I was in the military, Stationed at Misawa AB Japan, and I had just maxed out my credit card buying a THX certified AC3 ready Technics SA-TX50 reciever. A real powerhouse. 125W/chan
Not being very technically inclined with stereo equipment (this was my first reciever) I hooked the reciever up to a couple very low end technics floor standing speakers and used some hand-me-down wire that you might see connecting the speakers to a cheap theater-in-a-box setup.
Well, the wires were used and worn and in pretty poor shape. I threw a little shindig that night and invited over all my drinking buddys to check out and envy the new hardware (I was so proud), and the booze started flowing freely.
Well, one of the wires went behind a dresser and there was a bottle of Bacardi 151 on the dresser, which of course got knocked over. There must have been some bare wire exposed because once it fell over my reciever shut down and displayed "Overload".
I started to smell something burning and my immediate fear was that my brand new $700 reciever fried itself. It did not take long to realize that the burning was coming from behind the dresser. When the 151 hit the speaker wire and caused the short which overloaded my reciever, a spark ignited the booze and the carpet lit on fire behind my dresser.
Worried that my butt would be in a real sling with the Barracks manager and my First Seargent, I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a glass and filled it with water to put out the fire, as I ran back to the dresser to extinguish the fire I lost my footing and tried to catch myself as I fell and ended up trying to brace myself on my reciever, which I ended up shoving off the table it was on and it went crashing 3 feet down to the floor.
In the end, I had to pay $300.00 in damages (nearly a paycheck for an Airman of my rank) to the wall and carpet, I got a letter of reprimand, had to go to alchohol classes, and present a fire safety briefing to the rest of my squadron at the next squadron meeting.
But the reciever lived, and still works today!
Not being very technically inclined with stereo equipment (this was my first reciever) I hooked the reciever up to a couple very low end technics floor standing speakers and used some hand-me-down wire that you might see connecting the speakers to a cheap theater-in-a-box setup.
Well, the wires were used and worn and in pretty poor shape. I threw a little shindig that night and invited over all my drinking buddys to check out and envy the new hardware (I was so proud), and the booze started flowing freely.
Well, one of the wires went behind a dresser and there was a bottle of Bacardi 151 on the dresser, which of course got knocked over. There must have been some bare wire exposed because once it fell over my reciever shut down and displayed "Overload".
I started to smell something burning and my immediate fear was that my brand new $700 reciever fried itself. It did not take long to realize that the burning was coming from behind the dresser. When the 151 hit the speaker wire and caused the short which overloaded my reciever, a spark ignited the booze and the carpet lit on fire behind my dresser.
Worried that my butt would be in a real sling with the Barracks manager and my First Seargent, I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a glass and filled it with water to put out the fire, as I ran back to the dresser to extinguish the fire I lost my footing and tried to catch myself as I fell and ended up trying to brace myself on my reciever, which I ended up shoving off the table it was on and it went crashing 3 feet down to the floor.
In the end, I had to pay $300.00 in damages (nearly a paycheck for an Airman of my rank) to the wall and carpet, I got a letter of reprimand, had to go to alchohol classes, and present a fire safety briefing to the rest of my squadron at the next squadron meeting.
But the reciever lived, and still works today!