How often do you clean cables? And which types do you clean most often?


So, how often do you clean your cables? Such as with Deoxit or other cleaning solution?
- weekly?
- monthly?
- annually?
- other?
- never?

And do some types of cables benefit more than others from cleaning? I'm thinking analog cables such as interconnects and speaker cables might need cleaning more often than digital cables such as coax and USB. What's your experience here?

Also, when you clean cables, do you also clean the connectors on the units? Such as RCA or speaker outputs and inputs?

Lastly, for now, I mentioned Deoxit among cleaning solutions. If you do clean cables, what are your favorite products and why?

Dave, who also wonders if cleaning matters less or is simply more difficult with XLR jacks and connectors
128x128sun-warrior
dgarretson, imo the efficacy of contact cleaners would be in the purported sonic change, not the amount of oxidation removed. I suspect that it might not pass my Law of Efficacy. But, rather than simply prejudge I will conduct a comparison between two identical sets of speaker cables, one with cleaned terminations and the other uncleaned.

To the community: How many of you who disdain comparisons of cables have done an A/B test between two sets of identical cables, i.e. one treated with contact cleaner and the other not? If you have not done so, if all you have done is clean the ends and put them back in, I don’t think you have all that much to declare about contact cleaners. Obviously, your impressions could be due to confirmation bias.

I plan on doing that very comparison. I have a temperature controlled, low humidity environment for listening, so would anticipate very little to be lifted from the terminations. We will see...  BTW, my cables are in pretty consistent use, so there is no obvious build up or crud on them. But, I am still willing to try the contact cleaner to see what will transpire. I have asked others to believe that there can be a difference in Ethernet cables, so I should not condemn the use of contact cleaners without trying it.  :) 
It's too bad that both copper and silver , both excellent conductors, oxidize.  I own one cable with a copper termination that doesn't appear to oxidize , so there is hope.
Doug, I suggest that you also clean the amp & speaker binding posts as part of your comparison. I will be amazed if you don’t hear an meaningful improvement. Then work through the entire chain of ICs, fuses, tube pins and sockets, AC prongs and receptacles. I didn’t mean to suggest that dirt or tarnish on a Q-tip is a substitute for close listening or ABX testing. But its evidence will correlate to improvements that you will hear. If I understand your remarks so far, I am frankly surprised to find a pro reviewer who dismisses basic cable hygiene and maintains that the mechanical action of frequent equipment and cable swaps is an adequate alternative. Dirty connections can be the weakest link in a system and can skew an equipment or cable review as one chases equipment to compensate for the lifelessness, creeping malaise, and loss of transparency that accompany oxidation and crud.

@perfectpathtech
Where did you read that? I find no literature suggesting that silver oxide or silver sulfide are better electrical conductors than silver metal. My own experience is that removing tarnish from silver spades improves sound quality.