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Anyone have this happen to them?

I always leave my components on. I have noticed that quite a bit of static electricity exists in my listening room/living room. I went to my preamp and switched from the CD input to the tuner input. The volume was set at a very low level. I was wearing my socks which does not help the static electricity situation. A horrible loud sound came out of my speakers. It sounded like bad radio frequency. I immediately turned the volume down to zero. I then switched to the CD input and checked to see if any damage had occured to the system (None, Thank God).

Both the CD and the Tuner input are balanced inputs and I have shielded balanced interconnects for both components. I have a seperate power circuit that has a Monster Cable HTS 2000 plugged into it. The tuner has a simple non powered Magnum Dynalab ribbon antenna plugged into it.

Any ideas of what happened? I have been listening to the system with no issues since this occured a few hours ago. Any ideas on how to lessen the chance of this occuring again? I would appreciate any feedback.

Thank you,
Drew
drewfidelity

Showing 1 response by keis

keis
176 posts
 
A humidifier helps a little. Being in Colorado static discharge is always a problem and it can damage sensitive components usually associated with displays or control circuits. (Even worse if you are inside a computer. You can destroy a 265MB Ram chip with static charge very easily)

Solution is easy. I approach my stereo now and always touch the preamp's metal box before I touch any control. This grounds me through the power supply and never causes any problems. I keep my hand on the cabinet while I'm adjusting any components controls, changing CDs etc.
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