Man, I love my vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier, but lately the main volume control has become noisy, as have the little volume pots on the phono & auxiliary inputs.

I had been dragging my feet on doing the needed maintenance, but when I watched the Care & Cleaning Of Vacuum Tube Audio Amplifiers & Amateur Radio Equipment YouTube video from the always excellent ElPaso TubeAmps, I was moved to action.

I encourage you to go out and check out the ElPaso TubeAmps YouTube page, they're fantastic, and I truly appreciate them putting their wisdom and experience out on the web in videos to benefit everyone. Thank you guys!

First thing I did was go out to Amazon and order the CAIG Audio Survival Kit ($30 USD), which includes all kinds of goodies to get your gear into tip-top shape, like (from the Amazon web page):

"DeoxIT fast-acting deoxidizing solution that cleans, preserves, lubricates, and improves conductivity on metal connectors and contacts in 2 forms—D5MS-15 mini-spray 5% solution, 200 ml, and D100L-2C squeeze tube 100% solution, 2 ml.; ProGold preservative and lubricant for plated metal electrical connections in 2 forms—G5MS-15 mini spray 5% solution, 20 ml, and G100L-2C squeeze tube 100% solution, 2 ml; CaiLube precision lubricant specifically formulated to improve conductivity and lubricate conductive plastic and carbon compound faders, switches and other similar components in 2 forms—MCL5MS-H15 mini spray 5% solution, 25 ml, and MCL100L-H2C squeeze tube 100% solution, 2 ml; plus lint-free swabs, brushes, and cleaning cloths."

Vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier.

I removed the knobs from the phono & auxiliary inputs volume pots, then removed the chassis cover to expose their pots and the main volume control.

I applied a small amount of the CAIG DeoxIT to the shaft of each phono & auxiliary inputs volume pots, and to the interior of the main volume control.

I then worked the volume pots back and forth for a while to DeoxIT so it could do its "cleans, preserves, lubricates, and improves conductivity" thing, and then put the cover and volume pot knobs back on.

Then I yanked all the signal tubes and cleaned and lubed the pins and reinstalled them.

After I got the MX110Z installed back into the system, I fired it up to give it a listen to see if my little cleaning adventure had been successful.

The Alternate Blues

I put on The Alternate Blues for a little listening session, and now all my volume pots were silky-smooth and completely noise-free, and I quickly fell into the charms of the music.

While I had the MX110Z out for maintenance I was very tempted to solder in the pair of Duelund CAST tinned-copper capacitors I had conditioned on my audiodharma Cable Cooker to see how well the 0.22uF Duelund CAST tinned-copper capacitors would fare against the Jupiter Condenser Red Astron’s tinfoil caps I now have in the first stage cathode follower of the high level input, but I decided to wait and not violate the cardinal rule of "change one thing at a time".

Prototype 0.22uF Duelund CAST Sn-Cu capacitor.

So I'll do a little listening for a while to my now nicely quiet MX110Z, and who knows, maybe later today or this weekend I'll get out the soldering iron and perform a little capacitor surgery.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!