[Peter]

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?

I also wonder how often the above described cleaning should be necessary in
order to maintain top-notch sound?

Perhaps others have had similar experiences and results?