Silclear Contact Enhancer: A Cautionary Tale

[mourip]

I have been using Silclear "contact enhancer" for several years. The concept seemed obvious and logical to me.

 

To be honest I cannot say that I ever heard a difference but it seemed like a proactive practice to use for cleaning my IC pins and especially my tube pins....until this week.

 

I recently bought some new 12AX7 tubes for the input position of my Linear Tube Audio Ultralinear amp. After putting them in I listened for a few days but found that something just was not right. For some reason it occurred to me that in a moment of muddled confusion I had inserted both tubes in the same channel so that in one channel I had also replaced the 12AU7 phase splitter with the new 12AX7. This did not break anything but the channel balance was off and so was the sound. This was actually the good news!

 

When I went to correct my mistake I found that the Silclear on my existing tubes had somehow migrated UP the tube pins and had formed a thin but noticeable layer along the glass between many of the narrowly spaced pins. I was shocked since Silclear contains silver and is very conductive. The likelihood that small unwanted electrical currents were now passing between various tube pins seemed high.

 

I read the instructions when I first purchased the Silclear. They specifically say to use the smallest amount possible however there is really no way to ensure that, even if you are careful...as I was. The instructions say: " All tube pins; SilClear will improve tube cooling and will be left unchanged by tube pin temperatures." My theories are that either the Silclear gets pushed UP the pin as the pin is inserted or contrary to the instructions it flows upwards as the tube gets hot.

 

I used alcohol to clean off all of my tube pins and inspected all tubes to be certain that none of these "bridges" were still present. I was treated to the best sound that I had ever heard from my system. Clarity was vastly improved. I could now hear what my system was really capable of.

 

I can say that although I never heard an audible difference after first applying it, removing it produced a profound improvement. 

 

YMMV.

[Ralf11]

Thx for this report - it could also have high surface tension and flow that way - like water.

 

 

[fas42]

A good cautionary tale ... from experience, hold the perspective that these silver based solutions are like one time use, greasy solder - solder because it stabilises the electrical connection, protects the contacts; greasy because once you start playing with grease it will get everywhere, unless one is extremely precise in applying it, and how you touch and manoeuvre things; and one time effective - as soon as you break or significantly move the metal contacts assume the connection is compromised - clean everything, thoroughly, and reapply.

[gmgraves]

11 hours ago, mourip said:

I have been using Silclear "contact enhancer" for several years. The concept seemed obvious and logical to me.

 

To be honest I cannot say that I ever heard a difference but it seemed like a proactive practice to use for cleaning my IC pins and especially my tube pins....until this week.

 

I recently bought some new 12AX7 tubes for the input position of my Linear Tube Audio Ultralinear amp. After putting them in I listened for a few days but found that something just was not right. For some reason it occurred to me that in a moment of muddled confusion I had inserted both tubes in the same channel so that in one channel I had also replaced the 12AU7 phase splitter with the new 12AX7. This did not break anything but the channel balance was off and so was the sound. This was actually the good news!

 

When I went to correct my mistake I found that the Silclear on my existing tubes had somehow migrated UP the tube pins and had formed a thin but noticeable layer along the glass between many of the narrowly spaced pins. I was shocked since Silclear contains silver and is very conductive. The likelihood that small unwanted electrical currents were now passing between various tube pins seemed high.

 

I read the instructions when I first purchased the Silclear. They specifically say to use the smallest amount possible however there is really no way to ensure that, even if you are careful...as I was. The instructions say: " All tube pins; SilClear will improve tube cooling and will be left unchanged by tube pin temperatures." My theories are that either the Silclear gets pushed UP the pin as the pin is inserted or contrary to the instructions it flows upwards as the tube gets hot.

 

I used alcohol to clean off all of my tube pins and inspected all tubes to be certain that none of these "bridges" were still present. I was treated to the best sound that I had ever heard from my system. Clarity was vastly improved. I could now hear what my system was really capable of.

 

I can say that although I never heard an audible difference after first applying it, removing it produced a profound improvement. 

 

YMMV.

