A Shocking Experience

If you've got air conditioning / dehumidifiers running, it is possible that your room lacks the humidity required to "dampen" static electricity charges from building up. While it is always a good idea to make and break all the connections on your system occasionally, i would invest in a small meter that measures the relative humidity in the room.

As a side note, you might want to rig up some type of grounding post that you can touch prior to working with anything in your system. Some people attach a small metal plate that they attach to a convenient yet out of sight location on their rack or use one of the support rods on the rack. Grounding either of these and then touching it prior to handling your gear minimizes the potential for damage to your gear. Since static electricity can reach levels into the Kilovolt ( thousand + ) level, it is quite possible to whack something up in the matter of micro-seconds that it takes for static to arc from you into the equipment. Sean
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Wow, you've become a famous conductor. Can I have your autograph? ;^)

Yes, it sounds like you are the static generator, and not the turntable in this case. Don't drag or scuff your feet on the carpet, and you'll generate less static.

Twl's right (getting to be a pattern). You may consider having a small metal plate next to your turntable that is attached to ground. You can discharge yourself before you shock your equipment.

Discharging yourself by touching a grounded metal object can protect your equipment but you will still get shock when you do that. I suggest you apply anti-static treatment to your carpet. You can hire carpet cleaning service to do it for you or ask local Home Depot for suggestions if you decide to DIY.

I had the same problem, living here in colorado with thew draught and all, its been very dry.

There were times where i would touch my volume knob and get hit by a vicious arc.

To get by this. well, to prevent my stereo from being hit i ran a thin line of copper up the side of my audio rack, and grounded it out. I made it a habit to discharge myself before touching the gear by touching the copper wire.

It still sucks because i still have to shock myself, but at least it doesent damage my gear.

You could also get a humidifier, but you gotta be kinda careful with those. You dont want them too close to anything

Place a "Bounce" dryer sheet near your TT and touch it before touching the TT - it should completely eliminate the shock you are receiving...

-RW-

I work in a medical clinic that has a number of electrical products and carpeted floors. We had a similiar problem with static electricity that actually shorted out a very expensive piece of equipment. We have purchased a carpet spray that reduces the static electricity, I believe it is available at Radio Shacks and computer stores.

Might try changing to a different pair of shoes; different rubbers and plastics have a wide variation in their tendency to build up static charge.

If you use a grounding strip to discharge yourself, you can avoid the shock by carrying a metal object in your hand, like a nail. Touch the nail to the grounding strip and it will arc to the nail and you won't feel it. If you live in a cold climate and get shocked getting out of your car in the winter you can use the same trick with your car keys.

Thank you all very much, I will be trying some combinations of the above and will post the results here shortly.

Regards, Robert Craig