cleaning my contacts

[budgetaudio76]

hey there folks¥ i just bought an old amps. the knobs are staticy when i press some of them the volume goes berserk. goes way out of phase. i figure contacts need to be cleaned....................... but what do i use. is wd 40 ok for this app. or should i use something else. well?...what is it you would use. ask me what it is and ill tell ya what it cost. hey gmicheal i expect an anwer in a half hour at 31 minutes ill get upset and say this site sucks....






sorry but i read some of your fav threads

[Mr Peabody]

Don't use WD-40, it is oil and will attract more dirt and cause more gumming up. You used to be able to go to Radio Shack and buy a specific type of spray for cleaning contacts but with less mechanical parts and more ozone laws I don't know if that is still available or not. Shop around some of the repair shops sometimes the old timers won't take a leg to clean a unit up.

[Glen B]

Mr. Peabody is correct. Radio Shack tv-tuner/control cleaner-lubricant spray (part # 64-4315) is still sold in their stores. CAIG DeOxit spray is another option. I collect vintage equipment and both products work great at eliminating intermittence and scratchiness in switches and controls.

[budgetaudio76]

hey i appreciate both of your replies. will certainly go buy the contact cleaner today. i found an old technics as well yesterday. for 8.50 dollars real scratchy at first but greatly improved just from constant adjustment which suprised me. which is good of course. im getting into the vintage stuff here too but not much by way of amps though. much of it mid fi though if not lowfi. i saw a pair of mint pioneer cs88a for 101 dollars at a local thrift shop. on craigs list someone had a pair of heresys for 50 dollars total. i was like woah! if i had the money i would have gobbled them up.

[E-Stat]

will certainly go buy the contact cleaner today.

There's one more thing you need. Caig Pro Gold contact cleaner. All signal (RCA) and speaker connectors oxidize over time. You would be surprised at the difference it can make to remove all that stuff. Also available at Radio Shack.

rw

[budgetaudio76]

There's one more thing you need. Caig Pro Gold contact cleaner. All signal (RCA) and speaker connectors oxidize over time. You would be surprised at the difference it can make to remove all that stuff. Also available at Radio Shack.

rw

well i got the caig pro gold kit and when i sprayed on one of them. the lubricant stayed on there. it didnt seem to evaporate. is that normal? or does it dry out over a couple of days. i think the volume knob contacts are shot. still staticy as stated above in orig. post. when i push on the knob. goes hay wire still. where can i buy any thing like that.

[hermanv]

well i got the caig pro gold kit and when i sprayed on one of them. the lubricant stayed on there. it didnt seem to evaporate. is that normal? or does it dry out over a couple of days. i think the volume knob contacts are shot. still staticy as stated above in orig. post. when i push on the knob. goes hay wire still. where can i buy any thing like that.

You'll need to know value and wattage and the number of stacked sections. The ones a little over 1" in diameter are usually 2 Watt. Be sure to buy either log taper or audio taper.

Depends on the brand or style, ultra fancy expensive audiophile pots:
http://www.percyaudio.com/Catalog.pdf

For standard pots:
Parts-Express.com

http://www.digikey.com/

www.mouser.com/

www.alliedelec.com/

[budgetaudio76]

thank you hermanv i will definitely look into those. my kids could use it in their room. got enough low end speaks they can toy with so far the younger one really likes smooth jazz. right now im reading about vintage stuff in other forums. quite interesting. wonder why there is no serious vintage threads here. seems like peaople here know someone whose brothers neighbors cousins friends cousins knows about vintage audio(whew). if you can make sense of that your ahead of me

[Hal2000]

Vintage rules in my book- cool, tough, cheap, and sounds great!

[hermanv]

Vintage rules in my book- cool, tough, cheap, and sounds great!

While true for the better tube gear, almost all early transistor designs sound like krap. My opinion.

[Mr Peabody]

It depends on what is meant by the term "early" or "vintage". I have a Luxman receiver that sounds pretty good for a receiver and my vintage Sansui AU-9500 integrated, early 70's, is amazing for it's range. I'd put it against some of today's Rotel, NAD, or even entry Arcam. I'm sure though when transistor gear first came out it had a lot to learn like most new technology in it's infancy. Then some things never get better like trying to put an amp in an IC chip. Then some technology never takes off and is one day revisited like digital switching amps. Then you have technology like what Bob Carver does that seems to have some what of a cult following but Bob should have scrapped a long time ago to take a new direction.

[budgetaudio76]

hi again folks.

i thought this thread was a goner.
i must say that i agree with mrpeabody. the 2000x i have is quite a performer. currently paired with infinity RSa. sweet mellow sound. and its musical to boot. that is dynamic when called for. imaging for movies is excellent as well. imersion in sound? (surround effects with 2 speakers)you bet.

this little sui has 2 other name sake brothers of different models. both of which sound great. as well as a hk pm 655 another nice integrated. tho it is from the mid 80s i think.

i prefer the sound of the 2000x with infinity, and sometimes i use the pm 655 with the little sp 30 speaks. which has an excellent midrange. which is used in conjunction with the previous pair. just a little extra work to integrate the two together.
one of the sui recievers i just bought made a cheapo test speaker sound real nice was tuned to a jazz station. sounded fuller than it should have considering its tiny size.
now some of you might say i am using this combo because something is lacking. far from the truth. i do the same thing when using the paradigms with the hk avr 146. apparently i havent found my dream speakers. though the sansui sp 1700s i bought come close. alas they are lacking in the solid bass arena. there is some. but it just covers the bases in that regards.

thank you for showing interest in this thread. i missed posting here and obtaining info from you guys, much appreciated. thanx