There is only one "contact enhancer" that has any real legitimacy. And that is Stabilant 22A. This used to be marketed by Dayton-Wright and Sumiko as "Tweek". But they no longer sell it. You can order it directly  from the manufacturer, D.W. Electrochemical Company in Ontario, Canada (they have a website), or from Amazon, or you can pick up a 15ml bottle from many auto supply houses. Warning this stuff ain't cheap but that's because it's the real thing! It has a NATO stock number, a US Mil-Spec #, as well as a NASA Specification.  It is used in the manufacture of cars, rockets, satellites, as well as military equipment. It works, I have actual, personal proof. My Alfa Romeo had an intermittent electronic speedometer. I would clean the contacts and reconnect the speedo and it would work for a while and then quit again. I finally, in desperation, treated the connector with Stabilant 22A. It never gave me any more trouble. I also treated the tail-light sockets with the stuff and never had any more trouble with with tail lights (older Italian cars were notorious for flakey electrics. I understand  that modern ones no longer have those problems). Now, as to whether it will improve the sound of one's hifi, is another matter. RCA connectors, XLRs, and 5-way binding posts already give one a near perfect connection in that a Wheatstone bridge can't even measure the contact resistance because it's so low. NASA and the military and the US auto industry use Stabilant to insure that the electrical connections are fairly immune to failure even in high vibration environments. It will enhance marginal connections and make them reliable. No doubt of that, but whether or not they make a hifi system sound better is really not in evidence as far as I can see.  I took the "Tweek  Challenge" when I bought my first bottle. I "Tweeked" one channel of my system  and compared it to the untreated channel. I heard nothing that I could consider a real difference (using a mono source, of course), but I continue to use it on speaker connections because I feel that they are the most vulnerable to vibrating loose. But, as Mourip pointed out, YMMV.

[mourip]

Thanks. I used to use Tweek. The tiny bottle lasted about 20 years.

 

I am going to toss my jar of Silclear.

[Panelhead]

  Tweet also has downsides. Mainly from either slopping too much, or repeated application. Do not know the ph of the Tweek residue but is not neutral. 

[fas42]

8 minutes ago, Panelhead said:

  Tweet also has downsides. Mainly from either slopping too much, or repeated application. Do not know the ph of the Tweek residue but is not neutral. 

 

My experience with this type of contact enhancer ... found that it still allowed the contacts to deteriorate over some period of time, with audible consequences - confirmed by thorough cleaning off of the liquid residue, and trying the fresh, raw metal surfaces alone.

 

Possibly the exact 'right' compound for the particular metals can be found, to do the job - but I haven't. My solution is either soldering, or silver particle preparations, applied in a very precise way.

[Blackmorec]

Talking to one of the principals of a major vacuum tube electronics manufacturer, he mentioned that far and away the biggest cause of faulty amps was the use of contact enhancers. Several manufacturers actively discourage their use.  I always found that contact cleaners made from analytical grade alcohol worked best, evaporating entirely and leaving no residue. 

[Ralf11]

ISO 17025 ??

 

or just a reagent grade?

 

 

FWIW, I use Caig cleaner on old cars; Tweek (a good aged vintage) on stereo connectors...

[fas42]

The point of all these treatments is merely to ensure integrity of the connection - if you have two lengths of copper wire, and you wish to join them to make them equivalent to a single, double length piece of wire - that's all that any of these procedures can do. It can't 'improve' your sound to some magical place, which is beyond what the components are capable of - it just gives the rig a better chance of maintaining overall consistency of quality; that's all one should expect of doing this type of thing.

[gmgraves]

20 hours ago, Blackmorec said:

Talking to one of the principals of a major vacuum tube electronics manufacturer, he mentioned that far and away the biggest cause of faulty amps was the use of contact enhancers. Several manufacturers actively discourage their use.  I always found that contact cleaners made from analytical grade alcohol worked best, evaporating entirely and leaving no residue. 

Yeah, I don’tt Think contact cleaners on tube pins is a very good Idea.

 

[bluesman]

For me, the most effective and reasonable contact cleaner has always been periodic separation, inspection, cleaning, and reassembly of tubes in sockets, cable connectors, and everything else that conducts signal and separates.  I discovered in my teens that the RCA connectors for the reverb tanks in my guitar amplifiers started looking grungy after only a few months (I grew up in the damp, salt air of the Jersey shore). So I unplugged them every few months, blew them off/out (my father had an air compressor), cleaned them with alcohol on a swab, and plugged them back in. I extended this practice to my audio equipment, with a twist - literally.  I separated and cleaned all the RCAs in my signal chain every 4 to 6 months, but I also reached back there every few weeks to simply twist the plugs back and forth a few degrees. I believed (and still do ) that this would break up any incipient oxide forming at the interfaces around the pins and inside the ground "shield". 

