My Hi-line smells like an ash tray

Hi,

I once had a similar problem with a tonearm cable. Several applications of antistatic plastic cleaner from Burnus did the job for me.

Usually warm water and vinegar sorts out cigarette smoke, possibly hang it up outside in the garden  for a few hours....unfortunately if it's got inside the cable, you can only just keep repeating the process ....

If one looks at eBay ads, the conclusion must be reached that no one has dogs, children or smokes..

Best suggestion I can make is to put it into a wide plastic tube, put one end of the tube out of a window and blow warm air in through the other end using a hair dryer.  Leave it like that for a few minutes and repeat every few hours.  Given the temperature outside it's probably best to use a towel to seal the rest of the gap in the window.  (brrr).

oops - my system must smell auful then ...

I once had a test HiCap that smelled like a ashtray. Imagine how much someone had to smoke to embed smoke into metal!!!! 

I bought a 6 month old fully loaded Linn LP12 a few months back. It smelt of cigars and Brut aftershave! Took a summer of open windows and a good clean when it was fully serviced after which I pleased to report that the pong departed the premises

my LF 500 headunit, plus burndies, also reeked of tobacco smoke when i bought it. in addition, the fascia was somewhat discolouredand looked rather 'ill'.  the nice people at Naim HQ cleaned this up (and the PS as well) and replaced the fascia when it was serviced and DR upgraded-- so now it all looks great. 

my luck -- i then bough a 2nd hand Powerline from a well known dealer and this also reeked of tobacco -- but i just hung it out where there was good air circulation before using it -- and the smell eventually went (i think...)

Hiline is a much more delicate component so whatever you do - be careful. you may consider just hanging out where there is good air circulation for a few days to a week before using it.

enjoy

ken

I had the exact same same issue with a Hi-Line I had on demo from my dealer - it absolutely stank like an ash tray. It wasn't subtle, it really was a particularly strong smell. Maybe the materials used somehow make it susceptible to this ? Strange though - being a demo item I wouldn't have thought it had spent too long in one smokey environment.

Adam Zielinski posted:

I once had a test HiCap that smelled like a ashtray. Imagine how much someone had to smoke to embed smoke into metal!!!! 

Probably not so much smoke embedded into metal as a coating of soot on the surface of the case and everything else inside; circuits boards, solder joints, etc.

I'd summarily reject any gear smelling of smoke, cable or otherwise, no matter what the discount. I can't see having to attempt a hodgepodge of home remedies to mitigate the previous owner's degradation of the gear from smoking. Let said owner find a fellow smoker content to (unwittingly) accept the gear and further the course of contamination.

joerand posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

I once had a test HiCap that smelled like a ashtray. Imagine how much someone had to smoke to embed smoke into metal!!!! 

Probably not so much smoke embedded into metal as a coating of soot on the surface of the case and everything else inside; circuits boards, solder joints, etc.

I'd summarily reject any gear smelling of smoke, cable or otherwise, no matter what the discount. I can't see having to attempt a hodgepodge of home remedies to mitigate the previous owner's degradation of the gear from smoking. Let said owner find a fellow smoker content to (unwittingly) accept the gear and further the course of contamination.

 Most likely. It was a demo kit, so of course it went back. A new HiCap was eventually ordered

joerand posted:

I'd summarily reject any gear smelling of smoke, cable or otherwise, no matter what the discount. I can't see having to attempt a hodgepodge of home remedies to mitigate the previous owner's degradation of the gear from smoking. Let said owner find a fellow smoker content to (unwittingly) accept the gear and further the course of contamination.

Yes, I am now regret enough.

Will99 posted:

I had the exact same same issue with a Hi-Line I had on demo from my dealer - it absolutely stank like an ash tray. It wasn't subtle, it really was a particularly strong smell. Maybe the materials used somehow make it susceptible to this ? Strange though - being a demo item I wouldn't have thought it had spent too long in one smokey environment.

Poor us. I soaked it (except the plugs) into baking soda solution and hope it works. If not, I will level up the action and try bleaching agent.

I strongly advise against any the use of bleach, strong acids or any other oxidising agents.

After 2 days of bathing in soda solution, solution became slightly brown (color of cigarette tar?), odour of the cable reduced by 50 to 70% . Right after I put it with coffee ground for few hours and now the cable has the smell of coffee ground only 

But anyway I am so regret to buy this item that made me so trouble. Please reject anything with smoke odour as Joerand said.

I once purchased a powercord secondhand, the one time I forgot to ask if it was from a smoke free home, it wasn't.  As soon as I opened the box I could smell this to be the case.  I tried all sorts of online recipes to remove the stink.  Some of them seemed to work well at first but after a day or two, the smell was back.  What I ended up doing was leaving it ouside for about a week, which seemed to help.  Then just left it in the home for about 8 months in an area it wasn't disturbed (didn't put it into the system, fearing it would transfer the stink to other cables) & eventually all traces of the smoke smell were gone.  So I think the best solution just seems to be time.

I once bought a PL from the flea pit and it stunk of cigarette smoke.  Have to say though  it disappeared after a couple of weeks. 

Regards,

Lindsay

I've got an ashtray that smells like a HiLine.

tonym posted:

I've got an ashtray that smells like a HiLine.

tonym posted:

I've got an ashtray that smells like a HiLine.

How does it sound ?

Some should realise that this problem is also deep into their lungs... 

james n posted:

tonym posted:

I've got an ashtray that smells like a HiLine.

How does it sound ?

I should think it hums a bit.

There's only two remedies for your smoky wire, Latte:

1. Hang it up in the garage or out of the window... in the fresh air.

2. Splash a bit of Brut aftershave on it... if I remember rightly, as a Brut user myself, this brand of aftershave successfully masked a wide variety of pongs, including several ladies perfumes, the odour of beer and spirits, and of course cigarette smoke.

rjstaines posted:

There's only two remedies for your smoky wire, Latte:

1. Hang it up in the garage or out of the window... in the fresh air.

2. Splash a bit of Brut aftershave on it... if I remember rightly, as a Brut user myself, this brand of aftershave successfully masked a wide variety of pongs, including several ladies perfumes, the odour of beer and spirits, and of course cigarette smoke.

 

Thank you. I am putting the cable in the workshop of my office, blowing with a fan 8 hours a day, hope the remaining smell would be gone eventually. 

Latte,

Still checking my math, but based on cursory back-of-the-envelope calculations, I've estimated you can reduce the required time by a factor of three if you leave the fan running 24/7.

Besides airing the cable, I'd consider spraying it lightly with an air freshener, something like Oust, that contains phthalates. While phthalates might be considered toxic, your cable is probably already toxic and phthalates are fairly ubiquitous in common household products. Besides delivering fragrance, phthalates also work as penetration enhancers, and should be absorbed into the surface of the cable sheathing.