There are 19 pins so maybe use a toothpick or use a test probe to apply . Tom
New Tweak --- Its Fantastic
THE NEW TWEAK
Over the good part of this past year I’ve been beta testing a new tweak, the name of which is "Total Contact." Its a hi-bred graphene contact enhancer that is different from all other contact enhancers that have come and gone for one reason or another. I’m not new to these contact enhancers, having had quite a bit of experience with a product developed by the late Brian Kyle and his "Quick Silver" contact enhancer. The "Total Contact" is different ... a LOT different.
"Total Contact" is graphene based and is not a vibration control. It eliminates micro-arching between two contacts. Micro-arching, much like Micro-vibration smears the sound in our stereo systems. Its the type of distortion that we don’t know is there .... until we eliminate it. There is no break-in as we know it. The sound is improved right off the bat, but what you hear is only a smidgen of what’s to come.
I tested three generations of "TC," each of which was an improvement over the previous incarnation. The final mix was cryogenitically treated and made for a more effective, much smoother application. It comes in a large hypodermic needle type plunger containing 1.5 ml of product and includes a instructional DVD and an application brush.
The application should be applied with a very thin coat to all of your electrical connections .... from your cartridge pins to your power cords. I did my entire system, including the ends of my fuses.
Upon initial application, you will notice an improvement in clarity, correctness of tonal balance and a more overall organic sound. But ... that is just scratching the surface of what this magic paste does. As it cures, the improvements become more apparent. Much more!
There are two real break-through events that happen almost to the day with "Total Contact," one at four weeks and another at eight weeks . At four weeks, you’ll get a real jump in clarity and overall improvement. That’s only a taste though of what’s to come at eight weeks. At eight weeks your system’s focus will make a jump in SQ that is so real - its surreal.
After 40 years in the hobby, and a total tweak nut, I have never heard anything that does what this graphene paste does. The see-through clarity at eight weeks becomes simply amazing. The "paste" eventually cures into a kind of polymer plastic and it seems that the sound improves with each listening session. So, its important that you leave your contacts alone for the duration. If you’re the type of person that continually switches wires in and out, you’ll have to re paste until enough time has elapsed to get "the cure."
The only problem I had was with the first batch and that had to do with shorting out a tube pin in the line stage. Use the "TC" very sparingly on tube pins, if at all. I only had problems with the line stage tube pins. The Amp, CD Player and Phono Stage has had no tube pin problems at all.
Tim Mrock, one of our fellow A’goners, is the developer of the product. Its taken Tim 15 years and several patents to get it right. Tim has "pasted" every electrical contact he can find in his audio system, all of the switches in his circuit breaker box, every contact in his car ... and has used it in commercial applications such as hospital circuit breakers, surgical lights ... and other places where efficiency and long life of electrical components are deemed important.
This product is highly recommended to anyone who truly wants to get the most out of his/her audio systems. There’s enough product in each tube to do at least two audio systems as it just takes a very thin coat on each application to be effective. The last tube was enough to do my system twice and then a friend’s system this past weekend.
Frank
PS: There were a couple of other A’goner beta testers of this product as well. Hopefully, they will chime in here with their experiences for comparison. I "pasted" both of Steve Fleschler’s systems a few days ago, perhaps he will comment on his results too. We forgot to paste Steve’s power cords though, so there’s a lot more to be had from Steve’s two fantastic systems.
Frank
Over the good part of this past year I’ve been beta testing a new tweak, the name of which is "Total Contact." Its a hi-bred graphene contact enhancer that is different from all other contact enhancers that have come and gone for one reason or another. I’m not new to these contact enhancers, having had quite a bit of experience with a product developed by the late Brian Kyle and his "Quick Silver" contact enhancer. The "Total Contact" is different ... a LOT different.
