I'll admit it...I've never cleaned any of my physical connections - AC, IEC, XLR, RCA, DIN, grounds, speaker, etc. Never. Ever.
I *thought* my cartridge was going bad, as the right channel was intermittently noisy / dropping out. After reseating the cartridge clip, all was right again. I cleaned the cartridge pins with a pencil eraser and began wondering if this should be done to all my physical connections.
Cut to me also contemplating other "upgrades" because I felt as if some of the magic was missing. New cartridge? New tonearm? New integrated? New DAC / music server? All of the above?
Rather than dropping somewhere between $2k and $20k into my system, I thought it would be prudent to first invest some time into basic maintenance (and systematically addressing the issue uncovered with my cartridge - across all components). I dropped a whopping $40 into a
DeoxIT / DeoxIT GOLD Kit and spend the next 5 hours treating every cable and socket on every single piece of equipment.
Sweet mother of pearl...[Insert the usual audiophile hyperbole]
But here are the 3 things I found most surprising: 1) My turntable is measurably more speed stable, 2) the LED dB meters on my Nakamichi Dragon appear to be more responsive, and 3) I can't explain it, but my LP playback is MUCH more quiet (not only a "blacker background", but pops-n-clicks). I was honestly considering a less-sophisticated stylus profile because I thought all the "transparency" of an Optimized Contour Line Contact stylus was revealing stuff I didn't want revealed.
Which makes me wonder...How much of the performance gains of new equipment is just reseating connections?
Regardless, clean your connections. I'm sure this thread will be flooded with "You should only use Unicorn Tears" or "Wood glue makes the best connection" but I'd suggest progress over perfection, and if you haven't cleaned / treated your connections, it's worth the investment in time.
