Since buying my first monitors several months ago, I've been concerned about dust & dirt getting into the rear port. I also have a cat, and while she knows to stay away from the gear, just her presence really raises the indoor pollution factor. What do you do to keep your monitors clean? I'm really not so mechanically or electronically competent, so I'm wary of trying to open them up and clean them out, but I'm guessing that eventually that's going to become necessary. I use air duster and an actual duster on the computer and gear a couple times a week. Designated covers for the monitors seem (to me) unreasonably expensive for what they actually are, so I've been looking for something that's approximately the right shape and size to cover them.

Help out a noob. How do you maintain your gear?

 

cover Your gear with a blanket when not in use

 

Yep. What Rhodes said. And a pack of lysol disinfecting wipe once every week or two on your gear. Wipes and a blanket will have your gear looking brand new. Best blanket to use is the bedsheet one with the elastics. It will not only cover your gear, but wrap around it tightly so very minimal dust can get in. Your gear will look brand new every week.

 

Ports can be cleaned easily. Just put some DnB on and the volume at 2 o'clock... [only half-joking].

Once in 5 years or so it wouldn't hurt to dismantle them and clean properly though. I've got 10 cats and a dog... so some of their hair must get in there. I also clean my PC twice a year, in spring and autumn.

 

I heard cleaning piano keys with chemicals is not good. ...something about drying them out. ......any on know that deal with this ?

 

Can of air duster your just moving the dust from one area to another! i bring my pc outside once a month with a shop vac in reverse so its a blower, that really cleans her out good, in fact so good my Hd ended up in the neighbors yard once? no just kidding, but yeah towels cut in half for your monitors work good, or similar item you can even be creative and make covers, or have the wife if she's good a crafts ect.. stuff like that doing

 

I use distilled luke warm water mixed with 10% alcohol; dampen a cloth and wipe them clean once a week... once a Year I dismantle the keyboard and clean the inside.

 

What do you mean with monitors? LCD monitors or studio speaker monitors? Didn't get it.

 

Speakers, yes. He mentioned bass ports.

 

I've read that plain old water is just as effective as any cleaner you can buy for cleaning components (obviously just speaking peripherals)

 

Oh. duh. Jesus, did I overthink this. Lol thanks for lending me your common sense.

 

Dumped water on my speakers. There seems to be a lot more fuzz and crackle in my mixes than before, but maybe the dust was just muffling things that were there the whole time. I'll look into it *yes*

 

Yeah well, that's the true signal of your mix coming out, see how clean and transparent they sound now? You can even hear the muddiness all the professionally mastered tracks in your library. You're welcome.

 

Any liquids on speaker's cones? Water,alcohol,special chemicals? (once i've heard something about vaseline on the rubber ring that holds the plastic cone but i NEVER trusted this rumor.)

 

One cat soon becomes five!

And soon you will be the crazy cat lady!

Fair warning guys, the reason for this behavior (madness) is that:

CATS ARE EVIL!

Stay well away! Unless u want cysts on ur most valuable organ! No, I don't mean that Hammond u got off eBay!

 

this reminds me I need to clean my axiom pro, cause it's full of tobacco.
and I need to press some keys repeatably to get it working

 

I'd stay away from opening the monitor enclosures. They are factory put together to guarantee their best performance. Opening the box up only to screw it and then have all rattles coming out of the speakers is too much a gamble to take, IMHO. By the time a duster or a light vacuum cannot clean them enough, maybe it's time for a visit to a qualified technician. If dust has actually entered the electronics so badly as to need to check inside, maybe a few caps are blown and some of the electronics could be rusty. A towel will suffice to cover them.

 

Cover your monitors up with a couple of plastic bags (shopping bags or garbage ones). They fit well, like gloves, and don't hold dust like blankets do.

 

Alpha Juno 1: WTF!
Just kidding. Cover all your stuff up when not in use. I use a large sheet of bubble wrap and a soft fleece blanket.