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how did this happen?

yesterday i finished playing a record, and went to lift it up of the platter. as i was doing this, i seemed to feel a static like charge. it didn't seem like much at the time, but within a few seconds i got a buzzing from my amp, and the warning light went on. i quickly turned it off. when i turned it back on, i got only very tinny sound from my speakers. i switched out the amp and put another one in it's place, and got the same sound, leading me to believe it was my speakers that were damaged. i then noticed i could smell a burning type smell from both speakers port holes. so it would seem that i did fry something, probably the woofer. i'm mystified as to how this could have happened. could a static charge from my turntable do this?

it's doubly frustrating because this happened to a temporary pair of speakers that were filling in for my primary's, which are being repaired after being fried in an electrical storm 6 weeks ago.

any thoughts/comments appreciated.
sberger
8 responses Add your response
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
Yes. I have had my preamp turn itself all the way up when I removed a record from the TT and there was a lot of static. I have a friend that has had it happen to him also.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Sounds like you passed some DC from your phono stage thru your amp to your speakers. Not to sound grim but when this last happened to me (for different reasons) I not only fried the speakers I took out some resistors etc in a SS amp which wasn't protected. Best check out your phono preamp for DC leakage and, in the future when changing records or lowering tone arm onto the record etc, put your integrated into mute so no signal passes thru the amp to your speakers.
kurt_tank
1,189 posts
 
Okay, you two officially have me spooked.

What type of preamps do you two, (Rwwear, and your friend), have, by the way?

Do they have remote controls?
(Is that why this is happening?)

I have never heard of this happening before.
Frightening actually.

Sorry about the equipment guys!
You have my condolences.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
There were likely no problems within your equipment, until after that static-discharge zap. That huge DC transient could certainly fry voicecoils! Probably just the woofers are damaged, but there may be other issues (that buzzing sound coming from the mids, even after replacing the PA) you may now have phono stage, or more likely have preamp issues too? May need to check out the speaker crossovers & mids too. Hopefully the tweeters are probably OK. The warning indicator on the PA may indicate internal damage, or at least blown rail fuses.
In the future you'll need to remember to turn down the volume control fully before working with the turntable. My own TT also builds up quite a static charge sometimes; makes quite a zap when removing a record from the platter. I've since grounded the spindle carrier directly to my preamp's grounding-post, via a separate wire from the tonearm ground.
jeff_jones
418 posts
 
You might have gotten off lucky, sometimes the crossovers will blow a capacitor (or other cheap passive component).
I'd eyeball them for obvious signs of an overheated component as a first step. FWIW, the first time this happened to me I paid $75.00 for repairs & the second time I noticed which cap was blown and bought a new one for less than 2.00.
dcrookham53
57 posts
 
Sorry to hear about your problem.

Question, by chance is your home built on top of an Indian burial site?

Hope things improve for you.
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
My friend's is an Audio Research LS-9 and I am using a B&K PT-3 at the moment until I find a better model. These are both remote controlled model by the way.
sberger OP
146 posts
 
guys thanks for the replies.

i brought my amp in to my tech today so he could examine it to make sure nothing is going to screw up my speakers after i get them back from him.

in the meantime, i'll make sure the volume on my preamp is all the way down before i take a record off.

the good news is i found a nice deal on an old pair of klipsch heresy's, and they sound(and look) great.

and as far as i know, no indians buried here, but can i be sure? no.
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