Just a bit of info. Rubbing alcohol is isopropyl alcohol with other "stuff" added (anything from mineral oil, to eucalytus extract, to artificial color, etc). Denatured alcohol is ethanol with chemical additives to discourage folks from drinking it. There are MANY types of denatured alcohols which vary in the type of "denaturant" added. The most common is a substance called Bitrex which makes it taste..bitter and causes you to spit it out before you swallow it. Many other things can be used as denaturants ranging from methanol to essential plant oils. For the most part, the denatured alcohol you can buy in stores is the so called SDA 40 A denatured w/ Bitrex. No clue what this does to audio connections, however. Generally, the shorter the chain length in the alcohol, the better a solvent it is. Thus, methanol (one carbon) is a "better" solvent than ethanol (2 carbons) which is better than isoproyl (3 carbons) and so on. Methanol is difficult to come by since it is quite harmful if ingested (e.g.you drink cheap vodka and get a headache, that's caused by residual methanol in the booze, driven by sloppy distillation). Doing shots of pure methanol WILL kill you. Anyway..back to my point, if you want to try solvents instead of "audiophile" cleaning solutions, your best bet is to use pure isopropyl or try to buy research grade solvents from a chemical supply company like Aldrich, Fischer, etc. For the really adventurous, there ARE other solvents with good cleaning properties which leave zero residue upon drying, most notably the Glycol Ethers made by Dow Chemical Corporation. For the pragmatic amongst you, buy the highest proof, most expensive vodka you can find and alternate cleaning with swigs from the bottle. Not as good as isopropyl to clean since 100 proof vodka is 50 % ethanol and 50 % water..but likely a lot more fun. As for me...I'm lazy and just use Kontakt. Though I've not analyzed it, smell tells me Kontakt contains a healthy dose of isopropyl mixed with a ketone (likely methyl ethyl ketone)..and who knows what else
Contact cleaners/What's good?
What is your favorite contact cleaner/treatment product? I used to use something called Cramolin (which I can no longer find). I replaced the Cramolin with a small bottle of De-Oxit which worked well on the used equipment that I have purchased as well as the outlets. Unfortunately the bottle of De-Oxit was tossed out by accident when we recently cleaned out under the sink and I need a new bottle of something, preferably a one step treatment unless their is a good reason to use one that is multi-step. I had also wanted to try it on tube sockets as well (another piece of used gear) and wonder if this is advised. Thanks.
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- 20 posts total
- 20 posts total