Caig Deoxit G100

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you, Rex.

 

[Stereophonic]

In the first stage I pulled my power cords and coated the prongs on the male side. I did not have a way to get into the female blades.

Hi Kingrex.
Interesting experience.
Is Deoxit Gold dangerous in high current connectors as power cords?
Which power cords do you have?

 

[Kingrex]

Arching is the issue as the voltage goes up. Not so much current. Current causes heat as it goes up. I have never had an arc issue when using Deoxit on tube pins. There is often 500 volts between some of the pins. 870 volts on my 845 tube.

I don't see how the brand of power cord or materials used in a cord impact the safety. Those elements may influence what sort of sonic impact you hear. As in, if you had a gold plated outlet and gold prongs on the cord, I don't know how much influence Deoxit would have.

 

[Stereophonic]

Thank you !!!
I have Furutech Gold main outlet with NCF Power Cord connector in main cable.
Could i clean cables from main panel connected to Furutech outlet?
They are solid copper ones…

 

[Kingrex]

I have never seen Deoxit harm an electrical connection. It has the opposite affect. It preseves conductivity and reduces corrosion.

 

[agisthos]

I started a thread about the Caig Deoxit. I have done more than read some overblown hyped up crap advertizing as seen on the NPS -Q45 website. What a load of BS advertizing.

If anyone wants to use NPS-Q45 go right ahead. Start your own thread and share with the audience your experience. I hope your honest and you tell us what a mistake it was and how much time and money it cost to remove it. And make sure to include long term tested noting evaporation and hardeneing of the carrier paste that change from a dialectric to a insulator. And again, how much time and money it cost to remove.

My business is built around finding the highest performance possible while doing as much as one can to not only adhere to relevant code, but to also be safe. I will not promote a product that is likely to end up damaging equipment or result in catastrophic failure that could harm people such as NPS-Q45 will.

Don't use NPS-'Q45 That is my professional recommendion.

I appreciate your testing and advice on Caigs. But you are trashing a product here you have no experience of, and are ignorant of. That's unfair.

For example, Rick claims the formulation of NPS-Q45 is specifically designed NOT to evaporate or go hard. He claims that it can last for decades without changing state and stay liquid, unlike other contact enhancers. Sure this could be pure bullshiite, but that the performance claim.

But you are saying it will evaporate, go hard and turn into an insulator. Do you have any proof of users ever claiming this? I have not. I have just seen a bunch of users say the opposite, that its hard to clean off because its so runny and messy and the black liquid goes everywhere.

 

[kennyb123]

I have just seen a bunch of users say the opposite, that its hard to clean off because its so runny and messy and the black liquid goes everywhere.

I just cleaned the connectors on cable I want to sell. Deoxit helped me to easily remove the NPS enhancer as it was still runny.

 

[Kingrex]

I appreciate your testing and advice on Caigs. But you are trashing a product here you have no experience of, and are ignorant of. That's unfair.

For example, Rick claims the formulation of NPS-Q45 is specifically designed NOT to evaporate or go hard. He claims that it can last for decades without changing state and stay liquid, unlike other contact enhancers. Sure this could be pure bullshiite, but that the performance claim.

But you are saying it will evaporate, go hard and turn into an insulator. Do you have any proof of users ever claiming this? I have not. I have just seen a bunch of users say the opposite, that its hard to clean off because its so runny and messy and the black liquid goes everywhere.

Just because I have not personally put my hands on a product does not mean I haven't consulted with reputable manufacture/people who have. And no I am not going to start dragging their names into anything. I am telling homeowners what is safe here. I stand behind, never use a contact enhancer that is conductive. Not unless your a licensed professional and know what your doing. Its too dangerous. They have a high likelihood of melting, running and shorting out your equipment.

