Mechanical components are sensitive to dust, animal hair, smoke, and airborne grease. Keeping your system clean improves the long term reliability, helps retain the original performance, and increases pride of ownership. Most manufacturers recommend wiping the units only with a dry cloth. From a cleaning standpoint this makes no sense at all. Dry cleaning is ineffective, may cause surface scratches, and leave plastic parts with a static electric charge. This charge will attract dust. In a few cases we have seen static charges strong enough to lift a turntable tone arm off the record! From a legal standpoint, dry makes excellent sense because it is very difficult to significantly injure yourself or the equipment with a dry cloth.

For your safety we recommend unplugging and disconnecting the unit from the system before wet cleaning. Disconnect all of the wires. Misuse of the cable TV system by a neighbor can create a shock hazard for your wet hands. Always allow the unit to dry completely before reconnecting. If your cleaning technique is correct, the unit will completely dry in less than 30 seconds. We don't recommend home cleaning of projection TV screens.

Clean by gently wiping your units with a cloth dampened with a dilute solution of dish washing liquid. We emphasize damp because there should be no possibility that any liquid run or drip inside the unit. Clean only the outside surfaces. Never use a harsh solvent. The dish washing liquid will almost always leave some streaks. Remove the streaks with a second, dryer cloth slightly dampened with clean water. Remove all of the detergent film. Long term detergent build up can cause etching or discoloring of some finishes.

Cleaning plastic windows and dustcovers is a no win situation. One must make a choice because cleaning usually scratches the plastic. Make your own choice -- scratches or dirt. If you have very very good technique, the scratches may not be noticeable. Always use soft, wet cotton rags, never clean plastic with paper products. Never clean plastic with a dry cloth. Wet cleaning minimizes scratching. For the "advanced student" there are some plastic cleaners and polishes on the market that are effective. All require some skill. If you decide to use any of these polishes, practice and develop your technique before attempting to polish a prized possession.

What can go wrong? The above procedure is safe and effective, however some finishes when exposed to some concentrated dish washing liquids for more than a few minutes, may show some etching. Read the cleaning product label. Some products specifically warn against use on aluminum. Virtually all metal front panels are aluminum. Very old units with worn finishes may suffer some finish erosion or loss of printed legends during liquid cleaning.

We find that most "tape eating" problems are cured after we clean the tape path. Cassette decks require regular user maintenance. We recommend cleaning the tape path every 10 to 15 operating hours and demagnetizing every 50 hours. Opinions on the proper cleaning fluid vary. In spite of some manufacturers recommending for and some against its use, we continue to recommend Denatured Alcohol for routine head cleaning. Denatured Alcohol (available in most hardware and art stores) is an inexpensive and relatively safe general purpose solvent. For professionals we can recommend more effective (also more dangerous and more environmentally offensive) solvents. If you clean your deck more than once a week, consider one of the more aggressive solvents. Do not use rubbing alcohol. Avoid splashing anysolvent on the cabinet or front panel.

Clean everything that touches the tape. This includes the Erase Head, Record and Playback heads, Capstans, and the rubber Pressure Rollers. Use a cotton swab moistened with solvent. Note that you need to clean only the surfaces. Avoid allowing any solvent to run into the mechanism. Stray solvent will ruin the lubricants. Continue cleaning until the swab comes back clean. A single speck of dust or an invisible film can have a detrimental effect on high frequency response. A well maintained pressure roller has a uniform dull black color. Be careful not to leave behind any hairs from the swab.

Interconnects are the signal cables connecting the various components. Over time the atmosphere, contaminated or not, attacks the metal plugs and jacks. A nonconducting film forms which causes clearly audible problems. While gold plated connections normally resist this contamination, don't assume they can't cause trouble. We recommend annual maintenance of your interconnects. The maintenance procedure is very simple. First, turn off all units. One by one, remove each plug, clean the plug and jack with a mild solvent, such as Denatured Alcohol or contact cleaner, and reinstall the cable. As you reinstall the cable, gently rotate the plug back and forth approximately a quarter turn. This rotation will breakup any film the solvent missed, thus insuring a firm metal to metal contact. If any of the plugs seem loose, gently bend the outside of the plug slightly to make the connection tighter.

