Are contact treatments worth the money?

Dear Rodman,
Thank you for supporting my 1st Amendment rights (honestly). I apologize for the acerbic nature and tone of my statements; I categorize contact enhancers along with other products that are heavily marketed on a pseudo-scientific basis. I worked in audio and know how hard accessory sales are pushed. The mark-up is tremendous. So, I am very cynical and skeptical of accessories.

I was going to go on with my arguments against contact enhancing accessories, but decided against it -- you are correct, I do not hear the difference. And, you are also wrong, I have tried contact enhancers. My money will never go towards them. My connectors are good quality and I keep them clean. I will, however, buy tuner cleaner, or whatever some may call it, for cleaning the pots on my pre-amps.

Cheers.

I'm a skeptic by nature and as a result of being screwed over the years, by hyped products outside of the audio arena. However- When an audio product is offered with a money back, satisfaction guarantee(ala SST), highly touted by so many reviewers(professional and otherwise), and conforms to my knowledge of physics: I'm compelled to try it. BUT HEY- As long as we are enjoying our systems: It's all good, right? Happy listening!! =8^)

Hi Rodman,
Absolutely right!

Happy listening!

If I can offer some comments- one should be wary of any contact enhancers that leave behind an oily deposit. In certain situations, the oil can migrate and affect circuits that it shouldn't.

I've seen contact enhancers applied to tube sockets and input connectors with disastrous results. In the case of the tube sockets, the material migrated across the circuit board the tube socket was mounted on, resulting in noticeable loss of gain and bandwidth. The board had to be treated with a degreasing agent to restore performance.

Consequently I've gotten conservative about enhancers. I've used Deoxit with good results, but I am careful to wipe away any excess after I've done the application(BTW one is missing a bet with this product if you don't use a clean rag to buff the surface of whatever contact is in question).

Where there is any doubt, the most effective chemicals I've seen that offer the lowest risk are sprays that are marked 'contact cleaner' (not enhancer) and also with the words 'with silicone lubricant'. This type of contact cleaner is safe with tube sockets, potentiometers and connectors. You can get it at Radio Shack.