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Contact cleaner for a noisy gain knob

A little old school maintenance question. 

I have an original Jolida Glass FX Tube DAC that I don’t use very much only because the main stereo is in the living room and the TV is in the same room. My the is it a serious music fan so I have another system in my home office that gets more use. The Jolida DAC is fed source material from a Cambridge Audio CXC V2 CD Transport (no internal DAC) and that’s the only unit connected to it. I turned it on for the first time in months and when I adjusted the gain on the front park, there was scratching noise that indicates dirty contacts.

Anybody have suggestions for a reliable contact cleaner that’s safe for audio equipment?

usatran
faustuss's avatar
faustuss
814 posts
 

Gently turn the knob back and forth several times over the extent of it's range which should clean up the oxidation on the contacts and wiper from non-use for several months. Pots due that.

zlone
1,337 posts
 

I have had good luck with DeOxit. It put my decades old Nakamichi integrated back into working order. 

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
4,567 posts
 

CRC makes a plastic safe electronic cleaner that works well.   Many potentiometer use plastic.   DeOxit F5 is probably the best for most ALPs type pots.   

usatran's avatar
usatran OP
14 posts
 

Thank you all for the insights and recommendations.

I spent many years as an Electronics Technician in the USN aboard submarines back in the mid-1970s. Exercising potentiometers wasn’t always a great idea given the environment I was working in, and my Hi-Fi interests started in the mid-1960s building Heathkit and Eico amps and signal generators. I asked about the contact cleaners to get some updated information more inline with items available in 2025.

Again, thank you for the responses and stay happy - listen to a lot of great music on the best stereo you can get. It will help to keep you sane during these insane times.

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