Dirt and playing are your LPs worst enemies. Always play your records on a good quality turntable using a well maintained stylus. A worn stylus will rapidly wear your discs. Playing records with the stylus force set too low for your cartridge causes drastically excessive wear. We recommend tracking at the high end of the cartridge manufacturer's recommendation. Clean your record before each playing. Dust is the real problem. At the stylus point of contact, pressures range into the thousands of pounds per square inch. Playing over a dust particle causes permanent scarring of the record surface. Removing dust is relatively simple. There are two bonding agents: grease and static electricity. Once the bond has been broken, the dust can beremoved.

In general we avoid applying liquids to our LPs, however, grease can be removed only with a solvent. Use a premium quality commercial product. Used properly, dilute dishwashing liquid is also effective for large jobs. Your technique is wrong if you can see any solvent streaking or buildup after cleaning. Always use cleaners sparingly and allow the disk to dry thoroughly. Never "wet play" a disk. Careful handling (never grip the playing surface) in a smoke and grease free atmosphere should eliminate the need for regular wet cleaning.

Static electricity is a more difficult foe to defeat. Simply removing an LP from its jacket charges the record. Playing the LP charges the surface. Once charged, the record attracts dust. We recommend a static control brush. In one operation the charge is neutralized and the dust removed. Playing the disk with the turntable dust cover closed is the only way to prevent dust pickup during play.

Store records vertically in a cool dry area away from sunlight. Damp areas promote mold growth. Uniformly compress the shelf of records slightly to make sure all are vertical. Support the entire surface of the two end records to prevent them from warping over time. Small bookends that support only the middle of the record are a bad idea. Always store records in theirjackets and sleeves.

We do not recommend regular cleaning of Compact Discs. Contrary to the popular press, CDs can be rendered unplayable by scratches. Protect both sides of the CD from scratches. Your best strategy is to handle CDs with the same care as your LPs. Hopefully, your CDs will not acquire any fingerprints or scratches. Clean a CD when and only if it acquires enough fingerprints to interfere with playing.

Compact Discs should never be cleaned dry. Use a soft, clean cotton cloth. Avoid using paper products. Old, well used cotton diapers are excellent. Moisten the cloth with a mild solvent. Avoid harsh solvents such as nail polish remover. Dilute dish washing liquid is acceptable if you can control the streaking. Clean the CD by stroking from the hole to the outer edge, working your way around the disk -- rub as little as possible. Do not use circular motions. After cleaning, the disc should be clear and shiny again. There should be no solvent residue streaking.

We have reservations about using commercial CD cleaning kits. While the solvents supplied seem to be satisfactory when used sparingly, we are concerned about the cleaning pads. Some are paper based. Paper is more abrasive than cloth. Others, permanently glued to a plastic applicator, encourage reuse and are too small to be really effective. After a few cleanings the pads become contaminated and useless. Worse, if the pad becomes contaminated with grit, the CDs will be scratched. Finally, some of the "automatic" cleaners use circular motions.

Damaged CDs can sometimes be "rejuvenated" using an abrasive plastic polish. Be warned that this technique will not always work and depends on the skill of the user. It is easy to make the problem worse. Consider this operation only in a "fix it or throw it away" situation.

Skipping of a previously unplayed CD (assuming the player is healthy) is often caused by poorly punched center holes. The hole is punched, cookie cutter style, from the label side. As the cutter dulls, a small amount of flash may be left on the bottom side at the hole. This flash interferes with the player's disc clamping mechanism and causes skipping. Typically, after several tries the flash breaks off and the problem disappears. The flash can also be removed by carefully rolling a round object, such as a plastic pencil or pen, around the bottom edge of the hole until it is smooth. It is imperative that you not distort the hole.

We don't recommend adding anything, such as rings, films, or coatings, to your compact discs. They provide no consistent benefit that we can observe. Many addons cannot be justified on any physical basis. Most are a classic case of "The Emperors new clothes." If you have added one of these rings or coatings, do not attempt to remove it. Adding to, or removing anything from a compact disc usually causes damage.