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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
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
4,637 posts
 
The assumed conspiracy theory would be humorous except for the fact that it is often used as a means to discredit and vilify innocent parties. It seems Agon may not be the place for the open minded assessment of cutting edge innovation. Innovation that is not understood is assumed to be an overblown hoax. At least this one and fuses fall into this category. I understand this fear and how skeptics must join together and feed and nourish this particular reality filter. The crowd conspiracy shared above also applies to the skeptics of coarse as we are all human.

I guess it just comes down to different personalities and perception filters. I am good with just saying we all don’t see this thread and product the same.

BTW, as an avid DIYer I have indeed tried other contact cleaner and enhancer products. Problem is this product is really not a contact enhancer/cleaner.  It is much, much more.  Pasting over caps, trannys, wires that are already soldered etc.. really takes the impact to another level.  
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
To make it clear, I have never said the product is not interesting and probably this SORT of product is worthy of further study by the interested audiophile. That there is an alternative should be good news to anyone, even the person marketing this product. And it means there is more than one pot in the game. Let the best one win, and if the lesser is also cheaper, then a larger market opens up, as folks try the cheap one, like it, and think maybe the more expensive one does more, and buy that. Or , they can be satisfied with what the got earlier, and perhaps a few years on, they opt for the pricier kind.
What I find problematic is the way this has been praised. and the sort of odd attempt to strengthen the basic premise that THIS product is spectacular beyond measure. The serious insults from the pro product camp, then recent countermeasures, which have clearly had an effect, to the point the personal insults stopped! Hmmm New tactic.
Now it is an attack on skepticism. (perhaps they think I am a good debater? and wisely turn to new ways to diminish the attack on a new front?)..
The funny thing is I AM NO DIE HARD SKEPTIC. I agree the product most likely does some good. LOL And the price? Is it comparable to the competition? ten times the price? Those are questions I would ask. SO what am I complaining about? "The praise" Unusual and overly managed.
Now back in the early days of the first Pangea powercords, I went crazy and said these things are GREAT!, many times. Ohers said they are crap. Did I get all hot and bothered? No. Who cares???THAT IS WHY THIS THREAD IS WRONG. Nearly everyone praising this stuff just cannot seem to stand any criticism. And that is weird, really weird. So I decided to say something.
Clearly others have said things and been "worked over" as amg56 can attest. So it i not easy to stand and say this is wrong.If the guys who seem to love this stuff can just get over thinking it IS the Second Coming.. And the need to defend it to the death...
My perspective is that is exactly why something is screwy about this thread. Good luck.
orthomead
20 posts
 
This thread has become a kindergarten brawl on steroids. It's amazing how the gamut of personalities and interactions change little as the decades march on. One kid brings something he thinks is interesting to class to show and tell and he gets bashed by those who disagree. His friends then rally back because they too believe it to have merit. Those sitting on the sidelines either do nothing or throw in an occasional jab. Y'all need to lighten up a bit. I've followed this thread from day one, initially with skepticism that this product had any merit at all. I'm still waiting after 6 months for ONE person to step up and say they've tried this and it sucks.  It won't be me.  I'm guilty of sitting on sidelines and doing nothing. I'm posting now primarily because of Elizabeth's post.  If it is a marketing "scheme" I'm really happy I got pulled into the vortex. I don't see this as a scheme at all quite honestly, just 2 groups of people escalating their views and no one backing down. As the rhetoric flies each side has become more defensive and aggressive.  One group "experienced" and the other not. Cut to the chase, please.  Two months ago I pasted my system.  The results are exactly as has been previously described-awesome.  In particular, Elizabeth, my cd's which I had largely abandoned years ago in favor of vinyl now sound nearly as good, and in some instances better than my vinyl rig.  I've had my Meridian 508 for many years now and the change is anything but subtle.  The improvement was so profound I have played more cds in the last 3 weeks than the last 5 years put together.  As others have noted earlier the digital improvement is much more than I've noted on the analogue side.  THIS also is being honest. I have no dog in this fight.  I will now return to wallflower mode.  Now, everyone try to play nicely.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
4,637 posts
 
We agree that all posts should be respectful. Wether folks use it and say it is bad, good, or great is all I wish for. If owners say it is nothing special, then fine they posted real life experiences. Wether here or the fuse threads I just tire of the posts saying hoax and scam without these folks even trying the product. I can’t get my small mind around how folks with no direct product experience can judge another’s experience. I for one just want more user experiences and really don’t care where the review of it falls. I have no reason to think or want all the reviews to be positive. It would be nice if non-owners would cease saying I am overblown, influenced by others, have a vested interest or some other reason for my review of the product.
fleschler
766 posts
 
Jetter-to answer why Wolf is a troll, he has personally attacked me in this forum, denigrating my name, my heritage and I think my religion.  He insults people and behaves boorishly.  Besides that, his last comment on the medical danger of graphene use is comically impossible unless one ingests it through eating it or breathing floating graphene.  Graphene in a binder is not going to kill you or make you sick.  As stated earlier, it is being used in water desalinisation as a filter.  Some experiments using graphene are being done for cancer therapy.  

The Mad Scientist graphene preparation is reportedly oily or slimy and does not cure after application.  I have not tried it.  It may improve sound but I don't like what I heard concerning it's application characteristics.  TC is based on decades old product which has been greatly improved through Tim Mrock's experimentation with several unspecified trade secrets he has added.

As to how important TC is in my audio systems, I place the Shakti Hallographs, Stillpoints and SR HFTs above it, with TC equal to the SR duplexes and fuses.  That's in my systems.  Taming my main music room's slap echo while eliminating unsightly acoustic treatments using the Hallographs and SR HFTs was of greatest importance.  Taming mechanical resonances in my equipment was next.  Altering the sound properties was third with TC and cable changes in that group, more like frequency and dynamic controls.  As I stated in another forum, the room is 50% of the sound.  Get that right and you can start to correct for electronic and vibration irregularities.  




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