This got my hifi working. Can't believe it was something so simple. I cleaned the female rca ports on my speakers and on my stereo. It's been playing flawless for hours. It was intermittently cutting on both speakers and the problem would move with both the speakers and the stereo when I did the troubleshooting. It was driving me nuts. Turns out both the speakers and the stereo were filthy. All I did was use a grip of q tips and 70 % alcohol. Thanks! Blasting skating away by tull now.
@@martyjewell5683 Some sort of minor English rebellion leader. I think their band manager would change their name every few gigs and that one stuck. I heard Ian Anderson talk about it once during an interview. Been awhile.
Gold star for you. That's what I heard years back. I think the real Jethro Tull was an inventor or something. I've seen Tull many times while livin' in Fun City. Saw them in 1970 up in Canada at the Strawberry Fields Festival. Lotsa great music but I really dig Thick as a Brick and Songs from the Wood. @@riggel8804
Although we only show the cleaning of RCA, most every connection can benefit greatly from a good cleaning. Most commonly power cord connectors, polishing the blades can make a nice difference. You can clean fuses, terminal junction links, obviously XLR, as well as banana and spade connectors! Take extra care if you decide to clean connectors inside of audio components however they can greatly benefit as well. The application of Stabilant 22 to these internal connections can be simply astounding. Have fun!
Thanks for the tip about using a drill with a wooden Q-tip. I find that a few pokes into the female XLR jack with a fine rat tail file is necessary when the corrosion is severe. The humidity is Florida is brutal, despite air-conditioning.
My vintage hifi gear is original owner, me. My (1982) ADC EQ lost the left channel in July. I pondered gettin' it fixed but was kinda lazy. I got an epiphany yesterday and decided to clean the RCA plugs 'round back. I rubbed with isopropyl (92%) and Q-tips, reconnected and voila! I restored the left channel. This advice can save a whole lotta samolians. .
good one thanks. i have CRC switch cleaner lubricant. I did have another brand before that but dont recall the name. I have even fixed noisy POTs by spraying inside them
I have noticed numerous negative comments for using a drill on cleaning RCA Connectors?/! I understand the concerns some individuals have about using a power drill, but Rick is offering one (1) way cleaning process. Obviously, there are various ways to clean RCA’s. IF you are careful and patient, you won’t damage the connectors. However, if you are not careful and rush while using a drill, you will probably damage connectors. SO, to avoid damaging RCAs, use commonsense - meaning turn down the torque on your drill (Don’t set drill to Max Speed Setting, with the it spinning at 3000+ RPMs). Obviously, if you use the drill like that, commonsense would dictate that you are probably going to melt inner side of RCA connector. IF you do not like drill method, buy/try handheld “Power Screwdriver”. It looks and operates like a drill, but much smaller. I strongly recommend buying/using the power screwdriver because it’s extremely handy tool and cost effective. I bought a “SKILL” for $25, and I use it each time while working on audio components (especially cleaning RCAs).
Yes common sense is required and no you don't even have to use a drill at all. If you are not skilled in tools and you fear you may melt the plastic you and qualify your self as not capable of doing the work on that level and should not attempt it! So if that is you them skip the power tools altogether and use you finger tips to rotate. Still even in this please use common sense aa this wise man has suggested! Great work Pecrobet Audio! Very helpful advice to those who may lack mechanical skills. I do realize growing up I was fixing cars with my dad using power tools correctly by age 8-10 and assume everyone knows how to use power tools properly and with common sense but my 14 year old sone skipped this gift so I get it.. To us that do know and are trained with use iff tools it seams obvious and we can easily forgot that not everyone has used tools or knows how. Please forgive my oversight. Please as Pecrobet Audio has mention so clearly. "Practice caution and common sense and you will do fine folks!". If you worried at all just use the sprays and forget the cleaning swabs as you will still get you connections better than they were and have little to no risk. Unless of course you never use spays then just skip all this and send it in for a proper maintenance to be done by a professional. (Good idea anyway.) Please remember that I come from a manufacturing standpoint we're changing out a connector is a two minute job and if connector has any damage ore wear it should be replaced anyways. In fact the best thing to do is just replace the connectors with brand new high-quality one and that's really what we do at our shop anyway. This is just a tutorial to help you if you're wanting to get something better for sound and do not have the skills to replace the connector properly. It can be done in any measure that is comfortable for you and it's only a suggestion certainly not a law. :-) Relax and enjoy your audio..