"Total Contact" is graphene based and is not a vibration control. It eliminates micro-arching between two contacts. Micro-arching, much like Micro-vibration smears the sound in our stereo systems. Its the type of distortion that we don’t know is there .... until we eliminate it. There is no break-in as we know it. The sound is improved right off the bat, but what you hear is only a smidgen of what’s to come.
I tested three generations of "TC," each of which was an improvement over the previous incarnation. The final mix was cryogenitically treated and made for a more effective, much smoother application. It comes in a large hypodermic needle type plunger containing 1.5 ml of product and includes a instructional DVD and an application brush.
The application should be applied with a very thin coat to all of your electrical connections .... from your cartridge pins to your power cords. I did my entire system, including the ends of my fuses.
Upon initial application, you will notice an improvement in clarity, correctness of tonal balance and a more overall organic sound. But ... that is just scratching the surface of what this magic paste does. As it cures, the improvements become more apparent. Much more!
There are two real break-through events that happen almost to the day with "Total Contact," one at four weeks and another at eight weeks . At four weeks, you’ll get a real jump in clarity and overall improvement. That’s only a taste though of what’s to come at eight weeks. At eight weeks your system’s focus will make a jump in SQ that is so real - its surreal.
After 40 years in the hobby, and a total tweak nut, I have never heard anything that does what this graphene paste does. The see-through clarity at eight weeks becomes simply amazing. The "paste" eventually cures into a kind of polymer plastic and it seems that the sound improves with each listening session. So, its important that you leave your contacts alone for the duration. If you’re the type of person that continually switches wires in and out, you’ll have to re paste until enough time has elapsed to get "the cure."
The only problem I had was with the first batch and that had to do with shorting out a tube pin in the line stage. Use the "TC" very sparingly on tube pins, if at all. I only had problems with the line stage tube pins. The Amp, CD Player and Phono Stage has had no tube pin problems at all.
Tim Mrock, one of our fellow A’goners, is the developer of the product. Its taken Tim 15 years and several patents to get it right. Tim has "pasted" every electrical contact he can find in his audio system, all of the switches in his circuit breaker box, every contact in his car ... and has used it in commercial applications such as hospital circuit breakers, surgical lights ... and other places where efficiency and long life of electrical components are deemed important.
This product is highly recommended to anyone who truly wants to get the most out of his/her audio systems. There’s enough product in each tube to do at least two audio systems as it just takes a very thin coat on each application to be effective. The last tube was enough to do my system twice and then a friend’s system this past weekend.
Frank
PS: There were a couple of other A’goner beta testers of this product as well. Hopefully, they will chime in here with their experiences for comparison. I "pasted" both of Steve Fleschler’s systems a few days ago, perhaps he will comment on his results too. We forgot to paste Steve’s power cords though, so there’s a lot more to be had from Steve’s two fantastic systems.
