Cleaning

[Paul Wozniak]

I meant to post this around the beginning of the year, but I forgot.

Many of us forget to do this but it is important to do once a year, and that's the simple task of getting behind your rigs and taking the time to clean and dress your connections. Break out the vacuum cleaner and get all those dust bunnies. Disconnect and clean all your interconnects, dress them with a good contact cleaner. Disconnect all those speaker wires, if they're bare wire, cut a little off, dress, and reconnect. Now tidy up all your "runs", and make sure if you have to cross an AC line with your interconnects, do so at a 90 degree angle.

If you haven't done this in a while you may be shocked at what you hear when you power back up. Cleaning up that oxidation is one of those cheap upgrades you can make you smile. I just did this today, and I'm always shocked by how much this changes the sound of my system. Makes the wife happy too, it's amazing how much dust accumulates back there.

A clean system is a happy system.

 

[Rey]

great advise :up thank you

 

[dfergie]

Excellent post... stuck thread...:up

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Excellent post... stuck thread...:up

Didn't think about a "sticky" for this. I guess that's why guys like you run this place.

Anyhow, I agree this was a good move, if just to remind ME to clean my connections.

 

[dfergie]

I've always used pencil erasers to clean composite cables... (bought some just for some sensitive connections at work also)

 

[gadgtfreek]

Paul, what do you mean by "90 degree angle"?

Are you saying dont run interconnects parallel with power cords? Its best to have them criss cross like an intersection to minimize how much of the interconnect is close to the power cord?

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Paul, what do you mean by "90 degree angle"?

Are you saying dont run interconnects parallel with power cords? Its best to have them criss cross like an intersection to minimize how much of the interconnect is close to the power cord?

You got it right, Elwaylite. It's best if you can keep your interconnects, HDMI's away from any AC cords, but since we live in the "real world", it's best if you have cross AC lines to do it like "an intersection". I've got over a sh*t load of wires (forgot the count, I posted it another thread once) behind my stand, and dressing them all is a major chore, but well worth it.

 

[ripnbigc]

Great reminder!

 

[gadgtfreek]

You got it right, Elwaylite. It's best if you can keep your interconnects, HDMI's away from any AC cords, but since we live in the "real world", it's best if you have cross AC lines to do it like "an intersection". I've got over a sh*t load of wires (forgot the count, I posted it another thread once) behind my stand, and dressing them all is a major chore, but well worth it.

Yeah, going all HDMI helps out.

Ive got my surge protector mounted on the wall behind my tv, so all power cords go up. All my speaker cables (sub too) go down along the floor, so the exposure should be minimal.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

My speaker connections all run under the floor. Much tidier, not to mention hidden from view, and nothing to trip over.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Good thing about my ent center, its so low and close to the wall that you cant see any of the speaker wires running underneath. Id love to run the power hidden though.

 

[bebop]

I would add that blowing out the dust from your equipment will make it last longer and run cooler. My receiver has vents on the whole top of the unit so dust easily settles right down in it and there are no fans. I simple can or air or air compressor does the trick - just have it off. I don't like the vacuum idea on a $1000 receiver or computer case - and the compressed air does a much better job.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I would add that blowing out the dust from your equipment will make it last longer and run cooler. My receiver has vents on the whole top of the unit so dust easily settles right down in it and there are no fans. I simple can or air or air compressor does the trick - just have it off. I don't like the vacuum idea on a $1000 receiver or computer case - and the compressed air does a much better job.

Vacuuming wont hurt anything, just be sure to use a brush attachment. Compressed air is a very good alternative also. Nice post Bebop.

 

[bebop]

Vacuuming wont hurt anything, just be sure to use a brush attachment. Compressed air is a very alternative also. Nice post Bebop.

You betcha! I vacuum if that's the only method I can do at the time/location. But that dust is stuck on there at times and it needs something to knock it off. My vac inevitably doesn't have a good enough attachment to get into all the cracks that compressed air can.

Best thing is to disconnect all the cables, take it out to the driveway and use an air compressor with an air-gun attachment and blow every bit of dust out of it (computer, AV receiver, or whatever). Depending on the location you might want to do it annually, or more often. I've also found that changing my furnace air-filter before it get's really dusty helps keep down the dust levels - especially since I've got the vents on top for my Onkyo receiver.

 

[jayn_j]

Best thing is to disconnect all the cables, take it out to the driveway and use an air compressor with an air-gun attachment and blow every bit of dust out of it (computer, AV receiver, or whatever).

Just one caveat. If you are using a compressor with air gun, keep the pressure regulator down to 15 pounds or so. An air gun attachment can cause some significant pressure differentials, even at 30-40 psi.

I have seen cases where people hooked up a 100 psi supply line and ended up blowing components right off the board. In one extreme case, the guy actually lifted the traces right off the board.

 

[bebop]

Just one caveat. If you are using a compressor with air gun, keep the pressure regulator down to 15 pounds or so. An air gun attachment can cause some significant pressure differentials, even at 30-40 psi.

I have seen cases where people hooked up a 100 psi supply line and ended up blowing components right off the board. In one extreme case, the guy actually lifted the traces right off the board.

Yeah - good point. Some people don't realize how powerful compressed air can be.

 

[imthedevil]

If you use an air compressor make sure you have a decent dryer in the line as compressing air creates moisture which is the enemy of everything except life, lol. Also, I have never and will never use a vacuum cleaner on any electrical component, static electricity created by the vacuum can ruin something in the blink of an eye.

Just my opinion

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Never had that happen.

 

[bebop]

If you use an air compressor make sure you have a decent dryer in the line as compressing air creates moisture which is the enemy of everything except life, lol.

Good point - don't just use any old compressor without knowing about it.

You could bleed out any moisture in the bottom of the tank first and then run a test on something dry nearby.

But if you do get a bunch of water on it and it's unplugged - just suck it up with a Sham-Wow - they're the bomb!

Seriously - just get the water off/out and let it totally dry for an absurdly long time just to be sure.

 

[bhelms]

I think the moving air creating static caveat has some credibility here, especially if it's exceedingly dry air. Another possible concern with the vacuum is the possibility of creating static with the brush. Synthetic materials are probably worse but in fact any insulator could cause a problem including natural hair.

In the past I have cleaned-out equipment at the circuit board level by using a low powered vacuum with a small nozzle then using a medium natural hair artists' brush to knock the dust loose in close proximity to the nozzle, which I attempted to keep close to the work but never quite touching. But that was back in the days of discrete components. With today's sensitive ICs it could be a different story. Taking all other standard ESD precautions would be advisable in any case. (Dissipative and grounded work surface, wear a tested strap, protective smock, etc.)