Liquid CD treatments?

I've done the following:
Listened sequentially to the same CD as follows:
1) With no treatment, for the "baseline"
2) Then, after Shinola-->no discernible difference
3) Then same disc, after Auric Illuminator 2 AND the black marker on the edges and center as directed-->Subtle but definite improvement

HOWEVER, somebody claims to have a friend who tested Auric Illuminator on a "BLER" detector machine, or something like that, and that it INCREASED BLER, whereas the Shinola didn't (and I think he said Shinola decreased BLER).

So that's contradictory to the above "test" I ran. MAYBE, the black marker treatment in the Auric Illuminator kit helps, but the clear gooey stuff to coat the CD hurts, but who knows? I never tested with JUST the black marker treatment, so as far as I'm concerned......

it's still all a BLER to me.

Dred-

Nice setup. Couple thoughts FWIW.
I have an MF A300 integrated which I liked very much.
I had it modded and much of the electronic glare was removed and the noise floor was reduced dramatically.
The reason I state this is that the front end is certainly critical (I had that modded too), but so are the other electronics downstream.
I am a big believer in modding front ends and pre/power for better performance.
Redbook can be great, but like a good LP system (such as you have) it takes some work.

I have to agree with Lkdog, Shine Ola has worked wonders for me, and it is alcohol and oil free, so it will not etch discs as Armor All did to me (It etched over 500 discs of mine, making most of them unplayable).

A group of us had a friend do some actual testing of various cleaners and "treatments", as discussed here, http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1096407732&read&keyw&zzshine=ola

Best,

Jack

I have used Auric Illuminator and found that if not applied properly it leaves a cloudy film on the CD. I switched to Shine Ola and not only does it not leave any residue, it is easy to use, and I have noticed some sound enhancements.

Another vote for Shine Ola. I have a new complete Auric Illuminator kit if anyone wants to save a little money.