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The Heat Is On

So i guess it must be time to "winterize" our systems !!! : )

I just thought i'd start a thread about some of the things that i do when this time of year comes around, kind of like an annual ritual. It would be great if others could add their "rituals" or other things that they consider "good ideas" to this list.

First of all, i fire up the humidifiers in the house. Not only is this a health issue ( i have sinus problems ), it can and does effect how we hear things. In some cases, it can DRASTICALLY effect the performance of components. Electrostatic speakers coming to mind first and foremost. Other than this, the humidity helps to reduce static build-up and having a "shocking experience" when touching our gear or other metal objects.

The second thing that i do is rotate some of my speakers from left to right. Some of my systems have a speaker near a window ( which lets in UV rays that can cause cabinet fading and foam rot ) and has the other speaker near a heat vent ( which can also speed up foam decay ). In order to even out the "seasonal abuse" that each speaker sees, i will swap them from side to side once a year. This not only keeps the cabinets a somewhat even color ( in terms of fading ), it helps to reduce foam rot in the drivers due to the concentrated heat coming out of the vents.

Speaking of cabinets and fading, i also clean the wood on all of the speaker cabinets using a very mild concentration of Murphy's Oil soap and warm water. Once this is done, i'll typically go over the cabinets with Crisco cooking oil and a damp rag. The oil helps to feed the wood deep down and provides a very glossy finish. Due to the slightly thicker consistency, it lasts longer than other furniture polishes.

Obviously, i was just kidding about the Crisco. Thought you folks could use a good laugh for a change. Did i get ya with that one ??? : )

I actually use Lemon Oil to treat the wood after cleaning it. I typically make the rounds on all of the cabinets that need it and then go back and apply a second coat. The wood is typically pretty dry and it sucks the first coat right up. I usually do a repeat of this procedure at the beginning of summer. I really should do it more often, but just don't get around to it. The use of some type of furniture polish / protectant might do the job for a "quicky", so i'll have to check into this. I do have some lemon oil Olde English furniture polish in a spray can that i have previously used, but it does not seem to last very long. I probably need to apply "real" lemon oil and then do occasional "touch ups" as needed. I'm open to ideas and suggestions on this one : )

As mentioned in another thread, i have also equipped my racks with a "static discharge unit". This is simply a piece of metal that is electrically connected to the AC wall plate and mounted to the rack. If you are interested in doing something like this, use whatever you like that is handy, cheap and inconspicuous. This allows you to discharge any static build-up that you may have accumulated from walking across a synthetic carpet or rug prior to touching any of your gear. This mimimizes the potential damage to your sensitive digital gear, as static build-up can actually reach into the kilo-volt range.

One need not use a heavy wire to connect the "static discharge unit" to the AC ground, so don't go crazy here. 16 - 18 gauge is more than heavy enough and should be small enough to be inconspicuous at the same time. If you don't want to permanently mount a static discharge device on the rack, try using some double sided tape or use another device that is located close to your rack. The key thing here is to get into the habit of using it EVERY time you are going to touch your equipment. It may only take one good "zap" to pop your transport, dac, cd player, etc...

Something else that i've also gotten into the habit of doing is wiping down all of the plastic parts of all the gear with a cloth that has been sprayed with Static Guard. This includes, but is not limited to, the drawer mechanism inside of transports, CD players, etc... I also do this once in a while in the summer, but i tend to do it more often in the winter. I honestly do think that it helps the sonics of the system a bit, so call me crazy if you'd like. If you are going to do something like this, just make sure that you don't leave a "puddle" of moisture on the disc tray and / or bits of the cloth behind you.

Other than that, nothing else changes around here much. I go about life as i normally would in the summer, except i typically have a lot more clothes on : )

How about you folks ? Got any "winter rituals" that you'd like to share with us ? Sean
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sean
sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
I am not aware of any wood care products that are applied after the primary finish that will block UV. Some finishes, such as varnish, have little or no UV blocking ability -- infact some, such as spar varnish, will darken considerably when exposed for long periods to sunlight. Lacquer and shellac tend to stand up to the effects of UV better than varnish. The method I wrote about earlier in this thread, using tung oil and then a good paste wax, is a combination that itself stands up pretty well to UV exposure, and while this finish does not tend to darken much, it will not prevent the wood itself from changing shade over time.

The other factor that is important here is the type of wood itself. Cherry, for example, darkens with age, and the only way to minimize the darkening is to use a non-darkening finish, such as a gel stain followed by an application of lacquer or polyurethane. No matter what finish you use on cherry, however, the wood will still get darker over time.
The curly maple you have in your speakers is a lovely wood, and tends to darken less than many woods, particularly if it finished with lacquer.

The only "sure-fire" way to prevent UV damage to wood is to keep it out of direct sunlight. If your listening room has bright sunlight, you might want to consider making a 3-sided "jacket" for the speakers made of a soft fabric that blocks the light (such as felt), with the front side left open. Keep these covers over the speakers during daytime, and take them off at night.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Well, SD, while we are on the subject here, my Thiel literature says not to use anything other than Endust for cleaning up the finish on my Morado-veneer speakers. I assume this is because they are finished in polyurethane or something similar? I bring this up because many readers may not be dealing with a suitable factory finish for applying oils and waxes, much less varishes, shellacs, or solvents. Fascinating stuff though, thanks for the info.
sean OP
6,229 posts
 
Zaikesman: Very good and valid point. I would hate for someone to try "cleaning" or "oiling" their speakers, thinking that it was okay to use a specific product because it was something that we recommended here, and end up destroying / altering the finish.

Sd: Good to know that someone around here has a good working knowledge of various woods. If it's okay with you, we'll just refer to you as "ol' wooden-head" from now on : )

The info that you provided about Cherry wood was pretty interesting. I've always thought that most woods lighten with age, but i'm far from being considered knowledgable when it comes to stuff like that. I know that Cherry can "bleed" VERY badly into carpeting if the wood gets wet, etc... This would make me think that the natural stain / dye within the wood was unstable and would gradually lighten up on it's own. I guess i was wrong. Then again, i'm sure that you and everyone else here already knew that this was not the first time i've been wrong : ) Sean
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zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I can verify the cherry darkening phenomenon, from a dining table my folks had custom-made, many years back when I was a teenager, from 40-odd year old air-dried cherrywood logs (that's how long the wood had been drying in a barn before it was bought and cut into planking and dried for a few more years by the cabinetmaker). The table-top is just natural, unstained, sanded and oiled solid cherry, joined together from several pieces a few inches wide each to form an unembellished flat slab with a beautifully varied knurly grain. The color initially ranged, in different parts of the wood, from almost maple-light to pale pink to light reddish brown, but the man who made it told us it would darken continuously over the years, getting redder as it went, and that's exactly what it's done. It now looks much more richly colored than right after it was made, and has only been ocassionally wiped down with teak oil using 0000 steel wool for cleaning. The expansion leaves, stored underneath inside the mechanism and not exposed as much to the air and light, are now definitely lighter-toned than the regular top. (I have to add, though, that this wood looks nothing like anything I've seen labelled 'cherry' on a speaker finish, which is usually just an innocuously straight-grained and uniformly light tan wood with some mild streaking at best, next to which this table would seem a different and quite exotic species. As I remember, according to the maker, this appearance in cherry is hard to come by, and requires the tree to have been very old. Additionally, only heartwood was used.)
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