You have no idea what you've let yourself in for by asking this, Stuart: alongside everything else I do I've been working and consulting in the hi-fi industry and an off for the past 30 years.

Even without looking at your link I'd offer as the number one tip (which I'm sure will be there): keep your connections clean. If your hi-fi's been installed for an appreciable while without being reconnected in any way, just switch it off and disconnect and reconnect all plugs and leads (one by one, unless you know where everything goes). A quick clean with a cotton bud dipped in vodka (since isopropyl alcohol isn't easy to obtain nowadays) does wonders for cleaning off the contamination that tends to build up these important links in the electrical chain; mains plugs sometimes even need a bit of wire-wool to clean them.

(Scottish tip number two; if you then drink the rest of the vodka, everything will sound wonderful...)

Would a decent malt work equally well, Ron? 

Put me down for the uisge beatha listening test, chaps! 

That's scientifically true, r: one just thinks some music sounds better.

I really can't be doing with wading through that lot, but does it get round to warning not to mix gold and tin contacts where possible?

stuart, you need a chemist for thedetails of trhe reaction, but I remember reading (but not taking notes on) a detailed explanation in Personal Computer World (the magazine) some years ago. In the interim, http://www.pcguide.com/ref/ram/packGold-c.html mentions the problem, but not the details.

I remember a friend's PC hanging shrtly after I read the PCW article, and gave the simms a wobble, thus breaking down the insulating layer which had built up. The PC then booted up without problem.

That's a sure sign that the quality of your mains has been compromised, Stuart, usually that it's being supplied at slightly under power. There are (expensive!) mains conditioners which will help: giving each important piece of equipment its own dedicated socket rather than all sharing an adaptor helps too. The only crumb of immediate comfort I can offer is that this symptom is often linked to maintenance work by the supply company, performed away from peak hours, but finished after a few days. Fingers crossed!