I usually use wire wool on wall plugs. Look at copper, it's essentially passive effect to keep it clean. Also have an independent power supply from electric distribution unit. Teflon is used on speakers wires too. When I load a cd into the draw, I have an Earth that I hold whilst I load it into draw...it helps to drop off static charge. Also benefits by touching metal to earth. Luckily my house is concrete walls and floors...no wooden floors.🔊
I have a 1966 Magnavox console AM/FM phonograph with the Micromatic record changer. In 2016, the sound from records became distorted and scratchy with intermittent hum and too bassy of sounds with the "shhhh" sound on highs and vocal "S"s. I replaced the needle and nothing improved. I see green corrosion on the two connectors coming from the bottom of the record changer. The radio sounds fine. Would that green powdery corrosion on the two connectors cause the pronounced poor sound quality?
Shalom, not sure if this channel is still active? Your audio volume is great on this video. Lately noticed many channels have low audio. Due to PTSD, slight hearing loss (mix of Veteran and working in healthcare) I have only a old TV (on fixed-income) and even with TV Volume on max can't hear most channels. Have a Roku 3, with earphone connection on the remote, working on the pin cleaning, but ears been recommended not to use often or long. Could u do a video for all channel creators on how to have loud sound volume? The old saying if cold we can add layers of clothes, but if hot can only remove certain amount of layers. Same with volume we can lower volume but can't increase volume more than what's coming from the video sound.
Music Direct sells an rca cleaning tool. It is shaped like the female end on one end and the male end on the other. It is very easy to use. Spray contact cleaner on it and plug and unplug it a couple of times and your cable jacks and jacks on the back of the component are clean.
I should have checked before I posted the comment, but it appears they are no longer available. I hate that. I bought a pack from music direct and really like the way they work. Evidently not enough people were interested in them to justify their continued manufacture.
You can get it on Amazon or E-bay. Let us know if you have trouble sourcing it. BTW, I now recommend Furutech Nano Liquid instead and we do also make our own contact enhancer here at HFC. Admittedly, ours it is too expensive for the audio market as the components for it are very expensive it is used to construct our own products in-house. Some people have heard of it and have sought us out to purchase it when seeking the very best and not worried about cost. If you're interested in ours you can contact us through our website for a quote. It is not listed as a product on our website.
There's another short video on here that shows deoxit recommended. I sprayed myn and just stuck the cables in straight after to make sure both sides of connection got a soak. It seems to have got rid of a static/distorted sound i was getting.
Yes, I am, this works great but you do have to be careful not to break off the swab. It forms the diameter on entry so spend a bit of time inserting it into the connector and make sure you don't have a-lot of resistance while trying to insert it. You will need to remove some cotton to make it fit.
The subject matter is worn electroplated gold connectors not "pure gold" connectors so that is where we have the difficulty. Electroplated gold connections do break down in adhesion to base materials and eventually give way to corrosion to the underlying metals due to the removal of the typically thin gold plating. This happens due to insertion and removal of audio connectors as well as the audio signal being of an electric charge. The charge will slowly interact with the electroplate charge that was used to plate so over time it takes a toll on the think layer of golds ability to adhere to the metals below it. Typically these are silver or copper, and then the gold comes away from the connector itself and at one point will be completely removed. It can take a long time (years even) on a "very good" connector that is well plated and manufactured but eventually the electroplated gold will come off leaving no real surface protection. This is due to the fact it is so thin of gold layer. For the gold itself indeed the gold particles do not actually break down but once it is worn off the audio/video connector that is irrelevant to those who need to address the mess left behind. If the connector has a base coat of silver the silver is still highly conductive even when fully oxidized but copper more commonly used on connectors breaks down conductivity when oxidized and must be cleaned often to maintain good conductivity. A better solution that aligns with your idea of a "good durable gold coating" is to replace the connectors with brand new high quality ones offered from many great high-end audio companies. Alternativly rhodium is now common in connectors for its ability to withstand much more abuse than gold coatings and they do last longer. Some say they offer even better sound as well. However rhodium is reduced in conductivity from gold so why it "might" sound better has always been a bit of mystery to audiphiles and is likely not something that can be verified easily. Still it is a nice option worth considering and will last much longer than gold I you do have a desire to replace your worn connectors. Cleaning is a short term solution in comparison and not a true substitute for replacing worn-out connectors. Direct to your point if we had "pure gold" connectors not gold plated ones they would last a very long time certainly longer the the equipment and would be the "ultimate choice" I am sure. :-) However the sheer expense keeps pure gold connectors form the audio market.
Gold plating degrades over time due to the same electrical process that the parts are pleated with. The gold basically erodes the gold off of the connecter as the electricity moving through the connecter breaks it back down over time similar to how it was built up to begin with.. It does not oxidize it simply erodes back into tiny particles. I certainly don't know everything I never claimed to, but I think it's called localized arc erosion?
You don't know what you're talking about. Gold does not tarnish or oxidize. That's why it's used for electrical connections, and why it's used as jewelry, and why it used to be used for money. Brass connectors are only used for radio connections outdoors. Oh yeah - common consumer electrical contacts need cleaning, but not the gold ones.
