'Kontak' electrical contact cleaner
Posted by: Andrew L. Weekes on 29 March 2001
It's apparently a contact cleaner developed for military applications, and does not leave any residue on the surfaces once cleaned. It will remove all traces of oxidization and contamination from the cleaned surface.
I'm a very strong believer in system contact cleanliness, and every part of my system, from the fuse in the consumer unit, through to the connections in the cartridge usually gets a thorough clean with duraglit / isopropyl alcohol as applicable every 3-6 months.
Interim husbandry usually involves the unplugging and remaking of connections and a quick polish of mains plugs. There is always a noticeable improvment as a result of this, and the instigating reason for an hour of uncomfortable scrabbling on hands and knees is usually because the system is not quite 'right'.
Anyway, having received my bottle of Kontak last night, I set about cleaning the system from head to toe.
Several mains plugs, fuses, interconnects, speaker plugs / sockets and cartridge connections (followed by an hour warmup) later I settled down for a listen. This stuff really works, if the disgusting amounts of grime left on several pipe cleaners and cotton buds is anything to go by.
The sound of the system is noticeably cleaner, and subtle rythmic elements and low level detail are better portrayed. It has a similar effect to the normal housekeeping, whereby a veil or grainy layer to the sound seems to disappear, but it takes it to a much higher level. The improvements are definitely musical, not just Hi-Fi.
All in all not bad for £15, and judging by the amount I used (very little), it should give me a couple of years cleaning.
The solution is now in a single bottle (the previous incarnation was a two part solution, supplied in seperate bottles) and is far less volatile than the previously available versions, so evaporation is less of an issue.
Anyone else have any views?
Andy.
Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com
quote:
I'm prepared to be open minded, but my overriding scepticism stands, i.e. if all you are doing is cleaning the contacts, and Brasso cleans brass, then what makes the Contak stuff special...
John,
I'd agree with Malcolm's comment above, that I'd never use Brasso / Duraglit on anything less substantial than a mains plug. On plated contacts the abrasive action will remove the protective plating (as Matthew has commented) which may sound better in the short term, but will degrade more quickly over time.
I'd still use metal polish as the initial cleaning routine for a mains plug, but I'm certain it will leave behind some residue, and Kontak will, I'm sure remove that (isopropyl also remove a certain amount).
For delicate signal connectors though one does not want to remove the plating, so a non-abrasive cleaner is required, and the Kontak solution is definitely more effective than the only other 'safe' solution I'd use, Isopropanol.
I used to be very sceptical of how important relatively small levels of contamination could have, I'd have laughed at anyone who told me to polish my mains plugs - until I tried it for myself.
Believe me - I have much better things to do with my time than cleaning interconnects etc., but the audible differences make it to impossible to avoid.
If you haven't done this sort of procedure on your system, then try the following, when you get a spare hour or so, and if you cannot hear the difference, buy some cotton buds [for your ears 
].
Polish system mains plugs with Duraglit (all of them).
Remove fuses from mains plugs, retension fuse holder and clean with isopropanol, if available, then refit.
Clean all interconnect contact areas (don't forget speaker plugs and SNAIC's to PSU's) with a pipe cleaner dipped in isopropanol, or just unplug and remate if you don't have any.
Sit down and enjoy - I know you'll be pleasantly surprised.
quote:
With gold contacts a simple organic solvent is all that is required as gold does not oxidise and for silver a hot salt solution with aluminium foil in the solution will reverse any oxidation and turn it back to metal, works well on silver cutlery too!
I'm not sure that I'd like to dip the silver plated connectors of my SNAIC's into such a solution though, with the associated risk of capillary attraction, and salt residue left on the surfaces!
I'm confident that there is no significant material removal with the Kontak solution and that there is no residue either, the audible results speak for themselves.
Andy.
Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com
This is a complete an utter pain to completely remove (barring using a grinder ! 
In the end,after numerous attempts to get the plugs sounding as they did prior to the treatment,I ended up replacing with new
Regards
Chris
Use a paper towel, a little bit of elbow grease, etc.--works wonders, cost nothing and doesn't corrode as quickly. No chemical reactions, either.
This works as well for DIN plugs, even the 15+-year-old interconnects I see through our service department on a daily basis; in some cases, you can even remove the spark frit caused by plugging an IEC-type connector into a (switched-on) component.
If you wish to see the effects of a contact cleaner, try it on glass first. If you can't polish it away into the surface, chances are it will leave a capacitive film on the contact surface.
As I'm sure most of you are aware, most plug / receptacle combinations do not utilise the total surface area in order to make contact, such that some areas of the plug pin contact surface will wear out faster than others.
Alternative? Replacement.
Dave Dever, NANA
[Since Duraglitting the plugs at the amplifier end of the cable can degrade the sound, I’m assuming that it's best to stick to Naim plugs and mechanical cleaning for the amplifier end].
TIA
--Jeremy