 

[Blackmorec]

Hi all,
This is just my personal take on contact enhancement. I am talking in general terms without mentioning product names

First, I have a good friend who owned a well know manufacturer of SS and Tube electronics.
He once told me that by far the most repairs and problems they see are due to ‘substances’ being applied to tube pins, sockets and contacts. Some of the repairs were hugely costly when they required tube sockets to be replaced. When you treat a tube pin with anything that leaves a residue, there is a squeegee effect when pushing the tube back into its socket, so you tend to get the material gathering around the top of the socket. The next time a tube is inserted the tube pins pick up the residue and carry it deep into the socket, where it’s really difficult to remove. Add heat and you can get a baked-on residue, so caution is the watchword.

I started on this journey quite a few years ago when a particular contact cleaner was getting a lot of positive press. It was extremely expensive for a few millilitres in a tiny bottle but it did work sensationally well. Now bear in mind that all these products are created using off the shelf chemicals typically procured from laboratory suppliers…there’s nothing magic about this stuff beyond careful formulation. So I took some of this product and ran it through a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer. The GC separates all the individual components and the mass spectrometer tells you very precisely (>6 decimal places) how much each component molecule weights, so from that, the SW just works backwards to figure out the exact combination of atoms that make up the molecule. Given that an atom’s atomic mass never varies, you can get the formula very precisely. Well it turned out this contact cleaner was a halocarbon (a halogen like chlorine plus carbon) typically used at the time in aerosols or as refrigerants. The other main ingredient was a Terpene called Limonene which strangely enough is capable of creating a sense of euphoria. Animal testing found that it reduces stress and creates an elevated mood. Just what you need after a hard day’s contact cleaning! Essentially the halocarbon was something commonly known as Freon, which I obtained in an analytical grade (>99.5+ % purity) 250ml quantity and tried on several contacts. It worked perfectly, being top class at removing all oily substances. The Freon evaporates to leave no residue but may be difficult to obtain now due to it being banned after it was found to damage the ozone layer.

But I found something even better. Here’s a few photos of an old fuse I found and spent no more than 15 seconds cleaning. It’s something called an industrial ‘rush eraser’. Its main erasing element is a bundle of glass fibres.

The bottom picture shows the untreated fuse with a heavily contaminated green area. The second picture shows half the contaminated area removed and the other end of the fuse cleaned. In total maybe 10-15 seconds….

Very often the contamination you meet on things like tube pins is heavily baked on, so trying to dissolve it rarely works. Mechanically removal with a rush eraser will leave you with visibly cleaner pin with no metal removed. Vacuum tube pins may have been accumulating deposits for 60 or more years, so a patient clean is really not unreasonable, but not with anything that risks leaving a deposit in the tube socket.

The red ‘pen at the bottom shows the actual device, the baggie shows the replaceable FG l elements.

 

[Al M.]

I stand behind, never use a contact enhancer that is conductive.

How can a contact enhancer enhance contact if it is not conductive?

 

[agisthos]

I used to use Stabilant 22. The pure form, not the variants cut with alcohol or limonene. I found over time it would gummy up the connections, so I stopped using it.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

How can a contact enhancer enhance contact if it is not conductive?

...I think it is meant to imply it works as a cleaner to remove oxidation or mystery-grunge, but it doesn't leave a gel or liquid in place, an abundance of which, might have unintended consequences.

I think the main concern is creating conductive pathways where they should not exist, or effects through materials that change their characteristics over time. One could imagine even the misapplication of a "safe" product could lead to an unsafe condition.

Personally, I think any cleaner that removes oxidation (or worse) and evaporates completely (or at least down to a very fine film level of size), would provide an enhancement to an audio metal/metal interface. Now, if you're using it on your ocean-going super-yacht audio-system, you may need a different product.

 

[Blackmorec]

How can a contact enhancer enhance contact if it is not conductive?

Hi Al M
Let me dive right in: By removing any grunge before disappearing entirely would certainly enhance the contact. But if we’re talking about substances that are designed to remain in the contacts in order to enhance their conductivity (increase conductive efficiency) I find it hard to conceptualise how that would work if the substance was non-conductive. How would that be different from dirt? I‘m not saying it cant be so but struggle to see how. I can see how a conductive material can contribute, also a cleaning material, but a non-conductive material? An explanation of how the product works is always worthwhile as I know the product works very effectively, so there‘s a good explanation of how. For example, a very thin layer may prevent oxidation that would be far more detrimental, but thats pure speculation on my part.

