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I should do it more often.

Why bother with this? I have, of course, tried it but my system sounds best when I keep my hands away from it.

Another great example of the placebo effect!! I nominate high end audiophiles as the most receptive placebo effect group ever! If anyone ever invented a drug to improve hearing, the drug trials would never be conclusive due to audiophiles "imagining" improvements.

Once a year is fine by me. I really don't like unhooking cables because the connections seem to get weaker the more you unplug them.

Good metal to metal contact excludes oxygen, and thus, oxidation. That's simple chemistry. So, clean rarely, make good contact—enjoy!

I should do it more often, but I'm lazy. Airtight connectors would be a great help. Do such exist?

You're better off putting your loudspeakers in a decent position.

My cable jungle makes the Amazon seem like a topiary garden, and my cabinet is equally inaccessible, so I need to be highly motivated to clean my connections. I have a five channel analog preamp, a separate five-channel digital preamp, a separate surround sound processor, etc. I usually wait until I have a severe case of "new equipment fever" before I endeavor to clean all the connections (or at least the ones I can reach), and then miraculously my fever usually goes away.

Only whenever I am moving gear and notice the connectors are oxidized.

Not often, although I'm aware of its benefits.

I suppose it would be better if I could clean the connections more often. Instead, usually I forget, I am too tired to do it, or, rather too lazy. Bad for me.

I solder my interconects to gether with gold solder this way they don't need cleaned

However, I disconnect and reconnect more frequently, which mechanically cleans the connections, especially balanced interconnects and power cords.

I know I should do it more often, but I should jog and floss more often, too.

While it may be an effective tweak, cleaning my systems' connectors and interconnects would be a most serious undertaking. It would require the disassembling of multiple components and peripheral equipment. An incredible amount of effort for what might be a marginal return. Hmmm, on the other hand, if I were to start tonight (Tuesday) I could be enjoying the fruits of my labor by the weekend.

And I can hear a slight difference too! After all, is that not the reason we do so?

In my opinion there is no need to clean XLR-connections or gold-plated speaker conections, and little need to clean gold plated Cinch-connections. There is a greater risk to wear out the Cinch-plugs, if you use gold-plated and exact plugs.

How often and how do I do this? Reply mindyb@telus.net

I've done it before, but I wouldn't admit it to anybody.

It's hard enough to connect wires to equipment once, let alone on a periodic basis.

Not enough. Thanks for the reminder....

You can really notice it.

All my system has less than 3 years, so I do nothing? A shame ?

I clean the terminations as frequently as possible. Accumulating dust creates a significant amount of distorion and an attendant heightening of the system's noise floor. In short, putting a little time and effort into getting the connectors clean will yield considerable sonic improvements.

Ouch....... It seems not the key point to make my system to sound better!

UI've been using Caig Pro Gold for over ten years. Once ins and outs are treated and "set" into units, no reason to "move" them again.

It only happens when I dismantle the system to move house. At the moment that's a 2-1/2 year interval...

Every couple of months is about right...sooner if I hear those "voices" again.

Gold contacts on everything why bother. BTW How often do the clean the contactys in the recording studio?

I seem to live on a place where dust is king, despite constant cleaning. Each time I have to clean the surroundings of my system I get aware of the level of dirt and grime that my interconnects are exposed to. A clean rag and some contact cleaner later, you can hear the difference.