How often do you clean cables? And which types do you clean most often?

@ randy-11 "Golden Retriever slobber will work wonders..."

It would seem, from that comment, that you have little to no experience with Golden Retrievers. I say that for two key reasons:
* Goldens do not tend to "slobber"
* Goldens are friendly to all

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Do you have a Golden Retriever? And if so, do you let him or her near your audio system?

Dave, who says his dogs know not to go near the equipment

I use this, maybe annually.

@douglas_schroeder

Ok.  Put in proper context, I humbly retract my troll accusation.   Thanks for taking the time to explain!

Hello Doug,  The efficacy of contact cleaners is proved quite simply: by the evidence of crud and oxidation on the Q-tip after cleaning. This is one area of the hobby that doesn't require blind testing. I only wish that reviewers of cables would ensure before commenting that all terminations have been cleaned.  Ditto fuses.       

dgarretson, imo the efficacy of contact cleaners would be in the purported sonic change, not the amount of oxidation removed. I suspect that it might not pass my Law of Efficacy. But, rather than simply prejudge I will conduct a comparison between two identical sets of speaker cables, one with cleaned terminations and the other uncleaned.

To the community: How many of you who disdain comparisons of cables have done an A/B test between two sets of identical cables, i.e. one treated with contact cleaner and the other not? If you have not done so, if all you have done is clean the ends and put them back in, I don’t think you have all that much to declare about contact cleaners. Obviously, your impressions could be due to confirmation bias.

I plan on doing that very comparison. I have a temperature controlled, low humidity environment for listening, so would anticipate very little to be lifted from the terminations. We will see...  BTW, my cables are in pretty consistent use, so there is no obvious build up or crud on them. But, I am still willing to try the contact cleaner to see what will transpire. I have asked others to believe that there can be a difference in Ethernet cables, so I should not condemn the use of contact cleaners without trying it.  :)