Budget improvements

If we told you that a couple of hours spent just once or twice a year would improve your system by about 10% what would that be worth to you, If you have a substantial system then this could be an improvement akin to spending thousands of dollars for a couple of hours of your time.

The most neglected part of your system is probably the connections, everything from plugs and fuses to interconnects speaker cables and valve bases. A dirty connection can detract, most dramatically, from the performance of even the most carefully planned audio or video system. Many among us simply plug in our cables and/or equipment and forget them. An unfortunate circumstance that should be avoided at all costs.

During the last decade people have began to realise the level of improvement that a good cable can make to a top system. Indeed, the sonic potential of the system hinges upon the quality of the interconnection. With our attention focused upon the cables, we've unfortunately overlooked the weakest link in the chain - the connection itself.

The single most important thing you can do to insure a good connection, is simply to clean all mating surfaces. You know the old adage - cleanliness is next to Godliness - here we might modify that statement to read: cleanliness is prerequisite to good sound and/or good picture quality. Unfortunately, many obstacles stand in our way.

Your brand new cables, can often benefit from a good clean before being connected to your system. Why? A variety of oils and chemicals are used in the manufacture of connectors. Many manufacturers do not pay as much attention to these small details as some of our brands do. Often only a basic attempt has been made to remove these contaminants before the connectors are affixed to your cables.

Clean, tight connections are essential to good performance! I cannot stress this fact too strongly. I firmly believe that cleaning all the connections in a high end audio or video system is absolutely imperative if you expect anything approaching full performance potential.

The perfect solvent would scrupulously clean the surface, leaving no residue. Over the years people have used a wide variety of solvents to clean their connectors, a few work well, most perform quite poorly. While there are many products available designed to clean the contact surfaces of electrical connections, few have found favor with the audiophile community. Isopropyl alcohol is an inexpensive option, but the improvements it offers are minimal at best. Many companies produce good products such as Caig, Kontak, Walker, but in out opinion the best from the final audio quality is Audiotop, it is a very comprehensive system that never fails to satisfy.

Out of all the products we have used, one stands as the clear winner - Audiotop.

So, assuming you have your Audiotop in hand, we can proceed.

Keep equipment seperated from electrical current prior to cleaning!

Recommendation: We recommend you to clean exterior contacts (permanent connections) approximately every 8 to 10 months, interior contacts every year. For "open" tube socket or places with strong air pollution we recommend cleaning in intervals of approximately 6 to 8 months. After cleaning, let your equipment run on low volume for at least half an hour, since altered current flow will need a new burn-in. On this occassion optimize the positioning of your equipment as we know from experience how the cables run and/or the equipment stands has a substantial influence on the quality of the music rendition.

Warning! Disconnect mains before cleaning interior contacts and "open" tubesockets. We don't take any responsibility for any damage that may be caused by inappropriate use of audiotop products!

Characteristics: With the Connect-Workstation you achieve the best possible electric contact of plugs, switches, tube pins, etc. Outstanding characteristics are the extremely low surface to surface electrical resistance! Further characteristics are: larger and thus more reliable contact areas, less sensitive to aggressive chemicals and organic solvents, protection from corrosion and wear (particularly important with only few micrometers thin coating), and withstanding temperatures up to 180° C (important for tubes).
Thus, if you really want to optimize a component or a cable, then you can’t not clean with the Connect-Workstation! We assure you that the interfaces thereafter permit a genuine reference, because the potential of a system goes far beyond the quality of amplifier or other components alone!

RCA CONNECTIONS

Male RCA - First, check for a good, tight connection. If the male connector is loose when connected to the female, tighten the outer ground flanges of the male plug using a pair of small needle-nose pliers. Bend the edge of these flanges inward to tightly grip the female connector. Now let’s clean.

First remove the dirt and the grease deposits with Connect1 with the help of the accessories. Let it dry before you continue with the next cleaning stage.

Female RCA - Check for a tight fit between the male and female connectors. Tightening the inner (hot) conductor on most female RCA's is a bit tricky, but can be done with a small jewelers screwdriver and a great deal of patience.

First remove the dirt and the grease deposits with Connect1 with the help of the accessories. Let it dry before you continue with the next cleaning stage.

BNC and XLR - Basic process as above. Clean all mating surfaces.

SPEAKER CONNECTIONS

Speaker terminals and amplifier binding posts are much easier to clean than RCA connectors, simply because they are larger and easier to access. First remove the dirt and the grease deposits with Connect1 with the help of the accessories. Let it dry before you continue with the next cleaning stage.. A small brush may be helpful in removing stubborn debris if the connectors are heavily soiled.

Be sure to clean the female receptacles in the back of the binding posts if you plan to use banana connectors (not recommended) on your speaker cables. Clean the spade lugs in a similar manner. If you are using pure copper or tin-plated copper lugs, you may want to give them a light sanding with emery cloth if heavy oxidation is present. Be sure to follow the sanding with a thorough cleaning.

OTHER CONNECTIONS

Within most systems exist many more, sometimes hidden, connections that should be cleaned. These include: Tube pins and sockets, fuses and fuse holders, cartridge pins and headshell leads, DIN connectors on tonearms, A/C plugs on line cords, plug-in connections within the components themselves on circuit boards and internal power supply wiring connections. Note: Do not attempt to clean anything inside components unless you feel qualified! You could be dealing with potentially dangerous voltages. Be certain that you unplug all components, allowing their power supplies time to discharge overnight, before attempting any internal cleaning.

Now for the bad news, you have to do it all again Stage 2:

Audiotop Connect2: Premium cleaner (second stage) / 30 ml.

Instructions: Perform cleaning with Connect2 in the same way as the basic cleaning - but this time without using files. Let it dry. Afterwards the contacts are analytically purified.

Last but most important Stage 3:

Audiotop Connect3: Additive (third stage) / 10 ml.

Formula: Non specified substance with a defined viscosity.

Instructions: Brush (very economically*) all contacts and subsequently join all contacts, sink the tubes into the sockets, etc. Now you will experience all the above mentioned characteristics!

* It is sufficient to coat the contacts with a very thin film. Drops that miss the contact point and fall beside it, will have no influence on the operation of the device. In reality this can hardly be avoided with "open" tube socket, due to the force of gravity. If you want to remove surplus additive, in the case of cinch-contacts use a clean q-tip for the isolation and remove the remainder with a paper tissue.

Characteristics: Exclusive development and technology by Audiotop Products! Based on an analytically pure gold surface, the resistance is reduced by about a factor of 3 after the cleaning and coating by Connect3 - this affects substantially the current flow and the impulse behavior in electronics. Connect3 has a very strong polar connection to gold and this leads to this unique conductivity, lack of noise and protection from corrosion and wear! Naturally this also applies to other metals. The improvement functions for up to 1000 connections or 10000 uses of the rotary switch.

If you have never cleaned the connections in your system, you are in for a shock. Nearly all aspects of system performance improve - clarity, transparency soundstage, etc., etc. DO IT NOW! You will be quite amazed how much improvement is possible by performing this simple task.