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How Often Do You Clean Cable Plugs and Electrical Connections

R

ryder

pfm Member
I don’t have a fixed schedule and have forgotten the last time I cleaned the connections. I just did some cleaning yesterday and the photos below show the cotton buds after the speaker cable banana plugs and connections at the speaker and amp binding posts were cleaned.

Deoxit D5 used for the cleaning.

Amp & Speaker Binding Posts
Cotton bud on far left is clean, the rest were used for the cleaning.
Screenshot-20210901-200047.jpg


IMG-20210901-163324.jpg


Speaker Cable Banana Plugs
Cotton bud on far left is clean, the rest were used for the cleaning.
IMG-20210901-163426.jpg


Result : Remarkably cleaner sound quality. :D
 
If a connector is gas tight it should not need cleaning. Many signal connectors have very limited insertion cycle lifetimes - the gold plating gets scraped off. Then you have to keep cleaning them.
 
I clean mine every time I disconnect and then reconnect - that is not very often. Sometimes it could be years between cleans.
 
ryder said:
I don’t have a fixed schedule and have forgotten the last time I cleaned the connections. I just did some cleaning yesterday and the photos below show the cotton buds after the speaker cable banana plugs and connections at the speaker and amp binding posts were cleaned.

Deoxit D5 used for the cleaning.

Amp & Speaker Binding Posts
Cotton bud on far left is clean, the rest were used for the cleaning.
Screenshot-20210901-200047.jpg


IMG-20210901-163324.jpg


Speaker Cable Banana Plugs
Cotton bud on far left is clean, the rest were used for the cleaning.
IMG-20210901-163426.jpg


Result : Remarkably cleaner sound quality. :D
Click to expand...

What kind of environment are you living in?
 
I did mine for the first time in five years a few days ago inc all the tubes because I was seriously that bored and stuck inside with Covid, and the cottons buds didnt look anywhere near as gross as those :)
 
Last edited:
thegreathopper said:
I did clean both ends of my 79 strand speaker cables back in the times of New Hifi sound 1985ish but not since.
Click to expand...
Stranded wire rarely makes a gas tight contact. I suppose the best results stranded wire should be with a ferrule crimped onto fresh cable. You can then clamp down hard on the ferrule. Don't solder the end and clamp on the solder, it creeps under pressure
 
I clean the connections with Kontak, particularly when new. Just for fun I tried an Amazon Basics interconnect. It was awful and soon was replaced by my Mogami. That was awful too, then I cleaned the connections and normality was restored. New gold plated connections need a good clean, especially cheap ones... Why?
 
Assuming that it really is gold, and there is a lot of fraud, gold to gold still requires a clean surface and a little pressure
 
ryder said:
I just did some cleaning yesterday and the photos below show the cotton buds after the speaker cable banana plugs and connections at the speaker and amp binding posts were cleaned.

Result : Remarkably cleaner sound quality. :D
Click to expand...
Oh. I was expecting a reduction in the amount of inky blackness.
 
whenever i buy s/h kit i always clean the connections, it takes seconds and always worth it . sometimes quite mucky
 
I never thought about it until recently when swapping a new amp in. The banana plugs to my surprise were covered in ‘shite’ from, I guess, oxidisation…will clean more regularly now
 
Never mind the shite on the components but is there any one who can actually claim their system plays better in audio tests after cleaning...?
 
I dismantle my system about once a year and give everything a good clean, including Deoxit on the interconnects and power leads. I can't say I notice any difference, apart from a reduction in the amount of dust, but it shows I care, just in case. My cotton buds are never very dirty.
 
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