My overlooked cheap tweak


I was lubricating the gears on my transport last night, and after reassembling it, decided to clean the digital cable and the jacks. There was a lot of junk on the Q-tips I used. After the cleaning, there was a really big improvement in sound. It wasn't the transport lube that did it, as it was just the gears that open and close the drawer, not the CD playing mechanism.
I used to do this regularly, but hadn't done it in +/- five mos. I don't know about the rest of you, but I could do my system maintenance a bit more often. Of course I've bought a new PC or two in the last 5 mos at a few hundred a pop. This two Q-tip tweak was right up there with the new PC's. It was the best 10 cent tweak I've had in a long while. Hope this reminds someone out there.

If you haven't cleaned your IC's and jacks before, and don't want to invest too much, you can use isoprpyl alcohol and Q-tips with most of the cotton pulled off. Rub in and outside the RCA jacks and the IC's. Wait until they dry before plugging them back in.
tsquared
Alcohol contains lanolin (an oil) which attracts dust & therefor is not recommended as a contact cleaner. Highly refined denatured alcohol is oil free however. Those that have tried them all recommend Kontact, & I must agree that it's among the best.
Isopropyl alcohol does not contain lanolin. "Rubbing Alcohol" used by doctors and hospitals has lanolin. It is not the same thing. I have a bottle of Isopropyl in front of me. It has only two ingredients 75% alcohol, 25% distilled water. Full strength Isopropyl alcohol is commonly used in industry as a solvent, so it will certainly take the junk off of your cables without leaving any impurities, etc.
I do agree with Bob though that denatured alcohol is better,
especially for things like VCR and Tape deck heads.