Perhaps it was a mistake, but today I turned down doing a radio interview. Seems someone over in Western Australia had published an article on this most exciting topic: cleaning your hi fi. I had to ask for clarification from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation person who was trying to arrange the interview for some local ‘drive time’ show: do you really mean cleaning, like scrubbing, a stereo? Yes, with Windex and alcohol, I was told.
A million thoughts: first, I almost never clean my gear. Just the odd-dust off when it looks to be getting so thick that heat dissipation is being restricted. Second, every second manual I read has dire warnings about using benzene and so forth on the equipment. I thought I ought to mention that, then realised I don’t really know what benzene is. Then I thought, what if I say to use Windex and it discolours someone’s super-expensive piano-gloss speaker finish?
So, no. Want to talk about the kinds of equipment to buy on a budget? Need expert advice on connecting up and configuring a stereo or home theatre system? Like to hear the pros and cons of DLP vs LCD projectors? Then I’m your man. But cleaning the damned stuff? No way!