 

I started doing it with every removable tube and connector I had - binding posts, bananas, spade lugs, line plugs, etc. And every once in a while, it made a difference and/or I found early wear, looseness, or breakage that would have become a failure. So every year or so, I do tube, cable and connector maintenance on all my systems (audio, live sound reinforcement, guitar and keyboard amps, etc).  Modern connectors are made of materials far more resistant to corrosion than those old RCA plugs and jacks were, so it's probably unnecessary.  But it makes me feel good, and it costs nothing. Thankfully (for my equipment and cars, although I'd love to live on the ocean again for almost every other reason), I moved away from the shore 55 years ago, so humidity is no longer the scourge of my hobbies.

 

It's also worth noting that resistance is not the only factor in pin and connector hygiene.  Once a layer of less-than-completely-conductive material (e.g. oxidation) builds up between two conductive surfaces, you have a capacitor. I have no idea how much of a capacitor is created by a few years of oxidation between connecting surfaces, but I do know that I and others can clearly hear the effect of cable capacitance on the sound of our electric guitars (in-line capacitors are high pass filters). I doubt that it matters on tube pins, but it could on audio connectors.

 

FWIW, there are many tube socket brushes, audio connector cleaning tools etc out there. I've never used any, but they do have some appeal.

[davide256]

I can say that when I first tried Tweek and Deoxit it was very easy to observe reduced  background noise  by treating contacts on one side and turning amplification up to where you could first hear faint  pops and ticks.. the untreated side was always  worse than the treated side. But I haven't observed any other benefits. Since vacuum tube pins do oxidize I don't use tubes without treating them. As to Silclear, tried it once, but did not continue as it  looked like an accident waiting to happen... never had any migration/contamination issues with Tweek or Deoxit

[fas42]

I've found separating the contacts and thoroughly cleaning always works - as a very short term measure. Simply twisting in place is an extremely short term solution; the contact goes bad again very, very quickly - makes sense why, all one is doing is "stirring up the sludge" that's accumulated; and it oozes back in place, as soon as it can.

 

Audible effects of the contact cleaners, IME, is that after a period in place the sound goes relatively dead, much of the sparkle is lost - it's boring to listen to. If the contact is going bad otherwise then any material with strong treble content develops an edginess, an "I can't keep listening to this track!" quality. Pristine connections provides maximum life and sparkle, with never hints of "being too much" - IOW, conveys the energy while still remaining 'smooth', just like live music does.

[gmgraves]

9 hours ago, davide256 said:

I can say that when I first tried Tweek and Deoxit it was very easy to observe reduced  background noise  by treating contacts on one side and turning amplification up to where you could first hear faint  pops and ticks.. the untreated side was always  worse than the treated side. But I haven't observed any other benefits. Since vacuum tube pins do oxidize I don't use tubes without treating them. As to Silclear, tried it once, but did not continue as it  looked like an accident waiting to happen... never had any migration/contamination issues with Tweek or Deoxit

Because tubes get hot, I wouldn’t treat the pins with any liquid or anything like Stabilant 22A which is actually a paste that is thinned with isopropyl alcohol.

[fas42]

What I've used for ages is just the standard Chemtronics CircuitWorks grease - quite a dry paste, don't have issues with it oozing around - liquidy might look more impressive, but the drier stuff still does the job.

[GregWormald]

Deoxit, Pro Gold, Cramolin system--I've used them all with only positive results and will continue to do so. They all say to wipe off any excess so the contacts appear essentially dry.

[davide256]

1 hour ago, gmgraves said:

Because tubes get hot, I wouldn’t treat the pins with any liquid or anything like Stabilant 22A which is actually a paste that is thinned with isopropyl alcohol.

Tweek and Deoxit are close to a thin oil in nature, easy to apply and clean off any excess with a Qtip.  Silclear was  paste like, very messy and got runnier as it got warmer.

Hated working with it as it would generate cotton candy like threads when you pulled back an applicator.

[BlueSkyy]

On 2/16/2019 at 9:31 PM, gmgraves said:

There is only one "contact enhancer" that has any real legitimacy. And that is Stabilant 22A. This used to be marketed by Dayton-Wright and Sumiko as "Tweek". But they no longer sell it. You can order it directly  from the manufacturer, D.W. Electrochemical Company in Ontario, Canada (they have a website), or from Amazon, or you can pick up a 15ml bottle from many auto supply houses. Warning this stuff ain't cheap but that's because it's the real thing! It has a NATO stock number, a US Mil-Spec #, as well as a NASA Specification.

I am buying some from Amazon.  Thanks for the point out!

[Skip Pack]

I would generally agree that Stabilant 22A is the only enhancer to use generally. I have and use Silclear in very small quantities in places that do not get more than a bit warm, and clean and reapply every couple of years.