Q: (18425)
I have used DeoxIT® and DeoxIT® GOLD in most of their available forms on vintage audio equipment by McIntosh Laboratories and Marantz. It does an outstanding job of removing oxidation, and has made a noticeable improvement in the sound quality of components.
The instruments sound like they are emerging from a “blacker” background. The transients, speed, attack and decay, transparency, and smoothness of the musical notes are all noticeably enhanced. Music sounds more three-dimensional, as though you could “step right through it.”
I used DeoxIT® contact cleaner on an arcing power switch on an old Kenwood receiver, and it completely eliminated the problem. This also happened when I applied it to an arcing light switch.
I am amazed at how these products are so non-conductive yet enhance conductivity. I did my own test with an old 16 volt (amperage unknown) power transformer from a Lionel Train set, and I connected one wire to a small light bulb (like that of a flashlight).
When the connected lead of the light was set in DeoxIT® and the other wire from the transformer was immersed adjacently to it, the bulb would not light up–no matter how close the wire was, until it was directly touching the metal. The transformer had multiple output power settings/taps, and this test was done with the transformer set to maximum output.
I was curious to see how well DeoxIT® would protect against corrosion, so I applied it to the terminals of my car battery in the fall (I lived in a harsh fall/winter environment near Canada, by Lake Superior). Normally the terminals oxidized in as little as 2 months after installing a new battery, but after cleaning them with DeoxIT®, I went through fall, a harsh, wet, slushy, salty (from roads) winter, spring, and finally summer—and there was NO corrosion on the battery terminals from the sulfuric acid vapors!
Excellent products, I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. I have used Chemtronics Kontact Restorer, Blue Foam with “mini-scrubbers”, LPS1 greaseless lubricant — CAIG products are far superior, and I would never go back to anything else.
by Mark Carlyon
