In article ,
ScottW wrote:
On Jun 1, 5:36*am, Audio_Empire wrote:
In article ,
*ScottW wrote:
On May 29, 3:52=A0pm, Audio_Empire wrote:
In article ,
ScottW wrote:
[ Excessive quotation snipped. -- dsr ]
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.
All that depends on many factors, contact forces, surface roughness,
material softness etc. The question remains...if a good contact with
uohms of resistivity is established....what improvement is required?
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.
% of contact is meaningless. When contact resistance is negligible
making it even more neglible is....well....negligible.
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.
As I said...in harsh environments (including high vibration) the
answer is it can improve reliability. It won't make a significant
change in contact resistance of a good contact.
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.
Ultra high reliability required for long term storage and short
duration mega high vibration environments. Zero in common with home
audio use.
Well, when you put it that way, You are right. Undeniably and
unequivocally. I never thought of it that way. Yes, a, clean, tight
connection is both close to zero resistance and immune from contaminates
you are right again when you say that any RCA connection has more
contact surface area than any switch in the signal path. But if you
"Tweek" one channel and not the other, you will hear a difference in an
ad-hoc blind test (have your significant other switch between them).
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