I like to clean my cymbals because they look professional that way. I use Groove Juice myself (Zildjians) and it works wonders. Just spray on and rise off and all the fingerprints, stickmarks go away. I used to have that Zildjian polish which while shining cymbals, ruined a bunch of towels, was hard work, and left greasy coating [did affect sound]. The Groove Juice just cleans them though and doesn't affect the sound at all. Yes it is true that a 30 year old cymbal with heavy patina and tarnish built up all over it will sound different than an identical cymbal clean, but only a subtle difference. Take care of your instruments, clean those cymbals! You don't have to polish them, but at least keep them clean. Paiste alloys probably work with Groove Juice, but I haven't heard definitely. Be safer with the Paiste cleaner (which I believe contains that protective coating stuff or maybe that is a separate product). As for the protective coating nonsense, cymbals were made for decades without it and as long as you keep them clean you aren't going to see any negative effects. Chrome polish is nice for hardware and certain snares as well.