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
oregonpapa
^^^ We tweak to solve problems that are inherent in audio playback systems. Trying to eliminate micro vibrations is one of the main things that smear sound. There are tweaks to take care of that.

Remember, we are tweaking the playback end and not the recording end.

Why so expensive? Supply and demand in some cases. Trying to recover cost incurred during R&R maybe.

Frank
Nice that wives support their husbands strange pursuits. I bet they don’t tell their friends about their husband’s compulsive obsessive behaviour. I bet they don’t dare tell friends their husband spent the entire weekend replacing perfectly functional fuses and pasting a kind of dark coloured toothpaste on all their home electrical connections. Nor do they dare admit they actually can’t hear a difference (when pressed by their husband after two days pasting and swapping cables) as that would ruin all the entertainment value.
Tweaks are not all expensive. Obviously some are more expensive than others. I sell over 30 tweak products, only a handful of which are more than $50. My complete isolation system for components is less than $50. Hel-loo! And there are many other examples of inexpensive tweaks. In fact, some of the most iconic audiophile tweaks are not expensive. I.e., less than $100. File under Stocking Stuffers: Audio Prism Green pen, Mpingo disc, the Super Intelligent Chip, Shakti Stone, Silver Rainbow Foil, Vibrapods, Small DH Cones, Nordost Anti-static Spray for cables and CDs, aftermarket fuses, Auric Illuminator CD Treatment, Cardas Caps for RCA input/outputs, Deoxit Contact Cleaner, Daruma III roller bearings, Herbies Audio tube damper, etc.
Before this week, I knew my system sounded good, really good. It was that way because I invested time, money and effort into it. I am also grateful to those here who pointed me to some exceptional products.

To be frank (pun intended), when Frank finally revealed his “secret tweak” I wasn’t really excited. Painting all the the contacts in my system is not something I was looking to do. I like tweaks you can plug and forget. I don’t mind enduring a break-in period, but hands on stuff? Brushing a grey substance on closely spaced pins with my not terribly dexterous hands, being very careful not to accidentally create a short, is not real high on my list of fun audio activities.

I’ve come to trust Frank’s ears, though, so I took the plunge. A week, and 8 connections later, I am rather stunned. The sound I am hearing from my system is definitely what I have been working towards, and hoping for. I honestly did not think I would get here without spending thousands of dollars more. Over the years, I have carefully chosen the components in my system, with an eye to getting the best my limited resources would allow. I know that they are all very good, even exceptional, values for the money. I had no idea, though, that they were capable of this level of sound quality.

I am told that I am only at the beginning of this audio adventure. I don’t doubt it, but I am already one very happy camper.
shadorne,

My wife hears these things at least as well as, probably better than, me. She plays the violin, and has a great ear. Believe me, she is not the type to lie, just to gratify my ego.

Listening to Heifetz play Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto (her favorite) with her last night was absolutely wonderful.