In article ,
ScottW wrote:
On May 29, 3:52=A0pm, Audio_Empire wrote:
In article ,
ScottW wrote:
On May 28, 7:36 am, "Peter"
wrote:
For quite some time now I have been very unhappy with the sound of my
stereo
system which consists primarily of Bryston components.
Today I had the idea to clean all of the male ends of my balanced XLR
interconnect cables and the Bryston male balanced XLR inputs, which I
proceeded to do with cotton buds and 99% isopropyl alcohol.
The results are amazing, and with indeed very little effort, I believe
that
I reclaimed the original excellent sound of my stereo system.
I am somewhat perplexed by these results since the ends of all of my
balanced XLR cables are gold plated and I believe the Bryston balanced
XLR
input jacks likewise. It seems to me that a gold to gold connection
should
not deteriorate, and hence I wonder what is going on here?
If done right, you are correct. Gold to gold contact should be
reliable.
Unfortunately doing it right sometimes costs just a little bit more.
Heres a simple discussion of basic connector gold plating from Amp.
http://www.te.com/documentation/whit...f/aurulrep.pdf
I also wonder how often the above described cleaning should be
necessary in
order to maintain top-notch sound?
If your problem is due to oxides from exposed base metal....you're
probably
looking at increasing frequency required with each cleaning.
You might find that simply reseating the connectors is sufficient to
reestablish
a good connection.
I'd look at the pins for signs of exposed base metal and if
visible...replace the the connector.
Perhaps others have had similar experiences and results?
I had a problem that I initially thought was a flaky connection on an
RCA but it turned
out the overtight monster connector cracked a solder joint on the
board...even though the connector
assembly was mechanically attached to the rear wall. =A0 Connectors can
be "too tight" for their own good.
ScottW
I still say that XLRs provide a very reliable, gas-tight connection and
as long as the connections are left alone (not made and broken multiple
times) there is simply no way that cleaning something that doesn't need
cleaning will actually do anything more than introduce the placebo
effect into the equation.
I generally agree with this...if the connectors were clean when mated
and are of a proper design. Sadly in the audio realm...all bets are
off.
I agree but in this case, the Bryston connectors are of very good
quality both on their equipment and their interconnect cables. If the OP
mated these connectors only once - when he assembled the system, then
they simply didn't become dirty just sitting there, doing what they were
supposed to do - transfer an audio signal from one piece of equipment to
another.
Now, if he had said that he cleaned and
applied Stabilant 22 (Tweek) on all connection surfaces, then I might
believe that a real improvement in sound was noticed by the OP.
Now you've gone off the farm 
.
First you insist that all gold plated XLRs are created equal and
will provide a reliable gold to gold gas tight connection.
My first question is...why does a well plated gold contact need to
be "gas-tight"? Not really important, just a knit.
Second and more important question....what will Stabilant do to
improve a well designed, highly reliable, gold to gold connection?
Good Questions. Gas-tight connections are what you get with XLRs. The
Military and Aerospace specs demand it and XLRs are designed to provide
it. A gas-tight connection insures that air-bourn contaminates cannot
get into the connection and compromise it.
Stabilant 22 is a contact enhancer. Even in a gas-tight, gold
connection, less than a third of the mating surfaces are actually
touching one another (on a molecular level). This is irrespective of the
type of connector or how tightly they are mated.
These polymer contact enhancers can improve performance and
reliability of poorly designed, poorly plated, dissimilar metal
contacts used in harsh environments.
But to claim they will make a good gold contact sound better!
It's crap.
All gold does is keep the contact surfaces from corroding. It does
nothing to increase the actual % of contact between the two gold
surfaces.
Here's a reference from stabilant that should tell you all you need to
know.
http://stabilant.com/techt22h.htm
Well, if you have a car, it probably has Stabilant in the electrical
connections somewhere. On my Vintage Alfa Romeo, An application of it
has corrected a dodgy electronic speedometer connection, has increased
the speed of my electric windows (old Italian electric windows are slow
anyway and were when new. Ask any Ferrari 308 owner), and fixed an
intermittent tail-light connection. It works. The DOD, NASA, and SAE all
agree that it is worthwhile addition to most any connection.
My first encounter with the stuff was when I worked as a cable engineer
at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. We tested it thoroughly (I
didn't know what it was; It just had a Mil-Spec number) It worked well
and seemed to be linear well up into the microwave range where it
started to cause some problems. It was later that I found it it was
called Stabilant. We used the stuff on all DC up to VHF range
connections for the Trident model Polaris missile and included it in the
maintenance kits that Trident techs used.
This one actually claims a measurable electrical improvement but uses
PCB edge connectors.
http://stabilant.com/techt24h.htm
There is almost nothing in common between a well made connector and
PCB edge plated finger contacts and there is nothing more widely
variable in materials and quality than PCBs. I can say that even if
you accept this data...extrapolating to any connection...especially
any made by a reliable connector manufacturer is bullocks.
I would note that even connectors sometimes need to be cleaned before
use as they may have been stored poorly or repackaged by distributors
in packages that with adhesives or plastics that out gas some nasty
stuff.
Most of the time the wiping force is enough to remove or break through
and the stability of gold takes it from there..but a good contact
cleansing doesn't hurt.
In the normally benign home environment, a good gold to gold mated
contact is probably better left alone as you said.
I'm not sure I'd ever want an admitted non-linear electrically active
polymer in my contacts. Check that...I'm sure I don't want it.
That's up to you. While I don't pretend to know whether or not my system
SOUNDS better as a result of using Stabilant, I do know that it does
enhance the mating surface area of every RCA connection in the system
(and RCAs need all the help that they can get - no matter how fancy).
Removing it is easy, any alcohol-based contact cleaner will remove it.
BTW, my comment to the OP was not meant to be any kind of endorsement of
Stanilant, BTW. I just meant that cleaning contacts that don't need
cleaning couldn't POSSIBLY result in any real sound improvement, but
possibly, just possibly, applying Stabilant 22 could make some
difference. and one would have a better chance of getting a positive
result by "Tweeking" those already clean, tight connections than one
would by simply cleaning them.
Audio_Empire
ScottW
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