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
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I just want to share a few notes about my experience with TC, which I paid full price for. My system is a Equi=Core 1800/Core Power Technologies feeding everything; MacBookPro running BitPerfect and iTunes>USB Disruptor cable>Schiit Yggy (v1 and Gen5 USB)>Clarus Crimson XLR>ARC REF6>Clarus Crimson XLR+Audioquest Irish Red Sub Cable>MartinLogan BF210 sub and >ARC REF150SE>Clarus Crimson Speaker Cable or TA Gen5 Ultra>MartinLogan CLXs.

The first weekend, I pasted all the power connections from the wall to the 1800 and out to all the components, except the IEC connectors on the REF6 and Yggy. I noticed an immediate drop in the noise floor, even though I had not been aware that I had a noise problem. All the music came out of a blacker black and I could hear more fine details.

The second weekend I pasted the outside grounds of the USB cables, the IEC connector and XLR cables coming out of the Yggy, and the cables going into the ARC REF150SE and ML BL210 sub. There was again a noticeable improvement. After hearing Laurie Anderson perform at the Town Hall in NYC in February, I have become quite taken with her new album with the Cronus Quartet, entitled "Landfall" (44.1kHz/24bit files). What become quite clear after this second round of pasting was that the violin phrase that opens the first track, "CNN Predicts a Monster Storm", was not one violin, but very clearly two. Likewise, on other parts of this track where I thought it was one instrument, it was now clearly two (e.g., viola and cello). Beautiful music made even more captivating with TC.

The third weekend, my Herbie’s tube dampers (HTDs) had arrived and I replaced all the tubes in the REF6 with new ARC tubes with HTDs, but not before pasting the tube pins. Also the IEC connector, along with all the input and output cables. Again, a clearly audible improvement was heard. The instruments in the Kronos Quartet became even more obviously separate and the human voice (including Laurie Anderson) would at times become spookily realistic. Great stuff.

On the fourth weekend, I went skiing in the Canadian Rockies, but on my return last night and again tonight, the system sounds amazing. So much detail and realism. I have a few things left to paste:

1. SR Blue Fuse in REF6, once I decide proper orientation
2. Tube pins in ARC REF150SE, after installing HTDs
3. Speaker cables, once I decide which of the two are better in this system.

I am traveling again this weekend, so these final touches will have to wait for week six. I would have preferred to do everything at once, that was not possible with my other responsibilities.

In terms of order of magnitude of improvement of TC, I will make one comparison and that is to replacing the mains fuse of the REF6 with the SR Blue. The first week improvement of pasting the power connections had approximately twice the beneficial effect than the fuse. Everything after that has been a further improvement. So, in terms of value of Blue fuses vs. TC, TC is the clear winner.

Jim
Jim ...

I couldn't agree more. One of my favorite albums is a live performance by John Williams (guitarist) and Julian Bream.  Prior to the Blue fuses, TC and Herbie's tube dampeners, the two performers seemed to be on top of each other. Now, they are two separate humans sitting on chairs on the stage with each voice and instrument in their own distinct places. 

Check it out:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Julian-Bream-and-John-Williams-Live-2-Beautiful-E-LPs/292490280735?hash=ite...

Just wait until you have the entire system pasted and reach the 8 week point. Zowie!

Frank
I did my panel in steps.  First the main breakers, then the bus bar and left side grounds, and finally the right side grounds.  Each step was a noticeable improvement in terms of noise floor reduction.  To finish my electrical panel, I have an electrician coming over to treat the mains and grounds in the panel and at the meter.  In Kansas, this requires the KCP & L to open the meter.  This has been quite the journey so far and Tim is a blast to work with.