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
I don't want to put words in fleschler's mouth, but it sounds like he's saying that TC, at $300, made a difference comparable with spending $7500 elsewhere?

Most people in this hobby can find, or save up, $300 within their budget.
Well, thank you fazee and tommylion.  It was Shadorne who called me a shill and/or fanboy.  I am not a billionaire but am actively operating several businesses/investments and have the cash to buy Magico's (which I dislike upon hearing them maybe 15 rooms in four years of the LA Audio show).  I don't like to swap equipment.  Most of my gear/electronics/analog/digital are 12+ years old with the oldest being my 1989 purchase of the SME IV tonearm.  There are bargains for middle income people to hear great sound at reasonable cost of used gear such as EAR Acute CD players.  The EAR sounds like analog with NOS tubes and a high end power cord ($450 from http://www.groverhuffman.com/empress-1 whose cables I do plug on forum sites as they are superior for the price).  

TC did not cure my room acoustic problems that SR passive devices did.  It is tremendously cost effective for what it does do, electronically.  
fazee. tommylion ... & Steve ...

Steve is being modest about his systems. Yes, that’s plural. He has two really fine audio systems plus his TV system. I haven’t watched his TV, but both sound systems sound fantastic to my ears. Its Steve’s music collection that I covet. Its fantastic too. The very last person who should be called a "shill" or a "fanboy" would be Steve.

I always enjoy my visits at Steve’s home. And by the way, if anyone is considering swapping equipment, I’d give Grover Huffmann a call. His amps, line stages, cables and CD players are "killers." He has mods for the Dynaco ST-70 that are to die for if you have efficient enough speakers that like 35 wpc. I’ve heard Steve’s ST-70 in his living room system a number of times and can vouch for the fact that Grover has turned it into magic. Its ideal for the Legacy Signature III’s (94db) which Steve has in his living room system. I use the same speakers for my main system. They play WAY beyond their price point, with the tonality of the Harbeth 40.2’s, except the Legacy’s get deeper bass.  

I had Grover build me a CD player. He uses a Pioneer Elite DVD player as the basic unit, then upgrades the caps and beefs up the power supply. How good is it? It is replacing my ARC CD-7se that has to go in for repairs. How good is Grover’s player vs the ARC? Well the ARC retailed for $10,000. Grover’s CD player is actually more enjoyable to listen to because it has better bass and highs. The mids are right there too. The only drawback between the Pioneer and the ARC is that the ARC is a tube unit, so with the Pioneer, you'd be lacking the last vestige of the 3-D artifacts that tubes provide. The trick is to find a good working, reliable Pioneer Elite DVD player. You’d be looking for a Pioneer DV-05 like this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-ELITE-DVD-Player-LucasFilm-THX-Ultra-Hi-bit-Link-DAC-Dolby-DV-05/20...

Frank
Morning fellow Agoners. Frank, thank you for this thread. After treating driver connections inside the speaker cab, speaker cables, power cables and assorted other places I am left with my jaw on the proverbial floor. Frank has not exaggerated his claims of this product based on my system’s net result.  In my system it took a couple of days for things to settle in.

Right now the improvement is across the board. Here is a recap of what I hear for improvement ..... not change... but improvement.

- more powerful and full mid and deep bass. So much so I feel I no longer need to consider a sub
- improved body, weight and bloom to the music
- improved dynamics
- improved resolution
- far taller, wider, and filled in stage
- greater scale and ease
- smoother upper mids and highs
- stage depth is also improved
- reach out and touch you realness that is so gratifying


One word seems to sum it up best. This same word was used on this thread by another poster. Bloom. Glorious bloom. The music unfolds with improved beauty and bloom.

This is certainly a game changing tweak that should be tried by any open minded Audiophile. My Living Voice speakers sound about twice as large as they did prior to the TC tweak.

Well done Tim! Now you need to sell a half or third size so more would in fact buy it. A half size is more than what 99% of audiophiles would ever, ever need. This paste goes a long way.


I want to publicly thank @ronrags for letting me use some of his TC stash to learn first hand about this wonderful music making tweak.

@antiwolfe.     Thanks to you for turning me onto TC also! 

I am now ordering more to finish out my system and split with three other Agon Audiophiles. Great community. This is what the Audiogon community is all about at its best. Thanks again Ron!