How do you clean your hifi equipment, speakers etc?

Helix Hifi

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Probably been discussed before.. But how do you guys clean your hifi setup, speakers, connection behind your amp for instance? Do you only do as the manual says or do you just use some mild soap? I’ve heard people that use cans with air to clean their amp as an example free for dust. Dynaudio for instance says if you’re very careful you can wash the speaker drivers with a cloth with some water. I never touch the speaker drivers.
 
Slightly damp cloth with a drop of mild detergent in plenty of water. Paint brush for speaker drivers and brushing down the back of amps etc. Duraglit to clean up any dulled connectors - especially speaker cables and brass pins on mains plugs.
 
clean your hifi setup, speakers, connection behind your amp for instance?
Never clean behind the amp. Spiders deserve to live in peace. :)

Baby wipes, then buff with a soft cloth. I have piano black speakers and I know some on here clean them with car polish but the baby wipes do a very good job. As an aside they are also great for cleaning the inside of the car.
 
Paint brushes. Excellent, even on the treble? I too use mild hand soap with some water on my amplifier, CD player, Dac, streamer. Also on my speaker cabinets, but not the drivers them self. But some special made paint brushes may work. I have heard that people even take the chassis of the amp once every year too get all of the dust that’s trapped inside the amplifier. That seems a bit extreme if you ask me.
 
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Never clean behind the amp. Spiders deserve to live in peace. :)

Baby wipes, then buff with a soft cloth. I have piano black speakers and I know some on here clean them with car polish but the baby wipes do a very good job. As an aside they are also great for cleaning the inside of the car.
baby wipes or any moist clothes leaves water marks on my gloss black speakers. i just dust it off lighy with a soft micro fibre cloth with no chemicals.
 
baby wipes or any moist clothes leaves water marks on my gloss black speakers. i just dust it off lighy with a soft micro fibre cloth with no chemicals.
My KEFs are over six years old now and my piano black REL sub is even older. They could all do with a bit of polish if I'm honest. I'll leave it until we can have some visitors. Plenty of time I reckon.
 
I use one of my misses old make up brushes, really soft, easy at moving dust.
Then if you want a bit of blusher on your cheeks it doubles up.😂
 
its a pain trying to keep piano gloss black speakers dust and swirl free. all i need to do is touch the surface very lightly and it attracts finger prints on the mirror like finish. from a distance it looks clean and shiny but in bright light or under a torch there are micro swirl marks. similar to a black car under the sun light that hasn't been polished for a few weeks.

there's no need to use a mirror, its so shiny.

ive been thinking about using some car wax/compound but dont want to stink the house out.. i have some collinite 845, autoglym srp, meguiars polish and a couple others.
IMG_20200922_161828.jpg
 
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I use an electric air duster designed to clean computer circuit boards, it has two speeds and is great for removing dust from between stacked AV equipment, behind amps and blowing dust of speakers with the grills removed.
 
I use an electric air duster designed to clean computer circuit boards, it has two speeds and is great for removing dust from between stacked AV equipment, behind amps and blowing dust of speakers with the grills removed.
where does the dust get blown to? does it get circulated around the room...then eventually land back on the equipment and furniture..
 
Obviously if the dust on the equipment has been allowed to settle for months then of course when blown it must settle somewhere else, however it usually settles where it is easier to dust off normally. As I mentioned mainly use it between and behind AV equipment. Not perfect but what is?.
 
i personally would prefer to get rid of the dust rather than the possibility of breathing it in or settle back
 
Piano black, or similar cheaper finish that resembles piano black finish on your speakers is a no go for me. Even if you just use a soft micro fiber cloth you’ll get some marks. The speakers I had had “some” kind of black finish. I don’t believe it was real piano finish. I couldn’t stand it. Scratches every where no matter what I did. I did however not try any kind of car polish etc. So now I buy either real wood finish, or similar too real wood finish. Either black, or walnut color.
 
Piano black, or similar cheaper finish that resembles piano black finish on your speakers is a no go for me. Even if you just use a soft micro fiber cloth you’ll get some marks. The speakers I had had “some” kind of black finish. I don’t believe it was real piano finish. I couldn’t stand it. Scratches every where no matter what I did. I did however not try any kind of car polish etc. So now I buy either real wood finish, or similar too real wood finish. Either black, or walnut color.
Mine are the concept 40's which i believe has 9 layers of lacquer. Are these 'cheap'?

Do you mean expensive gloss piano.black.wont scratch with a soft micro fibre?
 
i use a duster where I can reach.
Down the back of my unit i probably have the hertfordshire relatives of Gibbsys spiders.
As my equipment sits inside a unit It does not get that dusty.
My new Kef R3 and R2C are gloss black. I have a soft microfibre cloth for dusting them. I will use car polish in the fullness of time, Angelwax perfect polish for me.
I have never cleaned any speaker drivers other than lightly using a microfibre
 
Mine are the concept 40's which i believe has 9 layers of lacquer. Are these 'cheap'?

Do you mean expensive gloss piano.black.wont scratch with a soft micro fibre?
The ones I had were pair of System Audio speakers which had some kind of black finish. The speakers cost the same as the Arcam SA10 does now, so I guess they didn’t use real piano finish. I only used my speakers as an example. The speakers you have I have no experience with.
 
Absolute sure fire solution to gloss finishes is the ‘e-cloth’ . They shine my Q acoustics Concept 20s and associated stands beautifully and no potentially damaging product is needed.

Amazon product ASIN B01KNWSVKA
As for dust, e.g. on speaker cones and other delicate areas, I use one of those camera lens puffer brushes. Works a treat.
 
My speakers are vinyl wrapped, so I just use all purpose kitchen spray on some kitchen roll to wipe them down. Obv vinyl wrapped is a cost saver to keep speakers at a price point and isn't as pretty as a gloss finish, but they are MUCH easier to keep clean and obv don't suffer from surface scratches/swirls.

I apply the same cleaning technique to the drivers and various amps and other bits on the entertainment unit.

The back....well I'm with @gibbsy here and let the spiders in peace :D plus behind my unit is a massive mess of wires, so I just pretend it doesn't exist..!
 
for most things I use a good quality microfiber cloth but for tv screen and speaker drivers its an ostrich feather duster as this removes dust by static charge and will not scratch delicate surfaces like the nylon ones can.
 
Many good tips to consider here. I’ve always used a good quality microfiber cloth dampen softly with some water, and then with some mild soap on it to clean the amplifier etc. But the speaker drivers I don’t rarely touch. If i need to I use a dust cleaner of some kind. But paint brushes of good quality seems like a good idea.
 
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I use a cleaner :thumbsup:
 
Posh tw@t ;)
 
windolene on a micro fibre cloth for equipment (got this tip from paul at ps audio), for gloss black speakers i use a maguires polish applicator pad with autoglym super resin polish and then buff with maguires super soft microfibre cloth.
 
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