The signal carries very little current and a large surface area is not necessary nor any advantage. Signals inside the box pass through multiple tiny cables and pin like connectors without degradation
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My favorite is “Kontak” leaves no residue . And for female Din I use these little brushes I believe they are called interdental ! Also great for cleaning female RCA’s and especially female XLR’s
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Those are TePe brushes for (usually) cleaning between hard to reach gaps
between teeth.
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Quite!
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I’ve used Kontak several times over the years, along with a general spring clean/dusting of components it always sounds better after the effort involved!
Typically the last bottle I bought managed to tip over and leak all over a worktop until I realised a little too late.
Those interdental brushes are a great idea for Din sockets, thanks!
Forget cleaning your DIN plugs/sockets - it’s the 4mm speaker outputs/inputs you need to pay attention to.
The distortion trace on an oscilloscope has to be seen to been believed when these sockets are dirty.
I’ll get some pictures to back up my claim in due coarse.
Cleaning these is a gamble, because the best way is to use a cotton bud soaked with isopropanol & the head is liable to come off, leaving you with a headache!
For those willing to take the risk - insert the cotton bud first dry, using a rotational force, then soak the same bud with isopropanol & repeat the cleaning action. If the head remains on the stick, the filth that comes out may surprise you!
Regards
Neil.
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As ever, thanks so much to the Community for your help.
As I read your advice, I have invested in Zen pipe cleaners, which are reputed not to shed fibers, built to purpose and well-reviewed; DeOxit 5; and isopropyl for dessert.
Does anyone have experience with any of these?
Those TP brushes come in quite large sizes, the largest, grey ones if I remember correctly, could be suitable for a speaker socket and less likely to leave part of itself behind.
I had a bit of cotton bud stuck in my ear for well over a year. It stopped water clearing after a shower giving that blocked feeling for several hours at a time, and worse, led to recurring ear infections. Eventually it worked its way out with some encouragement from drops of olive oil but I stopped using cotton buds in my ears after that.
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Thanks, @NeilS, that’s very useful. My 200 was serviced at Naim last year - can I assume the 4mm outputs were at least checked for cleanliness, if not actually cleaned as part of the service?
Mark
Unfortunately I’m unable to guarantee that it did happen.
Having seen the effects, it’s something that I do religiously, but I’m only one of the service team. Not something that we would necessary record on the job sheet though.
Regards
Neil.
I can see a new thread appearing tomorrow containing “night and day” or “I’m unable to plug my speaker cables back in”
And of course some mucky photos…
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So if you are a dunce use Qtip’s that may come apart or use the little nylon brushes that work great and don’t fail. And since we’re on the topic any particular reason Nain chooses to use those, what are they tin speaker connectors? I mean the Statement use WBT’s … and there’s lots of great connections in between … Furutech , Cardas, Eichmann
No commercial links in the Hifi Corner, please. Thanks.
I answered that for you just over a year ago - see here:
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Understood, Neil, thanks. Something for me to maybe try the next time I give the system a clean.
Mark
“Consistent” connection is the key here. The low conductive mass of the pins in DIN allows close impedance matching. The bulky bling high end RCA plugs (and the sockets) have far higher impedance than the cable between them.
DIN provide excellent contact pressure on a mechanism that isn’t significantly bulkier than the wire it connects.
That said, not all RCA plugs are equal. The Atlas ones have very thin connectors which doon’t even cover 360 degrees which, I believe, is aimed at addressing some of these issues.
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Could it also have to do with earlier Naim being very sensitive to what kind and length of speaker cable you used in that Naim by purpose designed this to be sold with their own cables and connectors. Some would of course don’t care. I just think back on the Naim journey and when it started and I was thinking everything would explode if I connected the wrong speaker cable to it.
I don’t think so. It was just a simple case of choosing the best performing connector for the job.
Did it. One of the q-tips fell off in the hole. No problem getting it out though. I didn´t listen before, but imagine a cleaner top end after cleaning. Q-tips were quite grey so they removed something.
I clean my amps speaker connections during the annual deep clean (every thing out, vac’d, dusted & the Naim cases cleaned with Astonish Glass & Tile)
Having once ‘lost’ a cotton bud, I now wrap cotton buds with a photo lens cleaner sheet, it seems to do a better cleaning job & removes the risk of loosing the bud end.
Its annoying that the Naim amp with its nickel plugs & sockets are always dirty, I’m more than convinced its erosion, whereas the speaker end with its ‘gold’ plugs & sockets are always clean.