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In Reply to: RE: silver treatment posted by cdc on January 16, 2008 at 11:10:54
Agree with cdc on the break-in time. Makes A/Bs a real PITA, though. You can get an over-all flavor, I suspect, if you go back and forth (another real PITA, too!) so it's worth trying anyway. But as with all things audio, break-in time must be considered when evaluating. Thanks to cdc for reminding everyone of that!
Interesting findings on the QS Gold, cdc. Heard good things about their stuff, but never tried it. Hell, anyone else interested should probably try them all, too, and see which ones they like in their own system, and report back. As always, YMMV!
Follow Ups:
PITA is a nice way of putting it if treating an entire A/V system. Especially if going inside gear! I just re-read your post. I am trying to remember my experience with Silclear. The only thing I remember is that I liked the Walker SST better at the time. If you like the Silclear, you will be thrilled with the Quick Silver Gold. In my system, Quick Silver Gold puts the Walker SST to shame. Quick Silver Gold is much more expensive then Silclear, but dude it is worth every cent. Especially if you have a nice system. Peace out...
Chris
cdc-
Checked out your system. SWEET! Looks like a HT delight. Way cool! Hope you enjoy the hell out of it often!
DEFINITELY will look into the QS Gold. (I suspect that there isn't any gold in it, either.) If I recall, the guy who makes it used to be a partner with RAM, but I could be wrong there. A re-do of the whole system's contacts is quite daunting, but may be worth an afternoon to invest if it yields the results you suggest it might. The Silclear's been just fine for me, as I use it mostly to prevent oxidation and not because it had an overwhelming positive effect sonically. But I use such friggin' small amounts of the stuff, maybe that's why I don't hear a huge difference. The difference I hear is just a little more openess, airiness and detail, but without any glare (thankfully!) I'll have to try this QS Gold sometime. If I do, I'll certainly let you know!
Thanks for the great post, BTW. I LOVE IT when folks share their audio experiences. It's so nice! What a great community we have here. And thanks again for your contributions. I know they got me thinking!
You are welcome. I should update my system specs on AA. My system is more complex now. Tweaking my system has been my main hobby this year. Every chance I get, tweaking the system is all I do and enjoy/listen to the system.
You are right, you don't use much of the contact enhancer. But then again, it depends on how complex your system is. I also get inside the components and treat fuses, IEC connections (many of my IECs are Furutech with screw down terminals), signal and power jumpers, inside of power cord connections, all power socket blades, video connections, basically any mechanical metal to metal connection. Since you do not use a lot, you may want to see if you can get 2-3 friends to go in with you.
One other thing I found to be very effective. Alan Maher taught me this trick about a year ago... Lightly polish the mechanical connection with polishing steel wool and Caig ProGold 100% solution or Caig ProGold G5. Buff with a cotton pad. At this point, the connector will be really shiny (like it was polished...lol) Then remove any traces of the ProGold with rubbing alcohol and then apply the Quicksilver Gold. You will hear a difference. The polishing before use or before Quicksilver Gold application seems to lower the noise floor. The polishing of the connection and then use of the Quicksilver Gold is a very nice and inexpensive upgrade to a system.
Chris
cdc-
Been polishing for years with that Flitz blue goop and a dremel mounted with a bristle brush, followed by a good rubbing with the Flitz rag. A gazillion RPMs for a few minutes with the dremel and Wow! Also, no scratching or scoring! And talk about shiny! So I couldn't agree more with you and Alan on how to prepare connectors (and now you know why it takes me a full afternoon to re-do my connectors!) And yes, I clean and treat all those areas you mentioned, at least to the extent they exist in my system. (Again, that's why it takes 5 hours!) You can't skimp on the cleaning, or why do it?
As for the Caig ProGold, I'm glad Alan has you strip that stuff off before going any further. I cannot understand why people like to leave that stuff on, as it just destroys the sound quality in my system. (It IS good for stripping gunk off, though.) In fact, a friend in the industry who is good friends with an engineer over at Hoffman's remixing/recording facility here in LA, said he told the engineer (who shall remain nameless) what I thought about ProGold, and the engineer agreed completely that ProGold rolls off the high frequencies, diffuses the mid-range and fattens up the bass. (Gee, no wonder it's so popular!) In his words, it simply gets between connection surfaces and adds a euphonic (?) distortion that many audiophiles find beneficial to their systems. (Unfortunately for me, not so beneficial in my system, that is!)
The use of these products from Caig to strip stuff away is just fine, but to leave it on is a mistake, IMHO. Another example: when I got my new tubes from ARC for my highly modified CL 150's, I couldn't believe how shitty they sounded. Rolled-off highs and inner detailing, diffuse mids and a bloated, tubby bass. So I called ARC and found out that they treat ALL their tube's pins with ProGold before sending them out. Great! So there I was, cleaning each friggin' tube pin (and that's a LOT of tube pins!) into the wee hours of the night. You can bet I was enjoying EVERY minute of it (Like Maxwell Smart always said, "... AND LOVING IT!") Oh well, one man's drink ..........
Will definitely check out that QS Gold stuff soon. Thanks again.
BTW, it sure sounds like you LOVE tweaking! GREAT! Have you been to tweakaudio.com (i.e., Ric Schultz' website for EVS)? If you love tweaking, you'll love Ric, I can guarantee it! Check him out, he's super reasonable in pricing and very, very tweaky. Lots to learn at that site, no doubt. Free tweaks that work are always nice. And his tweaks WORK! You'll be stoked, I promise.
Best wishes,
Winston
I will checkout tweakaudio.com. Thanks for the heads up!
Best Regards,
Chris
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