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New Tweak --- Its Fantastic

THE NEW TWEAK

Over the good part of this past year I’ve been beta testing a new tweak, the name of which is "Total Contact." Its a hi-bred graphene contact enhancer that is different from all other contact enhancers that have come and gone for one reason or another. I’m not new to these contact enhancers, having had quite a bit of experience with a product developed by the late Brian Kyle and his "Quick Silver" contact enhancer. The "Total Contact" is different ... a LOT different.

"Total Contact" is graphene based and is not a vibration control. It eliminates micro-arching between two contacts. Micro-arching, much like Micro-vibration smears the sound in our stereo systems. Its the type of distortion that we don’t know is there .... until we eliminate it. There is no break-in as we know it. The sound is improved right off the bat, but what you hear is only a smidgen of what’s to come.

I tested three generations of "TC," each of which was an improvement over the previous incarnation. The final mix was cryogenitically treated and made for a more effective, much smoother application. It comes in a large hypodermic needle type plunger containing 1.5 ml of product and includes a instructional DVD and an application brush.

The application should be applied with a very thin coat to all of your electrical connections .... from your cartridge pins to your power cords. I did my entire system, including the ends of my fuses.

Upon initial application, you will notice an improvement in clarity, correctness of tonal balance and a more overall organic sound. But ... that is just scratching the surface of what this magic paste does. As it cures, the improvements become more apparent. Much more!

There are two real break-through events that happen almost to the day with "Total Contact," one at four weeks and another at eight weeks . At four weeks, you’ll get a real jump in clarity and overall improvement. That’s only a taste though of what’s to come at eight weeks. At eight weeks your system’s focus will make a jump in SQ that is so real - its surreal.

After 40 years in the hobby, and a total tweak nut, I have never heard anything that does what this graphene paste does. The see-through clarity at eight weeks becomes simply amazing. The "paste" eventually cures into a kind of polymer plastic and it seems that the sound improves with each listening session. So, its important that you leave your contacts alone for the duration. If you’re the type of person that continually switches wires in and out, you’ll have to re paste until enough time has elapsed to get "the cure."

The only problem I had was with the first batch and that had to do with shorting out a tube pin in the line stage. Use the "TC" very sparingly on tube pins, if at all. I only had problems with the line stage tube pins. The Amp, CD Player and Phono Stage has had no tube pin problems at all.

Tim Mrock, one of our fellow A’goners, is the developer of the product. Its taken Tim 15 years and several patents to get it right. Tim has "pasted" every electrical contact he can find in his audio system, all of the switches in his circuit breaker box, every contact in his car ... and has used it in commercial applications such as hospital circuit breakers, surgical lights ... and other places where efficiency and long life of electrical components are deemed important.

This product is highly recommended to anyone who truly wants to get the most out of his/her audio systems. There’s enough product in each tube to do at least two audio systems as it just takes a very thin coat on each application to be effective. The last tube was enough to do my system twice and then a friend’s system this past weekend.


Frank

PS: There were a couple of other A’goner beta testers of this product as well. Hopefully, they will chime in here with their experiences for comparison. I "pasted" both of Steve Fleschler’s systems a few days ago, perhaps he will comment on his results too. We forgot to paste Steve’s power cords though, so there’s a lot more to be had from Steve’s two fantastic systems.

Frank
128x128oregonpapa
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140 posts
 
Update,

I hit the 4 week point in the office system for the speaker cables, interconnects and the usb cable to the dac. The best way I can describe it is that the music sounds more organic while the sound stage has as well. The noise floor seems to have dropped as well which give better definition to instruments and vocals. Referring back to my earlier upgrades of power chords, stillpoints and interconnects etc., it seems as if I upgraded a power chord and placed a set of stillpoints under my dac. Considering that that cost about $1,200.00, this is a bargain. 

Again, I do not think that TC is a replacement for any of these upgrades but a bargain upgrade for both of my systems without any downsides to date.