Frank
Showing 50 responses by theaudiotweak
Original tweek was great product. This goes way beyond anything I remember of tweek. With this product you become part of the sound scape space...where ever you sit or move about you are within the soundstage. Like being in free space with the performance rather being an outsider wishing you were inside with the performance.Tom |
Bill, I was involved as a listener only. I had used other types of brush on contact enhancers in the past and removed them sooner or later. This product I applied first to the terminal posts of my 40lb deep cell marine battery that powers my 1lb dac..I chose these connections first because they were easy to get to, they were far apart so I could avoid any migration of the solution, I could determine how the product flowed from brush to metal posts.. if the solution didnt make for an improvement then it would be easy to remove. I thought if the solution was brushed on these two connections first.. upstream from a 100000uf capacitor bank and bypass caps as a supply for a dc. Dac. If the solution made for a improvement here then I would move ahead..The solution made a broad band improvement, so I moved forward with more application points. Tom |
Bill, The answer is probably how often you may remove and reinsert equipment and their attached cables. Frank may want to answer that question because he has had and used the product longer than I and also in other listeners systems. I have only applied this product to maybe half of my system connections. After the application to the battery terminals I next did the leads and the binding posts of the left speaker only. I use this method on first one speaker..because if I change an element in one side only and the result bends or alters the entire soundstage I know to make everything whole again then I do the other speaker. This method of application takes more time but the resulting progressive improvement tells you much about the product and its ability to increase the resolution in one's system.Tom |
An improvement can be heard right away as I heard on the battery posts. Sure it gets better. As far as I can tell the 1.5ml will go a long way. I have applied to many contacts and connections and have nearly the same amount as I started with..A little spreads far and wide..when I am finished the contents including the brush are wrapped in foil and then go into a zip locked bag..and why not. Tom |
Al, I see that Frank only mentioned the 2 original patents..and as you stated, neither mention graphene as a content in the mix. The primary difference between those 2 patents was being more precise on what and how many different products and uses this mixture can benefit. I can tell you that after the application of Total Contact to the posts of my deep cell marine battery that powers my dac..that the time to reach a full re-charge has been reduced as much as 25%..I plan on doing an application to my wife's hybrid when the weather permits. I had used the Quicksilver products in the past and they made some difference. The Total Contact product makes much more difference out of the gate and is much more linear in progressive improvement over time. The resulting sound is like a reach out and touch it presentation..2chn.. surround sound just much more round and coherent The Quicksilver product while good was always in a variable sound state it could be 1 step forward and 2 steps back...I never had that negative state in my mind's ear with the Total Contact. My thoughts are, there is a larger proportion of solids to the binder solution and with the addition of the graphene component makes for even greater conductivity than there ever was in the Quicksilver line of products. Tim Mrock of Total Contact is a co patent holder along with the deceased Brian Kyle of the 2 patents posted by Almarg. ...Tom |
With the contact enhancer there will be 3 conductive surfaces. The internal magnetic particles as a compressed granular material will have one dispersive shear speed vs. the higher speed nickel plating that acts as protective outer coating from corrosive elements and then the higher conductive material applied on the outside. Just need to remove some covers and magnets and apply the solution.Tom |
2 products 1 line. And your reference product is gone. And you have only used one of these products.. So what is your comparison? Geoff I don't believe you have used both products so you have 0000 reference for anything stated here. You only have exposure for 1 product not 2. ( I believe you don't think.) I remixed your own words for you..and now they read with greater accuracy. And while I am at it ...How's your boom box and headphones perform in your condo? Still much too loud for your neighbors? And this was an upgrade from your modest system before? Tom |
Shades of green paint or marker make a difference..yep the shade difference can be heard. I use a device that we came up with many years ago that is a topper that covers the entire top side of the cd including the edges. With the cover on there is very limited light scatter that can be miss read as errors by the detection system..The inside of the cover is painted green and the top side and edges are treated with AVM..the whole device is then cryo treated..and yes a difference and improvement can be heard in all of these steps. Tom |
Geoff we agree...wow. You see it and use it now and it was just the secret sauce before. Just found This as I was looking to see if graphene could be used as a substitute for copper in the making of circuit boards. Tom here is This.... https://www.pcbtrain.co.uk/blog/graphene-will-bring-world-electronics |
