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Mapleshade Silclear

Category: Accessories

I'm not a big proponent of the "WOW" factor, meaning very few tweaks have caused me to go "WOW". The wow ones include rebuilding my McCormack DNA .5 amp to near Rev A, changing the caps in my speakers from Axon's to Sonicaps, and few others. Now that doesn't mean I don't hear differences and improvements with other tweaks, it's just that I don't believe in overemphasizing these differences into religous revalations and such.

So, Silclear doesn't fall into the "WOW" category with me, but it did make an improvement in my rig. The simplest explanation of these changes I can make goes like this. Have you ever cleaned the contacts on your interconnects, speaker cables and power cords after a year or more of ignoring them? Did you hear the improvements in transparency and quieter backgrounds? Well I just cleaned everything over the New Year's holidays with cotton balls and alcohol with an application of SST (to signal wires) and Pro-Gold (to electrical connections) afterwards. Now, in February I applied Silclear to everything in my system that has a plug, jack or socket. This means interconnects, speaker cables, fuses, all electrical jacks inside my amp & CD player and DAC, electrical cords, tube pins, phono cartridge pins, etc. The difference was as if I left all these connections to tarnish for a year or more and then cleaned them all again.

Now, given that I just did the cleaning I can conclude that Silclear took this one step farther than alcohol and SST. Things were more transparent and noticeably punchier. The bass was louder (dammit - I had to turn down the sub's volume and rebalance the bottom end again). Soundstaging and imaging seemed to be a slight/tiny bit more forward than before, maybe because things seemed a bit louder at the same volume settings. Tonally everything was still balanced, just more there in terms of detail and nuance and definition. But I also found that there was a sense of more "realness" to instruments, especially cymbals (hearing more brass with the zing), and voice (more in the room presence), and piano (more body and weight). The system sounded quieter too - i.e. blacker backgrounds (but this can also vary by time of day as the power grid changes).

Is this a "wow" review in disguise? Perhaps for many it is, but I already have a whole lot of transparency and realness in my system (see "Isn't Anything Stock?" for my system details). I now have more of that than before.

I really can't report that there were any bad aftereffects of the Silclear either. There's no way to undo the application easily (it's a grease), so there's no A-B testing available. So many tweaks improve on thing at the expense of another - not here. It's a good thing (thank you Martha Stewart, now go directly to jail and don't pass "GO").

Enjoy,
Bob
ptmconsulting
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knownothing
1,298 posts
 
Ckorody,

You said "Also it leaves silver stains on connector housings". Actually, I think that is the point, to produce a semi-fluid silver "stain" on the blades of your connectors as opposed to a visible layer of silver and oil goo. I am skeptical of the oil emulsion's stability over time, and having a "gooey" mess form sounds "counter-conductive" to me.

I am also questioning the need for applying any contact enhancer or cleaner to silver or gold (or rhodium) contacts. Silver is already highly conductive and actually tarnishes to become more conductive, and gold doesn't tarnish much if at all over time. Gold is slightly less conductive than silver, so it is possible a thin layer of silver product applied to gold interconnects and RCA connectors could theoretically, and apparently empirically, produce an improvement in signal transmission. So perhaps a VERY thin layer (or "stain") of Silclear on gold connectors would improve performance.

Where I am thinking Silclear should provide a distinct improvement in electrical contact and conductivity is on copper or brass AC plugs and internal wire terminations, and on copper speaker wire terminations. Here the better conductivity of silver and benign effect of silver tarnish over time would make this an excellent contact surface for AC and speaker wire applications.

Since I am thinking about how to most productively use this stuff on my system, others thoughts appreciated on this topic.
ckorody
640 posts
 
Knownothing -

Just to be clear, and hopefully helpful, the stain is on the receptacles and plugs - not on the metal. What was on the metal was sticky gooey residue that took something like acetone or alcohol to remove. I have no idea how conductive said residue is, nor whether or not the level of conductivity changed between application and removal.

I have read but cannot substantiate (nor have the science to test) that these products are based on various kinds of vegetable oil. Some need refrigeration (why would that be) and others need to be mixed because they don't hold the metal in suspension - which makes even distribution unlikely.

Grease is in and of itself not uncommon in the electronics space - they are called electrical contact grease or similar.

Here is a really thought provoking quote on the value of things like Silclear:

Many contact greases have copper, zinc or other metals blended into a grease to increase conductivity. In a study for an aerospace company in 1985 it was concluded that putting a metal into grease DOES NOT HELP CONDUCTIVITY (caps mine). IN MANY CASES IT REDUCES CONNECTIVITY.

NO-OX-ID is an example (no affiliation, no experience)

Googling also reveals a company called Cool-Amp Conducto Lube which makes silver conductive grease for high amperage connections and is DOD approved.

There is also some stuff called Lubrimatic Electrical Contact Grease... (And a million more)

If you have been around boats (especially in saltwater), heavy equipment, aircraft or big trucks you know the kinds of environments they operate in. These greases are preventative or extend maintenance cycles. I am happy to smear them on my battery posts and 1/0 terminal rings. They work - not by improving or increasing the amperage but by maintaining the current flow at a constant level over time with less effort on my part.

IMHO gear in a rack is not subject to much but dust bunnies.

I do agree with your thinking on where this stuff would be most beneficial; though I would encourage you to jettison anything brass from your system before you start worrying about things like this...

Also, I would encourage you to read up on tinned wire which is supposed to do a lot to "smooth"out the imperfections leading to various undesirable behavior by the electrons not just at the terminals but over the entire length of the cable.
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knownothing
1,298 posts
 
Ckorody,

Helpful information. Yes, ultimate goal is to get rid of all brass. In the meantime, I am trying some poor man's silver plating.
ckorody
640 posts
 
hey the good news is there is proof positive right here that you can remove it LOL

just use half as much as you imagine being the bare minimum and all will be fine - how big can those microflaws be???
perfectionist
197 posts
 
I had forgot about this thread, and feel I should update my thoughts on Silclear. Going by memory; I would say that after about a year with this product in my system, I felt things were sounding a bit dull and lifeless. So, I decided to remove it from all connections with the exception of pc's. What a frigging chore to remove, not fun. After removing with harsher chemicals, I then cleaned with Deoxit, and then treated with Pro Gold (I had always used deoxit and pro gold in the past). The sound came back to life after removing silclear. Having said that, I was initially impressed with silclear. But there is not a chance in hell I'm going to remove, clean, and re-apply even once per year. Also, I just don't like the idea of a grease on audio connections, it just doesn't make sense to me. I've never had any issues using pro gold. I have a full jar of silclear and will never use it again.
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