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Imagine how your audio system might sound without any cartridge clips, RCA or speaker connectors or AC plugs. Everything is hard wired together! Imagining, unfortunately, is about as far as we can get. So the best we can do is keep those connections as scrupulously and spotlessly clean as humanly possible.
But there is one connection, out of all of them, that is the key to transparency: the AC plug. When it starts to oxidize and get dirty, the system often gets edgy and more than that, loses its see through quality. Losing that see through quality also affects that ability of the system to reproduce the sense of image palpability too and everything tends to flatten to a certain extent as well as losing that space between instruments.
I try to avoid the tell tale signs and clean the AC plugs on a regular basis. Every month, I clean the AC plugs with a Q-tip and Kontak and every two months or so, clean with Gorham silver polish, wash with distilled water (eg. a wet rag or paper towel) followed by a final cleaning with Kontak. (My experience with de-Oxit hasn't been very good; it just mucks up the sound no matter how much or little one uses.) I don't use any protective agents because in my experience they inevitably degrade sonics and choose to just clean on regular basis. Nor do I want to wait for a month for some paste to "settle" in. Normally cleaning doesn't normally take more than 10 or 15 minutes and it's really worth the effort no matter what level the system. Do it when you are bored and have nothing better to do! You'll be shocked by the improvement for an investment of say $45 (amortized over six or more months; the silver paste should last until it turns hard.)
But there is one connection, out of all of them, that is the key to transparency: the AC plug. When it starts to oxidize and get dirty, the system often gets edgy and more than that, loses its see through quality. Losing that see through quality also affects that ability of the system to reproduce the sense of image palpability too and everything tends to flatten to a certain extent as well as losing that space between instruments.
I try to avoid the tell tale signs and clean the AC plugs on a regular basis. Every month, I clean the AC plugs with a Q-tip and Kontak and every two months or so, clean with Gorham silver polish, wash with distilled water (eg. a wet rag or paper towel) followed by a final cleaning with Kontak. (My experience with de-Oxit hasn't been very good; it just mucks up the sound no matter how much or little one uses.) I don't use any protective agents because in my experience they inevitably degrade sonics and choose to just clean on regular basis. Nor do I want to wait for a month for some paste to "settle" in. Normally cleaning doesn't normally take more than 10 or 15 minutes and it's really worth the effort no matter what level the system. Do it when you are bored and have nothing better to do! You'll be shocked by the improvement for an investment of say $45 (amortized over six or more months; the silver paste should last until it turns hard.)
(sonically speaking)
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