In 1991 the US military used graphite dust particles as a cloaking material to reduce the detection of our invasion or a specific aspect. A similar dust particle was attached to a novel carrier system that was delivered by stealth aircraft to disrupt or destroy both the power grid and communications systems. This was documented in Iraq and Kosovo. Two reasons graphite was and is used by the defense industry is because of its electromagnetic properties and it’s superior electrical conduction properties. Now move 30 years forward we have nearly the same particle reapplied by companies such as Tesla in the making of batteries and the parent company of Clarity Cap in the making of Super Caps for electric vehicles. Super caps are soon to be used in audio. Again these materials have both superior conductive and shielding properties. There is a growing list of uses for graphite and now graphene for industrial and consumer use. Tim Mrock has added to that list with Total Contact. Tom |
I am responding to a couple of questions or concerns and answering with my own observations. At a friend's home this past week before we boxed up his Dahlquist DQ 20s for shipment to resell, we listened to these speakers one last time. I took the Total Contact to his place for him to audition. Because many have asked about treating exotic fuses and myself using magnets I thought it be nice to treat his stock fuses. They are a 3amp on the bass and a .75 amp on the mid and tweet. This took maybe 10 minutes to do at the most . Treated the inside of the removable fuse caps for both values in both speakers as well as the end caps of all the fuses. The volume had been on mute as was the same cd selection used. Return to play at the same volume showed a noticeable change in sound from the midbass and down to the lowest notes that could be played from these speakers into this room space. Much better definition in that area of frequencies. My friend and I had upgraded these speakers several years ago and listened too in 4 different homes. My total exposure of time to this last hurrah was limited but left my friend and I saying yep..quick and noticeable improvement. My second observation is that with my use of Total Contact is that a little can go a long way. I have treated most everything including some bulbs..I have probably 80% of the original container left to use. I want to go deeper into my system and remove the lids and covers and reach for basic circuit connections.. Many of you may not want to go that far so maybe there could be a group buy among friends to treat a couple or several complete systems ..all of their exterior connections. Among my audio friends one container would enhance 4 or 5 singled wired or bi wired stereo systems. As a group purchase the investment in the product may be cut by 2/3's or even more depending on the system complexity and how many friends shared. I remember when record cleaners first arrived some were sold as a group buy to friends in an area to use the cleaner amongst themselves. As I said at the beginning a little can go a long way. Tom |
Jafreeman I can see how this product can fill the metal void on connectors and contacts. I try to cover with minimal amount, it spreads far and wide. I am in trial with connections and surfaces that have a mutual boundary and share some motion and energy flow. Hope to hear a positive result with a very thin application.Tom |
Geoff Done the video expose' on how to make graphene in my bathtub. Also searched as others have posted here for processed graphene in a sealed container. The stop for me was ..is what is called the binder. What is the chemistry to hold and carry the enhancement solids? The binder content and amount vs all the conductive elements is the magic of accrued knowledge and experience and Tim has all of that. Tom |
Tweek was great 37 years ago..compared to what..I don' t remember. I never had Tweek gunk up..but I think there was a reformulation that sounded less in quality than the first episode.Quicksilver sounded good to me but did gunk up and dry out. You may have had a different experience with different products. My responses are based on my first hand experience and my accrued audio memory. Honest .Tom |
hifiman5 Here is my first experience with the application of Total Contact to solder joints. Waiting out the storm that never really occurred I decided to treat my Altmann hybrid dac and its add on 12 chip tower. Inspecting the board connections and their close proximity I had to choose the joints that had safe and easy access. Those joints were the input filter caps as well as the output caps all the naked Vishay resistors I could reach short 2 inch jumpers between each board and the zenors in the power supply and finally the dc input pins from the battery and cap box.I used a fine tip artist brush but mostly a toothpick to place and spread the Total Contact on these tightly placed solder points. I checked my work with my phone magnifier tool and light to see if there was any bleed over between joints. Application of this solution was safe because it stays on the tool and there is no drips or spills across terminals. I probably treated 20 joints total. I turned the dac on first by itself hoping for no bombs bursting in air..there were none. From there I powered the rest of the system on which had been off for 2 days. Before I could get to my chair 9 feet away I knew something was for the better. The system sounded as if it had been on and playing for hours and not off for 48 hours or more. The