee that you'd love the results and even more as the weeks go by and it causes jumps in performance while you just sit there and enjoy the music. Good luck Bob |
Stabilant 22 is the concentrate and the Kit as previously mentioned allows you to do a proper dilution with alcohol and is then referred to as Stabilant 22A. I use pure Isopropyl (99.9%) from Amazon. It is a proven contact enhancer used in avionics, NASA, auto industry, etc. It does have a detergent and lubricating action. The alcohol evaporates very quickly leaving the Stabilant on your connectors, etc. I use it on every connection in my system. Using a very small brush is ideal. Overapplication is not the intent and will just waste the product. Nothing is equivalent or performs better.
Michael Dayton Wright invented Stabilant 22 and was famous for his XG10 Electrostatic Loudspeaker and so many other electronics and conventional loudspeakers. A brilliant fellow that I had the pleasure of knowing for many years. I believe that he held degrees in electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering from MIT. As a sidebar trivia, he was the first to use black enclosures for his electronics! His family continues to produce Stabilant 22. There are a number of papers that detail its actions in great detail. Check-out the Dayton Wright Hommage loudspeaker:
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@perazzi28, Good post. Thanks for the link, too. |
@dorkwad |