 

[kennyb123]

How can a contact enhancer enhance contact if it is not conductive?

By creating the conditions that keep corrosion from occurring. We clean our contacts to remove corrosion and improve conductivity. The idea behind some contact enhancers (like Caig’s) is to try to preserve that state.

The key thing to note is that what we hear once such an enhancer is applied shouldn’t be any better than what we hear after all corrosion has been removed. That is the high watermark and the non-conductive enhancer just aims to keep it there. The conductive enhancers aim to take it to the next level by improving conductivity. This aligns with what I have heard too.

 

[Kingrex]

If you read the Caig site, somewhere they talk about it making surfaces that are tightly joined more conductive. But a loose connection won't pass voltage or current any better than non treated surfaces. That is why it is not for use to decrease arcing.

And what other people say about a clean surface that does not oxidize is very true. Wire exposed to air oxidizes much faster than you might imagine.

 

[Al M.]

Thank you all for the replies!

 

[Stereophonic]

I’m not chemistry so i’m going to explain my experience from practical and sound quality results.
I’ve been always afraid about any type of cleaning liquid. We all love our cables and any damage in them isn’t desired.
At same time, as time goes by, it is evident cables need some cleaning maintenance, but how could i do it?
I have Silver, Gold and Rhodium plated connectors in my system, so an unique solution did seem difficult because there isn’t consensuos between costumers and manufactures far away to keep connectors clean of residues.
My system maintenance reference has been always Stirling Trayle.
Here is his link if somebody’s interested:
https://www.audiosystemsoptimized.com/
I followed his work in some systems, specially in Audio Exotics Showrooms.
https://audioexotics.vanillacommuni...-the-world-renowned-audio-system-optimiser/p1
Actually i’m introducing some Esprit Silver plated cables so i asked Richard about cleaning. Answer: be sure to avoid residues with IPA whatever liquid you use.
So knowing Stirling uses Deoxit Gold as showned in the picture and D5 in some systems i had clear how to act.

Material used:
• Isopropylic alcohol (IPA)
• Deoxit G100l
• Deoxit D100l

• Microfiber cloth to clean accesible parts.
• Pipe cotton cleaner for small connectors (iec, xlr…)
Method i used.
- Cleaning connector with IPA to remove superficial dirt.
- Dry it with cleaning cloth.
- Once it is dry and clean apply D100l to do a stronger cleaning to remove every type of corrosion, oxide, etc…. (IPA doesn’t do that)
- Keep D100l during 5 minutes to make its work.
- Cleaning again with a dry cloth the D100l rest liquid.
- Apply IPA again to remove D100l residues.
- Dry it with cleaning cloth.
- Apply G100l and keep it 5 minutes in the connector.
- Clean softly with a dry cloth.
I think this steps are very recommended to get max effect of Deoxit.
First i did clean speakers and amplifiers binding post and because so good results i did continue cleaning:
- Main AC panel:
Every differential switches, dedicated Doepke dfs 2 f audio switch, ground, live and neutral naked cables….
- Amps:
Iec, fuses and xlr input connectors
- Preamp:
Iec connector and umbillical DC cables of TAD C600
- Cables:
Every male prongs, ground connector and same with iec.
- Router and LPS.
Iec LPS, router RJ45 connectors, DC power cable connector, USB and Ethernet cable connectors.

I was very surprise, how much dirt i found specially in iec connectors.

Result: amazing improvement of every aspect without any trade off.
More resolution and transparency in whole frequency range with better saturation.
Bigger soundstage, more dinamic, better slam, more weight…
Sound is more palpable and flows easier. At the same time, sweeter and more musical.
Stunning positioning of each instrument with holografic, coherence presentation.
I’ll continue with the rest of the system including AC wall outlet.
Without doubt my worries have gone and i’m enjoying my system several steps up…
I hope this helps….