dac especially, always sounded best after it had signal running thru it not just on at idle. Out of the gate it had that 2 hour window of sound now even more transparent than ever before. The first cd that was at hand was Beggars Banquet..always liked the Stones music but the recordings always sounded like they were congealed and grungy. Sympathy for the Devil now had transparency and a grunge free see thru window. The sound stage on my system has always been big and wide and now even more so. The stage left and right of each speaker was that of the room width 21 feet. The sound from each speaker extended down each side wall towards the back of the room about 4 feet in length on either side. These instruments and characters were more than just the normal phase components mixed on many recordings. Never before was it so apparent on this disc that the background vocals on the right side being a distinct group of multiple figures standing in a separate space when recorded..This disc has an excellent mix now not what I ever heard or saw before. With this experience I will continue to remove covers and plates on all my components expecting full well a continued increase of transparency a reduction of grunge and the addition of flesh and bones to the musical experience. What I just described was nearly immediate and not over days or weeks..pretty darn cool. Tom |
The last 2 paragraphs below are what I posted on the 25th of December the very first day the thread was loaded. If you actually read the last sentence below you will read that the Total Contact made an immediate improvement on just 2 connections and that impression made me move forward with many more. So that means the improvement was heard within the first minute of turning the system back on..not 8 weeks later. Again you don’t need to wait 8 weeks to hear an improvement unless you just want to sit there with the clock ticking...................the improvement is now. "This product I applied first to the terminal posts of my 40 lb deep cell marine battery that powers my 1lb dac..I chose these connections first because they were easy to get to, they were far apart so I could avoid any migration of the solution, I could determine how the product flowed from brush to metal posts.. if the solution didn’t make for an improvement then it would be easy to remove. " "I thought if the solution was brushed on these two connections first.. upstream from a 100000uf capacitor bank and bypass caps as a supply for a dc. Dac. If the solution made for a improvement here then I would move ahead..The solution made a broadband improvement, so I moved forward with more application points. Tom" |
The newest component in my high fi food chain is my deep cell marine battery that powers my dac. The battery is at least 3 years old. So I think I know what my rig sounds like..I know what every minor change can make, a change in postion of a lamp or candle holder even the humidity in my sound room. Total Contact makes for a boat load of change to the good side as soon as it is applied..at first touch at every additional touch the improvement is heard..not 4 weeks not 8 weeks. That time zone change has not yet arrived in my audio room.Tom |
Geoff, Brass is the only metal of music in your so called upper echelon of metals or materials. Some shapes you blow about are built of 2 or more materials while ours are made of only one material and hence one coherent shear velocity that is also closer to the velocity of sound in air.. than any solid you tout...Only ours have shape methods designed to reject shear waves from re-entering the area near the point tip from the boundary above or below. Those reflections thru solids that have a mutual boundary create that interfering energy that travels back and forth between those 2 solid material shapes up and down the leg or point thru the speaker or component and left to mastecise unrelieved. None of what you blow about takes these these factors into account certainly not a metal spring wrapped in a prophylactic material. Tom |
Ferrous materials will alter the magnetic flux of moving coils. The fact that they are moving shows that the flux field not only is changed but varies as it moves in and around a stationary ferrous material. So get all that crap away from your tweeters at least... especially the fasteners that hold the dome to the magnetic assembly. More replacement the better. Same goes for power transformers bolts and fasteners.. circuit board standoffs and fasteners. Less interference and lower shear speed from the brass than the steel..Tom |
Any contact treated and in any place you can see to reach makes for a difference. I treated all the magnets not fuses in my system and that even made for a difference especially after a couple of days of use. I treated the cheap stock glass fuses in a friends speakers only, and we were both surprised by the immediate difference and improvement heard..even more again the next day. Just wait for the improvements that will come to be when you go internal with this product..My system is now like swimming with the fishes. That reminds me I must play Zappa's Yellow Shark. Tom |
On the cd topper I would say that the change is electromagnetic shielding or absorption and it could also be absorbing stray light bouncing off the cd edges and bouncing around inside the chassis. Less light emission inside means there will be less error correction required and and a less corrupted signal which means better sound. I have a cd topper that covers the top and the edges to virtually eliminate light scatter being read. Tom |