Wouldn't you know it?! You wait a year for a tweak, then two come along at once...
It's spring again and it's time to clean the connections on my rig. I usually use Caig Deoxit then Caig ProGold, but this year I got hold of some Walker SST. Let me tell you people, this stuff works extremely well on the ModWright/Sony 999ES. I put it on the tubes, the two power cables and the umbilical cord. I did it step by step to hear the improvements as they 'built up'.
The biggest improvement was when I put the SST on the tubes. I first used fine sandpaper to lightly clean the pins, and then I applied Caig Deoxit. Next to go on was a very thin coat of Walker SST. SST is—to all intents and purposes—a paint whose pigment is made up of very finely ground, high purity silver particles. It’s very easy to apply with the supplied foam-rubber swabs. A little care is needed to make sure you don’t put great gobs of it on, but application simple enough. With the SST on the tubes the sound immediately got smoother, more detailed and more relaxed at the same time.
The same descriptors could be used for every stage of the cleaning process. For the prongs of my power cables I simply Deox'd'em, then very lightly daubed with Walker's goo. SST should be applied to the male parts of sockets only—and it is highly conductive, so watch where you put it or you could short out your equipment! This shouldn't be a problem even if you have below average motor skills. With both cables done the sound became more seductive and velvety; effortless and enticing.
The umbilical was last and even this was a breeze: there's loads of room to get the little foam swabs in-and-around the plug. With the umbilical completed the tubes glowed a little brighter (from amber to candle-flame yellow) and I felt as though I was hearing the true 999ES for the first time! Suddenly Robert H. Levi’s review didn't seem so outrageously over-the-top… this really is a world-beater of a CD player. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr. Dan Wright!
The next day I applied Walker SST to all of my other connectors and fuses. I have very rarely heard a more synergistic system than the one that's in my own front room. My face hurts from smiling! Highly recommended!
PS I used the plain vanilla SST. It’s expensive at $70/bottle, but I only used a very tiny fraction of that to do my whole setup. There's a twice-the-price Extreme version for those brave of heart and wallet.