For what it’s worth One dealer/friend I spoke to last week said he wants to check back with me in another 9 months just to make sure that none of the product degradations that have plagued previous “contact enhancers” mentioned in this forum. I understand his sceptisism since he has tried all those previous products. This is the main reason I have not treated a non reversible (in my estimation) application to my 5 din connections on my preamp interconnects.

Another dealer/friend came by to work on my turntable and said that the CD player, whose umbilical and power chord I treated 3 weeks ago, got awfully close to the turntable on the same cuts of music.

By the way both dealers have over 35 years experience each in the industry.

rc
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oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
rc

I understand your dealer’s skepticism, as I had the same reservations when Tim approached me to be a beta tester for the TC. I almost turned him down ... so glad I didn’t. I went through a bunch of contact enhancers in earlier years too. All denigrated over time. Tim assured me that all is well with his product.

Some of my contacts have had the TC treatment for a year now using the original version, which was grainy and lumpy compared with what you have. So far, I’ve detected no degradation at all. In fact, it just seems to continue improving.

I’m in the process of removing the original version from all of my contacts and applying the latest version (which you have) to all of my connections now, a little at a time. For example, I just did the grounds on my IC’s today, which were not done at all (nice improvement), but the speaker cable terminals have been pasted with the original version for a year now, as have my cartridge pins.

 I honestly believe that Tim has nailed it this time.

You’re absolutely correct. For 300 bucks, considering the improvements gained in SQ, TC is a bargain.

Frank
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140 posts
 
Frank, 

I was really surprised (in a good way) at the reaction of both of these hifi professionals. As jaded as they are with previous contact enhancers, they are still very open minded and curious about what the long term results will be. Both have never experimented with their loyal clientele, thus I never was exposed to those previous contact enhancers. The only substances that they ever recommend I use is the dioxit cleaner and/or alcohol. For that I am grateful.

With respect to the curing time.I actually noticed a significant improvement three to four days prior to the full four week period.

As for my current level of enjoyment with both my systems, it is way beyond what I thought this product would do, since I had just come off some serious $ tweaks previously mentioned.

Initially, I thought that your review was slightly exaggerated, but as the product has cured to the four week period, I can understand that you were just excited. I thank you for putting yourself out there and endorsing TC. I am having a great time enjoying the music.

rc
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oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
rc ...

When I heard the initial improvements in SQ I was quite taken aback. Tim kept assuring me that I hadn’t heard anything yet. He told me about the 4 and 8 week breakthroughs, but I was still a bit skeptical.

Well, the 4 weeks came, and to the day, there was a significant jump in SQ. Tim assured me again that there was something special coming at 8 weeks.

Well, as fate would have it, I had to go in for open heart surgery, so the hospital stays, both in the regular hospital and the rehab hospital, took me to 9 weeks before I could hear the system again.

When I got home after nine weeks and turned the system on, I was gob-smacked by what I heard. A total wall of transparent sound, completely defined and three dimensional with the musicians in the room. The tonality was amazing. The speakers completely disappeared. It sounded better than the best planer speakers I’ve owned in the past, except now besides the transparency, I had better highs and better bass. In fact, the bass is so accurate that I could swear that there is a bass player in the room playing a stand-up bass. Quite enjoyable, I must say.

My friend Robert, who just happens to hear like a friggin’ bat, was flabbergasted at what he heard. The two of us have been to many audio shows in the past, and we both concurred that very few systems at the various shows could compete with what we were hearing. The tonality is on par with the Harbeth 40.2’s, except I have better bass than the Harbeth’s ever thought of having. This is coming from speakers that I paid $2100. for the pair used.

Honestly rc, I can hardly wait for you guys to hit the 8 week point. Its going to be fun seeing your reviews.

Frank
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140 posts
 
Frank,

Hope the healing is going well. 

I will definitely keep you guys up to date on my systems performance in relation to TC.

rc
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