Short in my system?

This happens to me if I'm wearing rubber-soled shoes.  It's static electricity and no joke I've had a spark arc about half an inch from the tonearm to my finger, and it's both LOUD and unnerving. Take those shoes off, or ground yourself to a large metal object before touching the gear and I'd bet dollars to dog biscuits it will go away.

It’s not a short!!

It’s static electricity, the bane of technicians and electronic assembly. You need more humidity or go barefoot.

I do encourage you to avoid touching sensitive electronics like that as they can cause dysfunction or damage. I have a DAC which I used as a preamp and whenever this happened the volume would shoot up to maximum. Ouch.

These shocks have very little current, but just enough voltage to damage sensitive electronics. One trick is to hold on to a key when you touch something that’s grounded (besides your gear). That will let you discharge the static your body has built up using a large surface area. Won’t lessen the discharge, just the pain of the zap.

In case you are curious, you can get a humidity monitor like this one.  I like Govee because their phone apps are really solid.  Put it next to your rack so you can see how dry your room is before you go adjusting something. 

I've gotten into the habit of touching my rack before my gear. I've had static here recently. 

Thanks for all the tips.  I have tried touching a few things, like my anti static album brush, but it still happens.  I will look into losing my shoes or touching something else and see if that works.

Yes, static. Take off your shoes, walk barefoot. 

Your brush will only work if  it is grounded at the time you touch it. 

Hopefully you don’t live in an apartment sitting directly atop a power station??

I have pretty bad static in the winter when my furnace is running. I have a whole house house humidifier, but still have static discharge. A couple of weeks ago I had a particularly loud static discharge when I touched the lifter on my tonearm. There was a huge POP that came through my speakers, followed by a really loud hummm. Well, it took out the left channel in my Schiit Audio Mani 2 phono pre-amp.

So, here's the question: What is the best way to create a ground wire that I can grab/rub before touching any of the components in my system? I think I read in the past that the center screw hole in the cover plate of a duplex outlet was connected to ground. Is this correct? Can I just connect a wire to the center screw of one of the outlets connected to my system? If not, can I connect a wire to either ground lug on my turntable or phono pre-amp and just rub my fingers on the wire before touching one of the components in my system?

Search on amazon for “grounding plug with grounding strap” and you will find a three prong plug that can be plugged into an outlet and a grounding strap connected to it. 

Assuming that the floor is carpeted, you can make a spray using a fabric softener (1 to 5 dilution) and spray it on the carpet and let dry.  There are also commercial product anti-static sprays available as well.  You can search Amazon for them. That should help.

I would avoid using the ground lug on any of your equipment to disipate the static charge.  In most cases, it is no different than touching the face plate, etc.  (and you definitely don't want to send a high voltage static charge into you cartridge.) 

And logic tells me using the same grounding path of a AC outlet would be potentially dangerous.  The ground wire at the outlet is there for safety incase there is a fault or short at the outlet.  

@tosnc  - I may have a grounding strap laying around somewhere. Was hoping to not have to sacrifice one of the AC outlets on a duplex plug as All of my nearby outlets are in use. 

I submitted the question to Copilot AI and the answer came back that the center hole in a duplex outlet is grounded. Think I'll get out my multimeter and confirm it before going this route.

Looked on Amazon and there are a multitude of "grounding mats" that look similar to those anti-fatigue" kitchen mats. The mats have a ground wire attached.

And of course, you need to have bare feet.

I’ve tried grounding mats, brushes with grounding straps, etc. Long ago, I concluded that the best way to run my system is bare feet. I also clean my records in bare feet to minimize the risk of charging them. Resleeving can charge them through friction, which is why I don’t try to shove the sleeved record into a jacket but package it outside the jacket with a 5 mil outer sleeve HDPE that presents like Mylar. (I protect the record on the other side with original inner liner and a generic white cardboard jacket with a label cut out).

My listening room has an ancient Persian rug- fine quality, oversized for the room (we had a much bigger house before this one) but almost threadbare. The floors are old longleaf pine and the work space where the cleaning station is located has thick rubber floor mats of the type you’d see in a restaurant kitchen. I use them largely for comfort standing on my feet, not for static prevention, though they might help in that regard.

Socks will create a charge as much, if not more than shoes on a carpeted floor.

Not a bad idea to run an oversized HEPA filter system in your listening room when you aren’t playing the system. It doesn’t "pick up" dust that has settled, but I found that it did reduce the amount of dust motes that always seem to be in the air.

I had to do a "clean room" when we gut renovated the bath utility area next to my listening room- it totally freaked me out that the records and gear would be exposed to debris, particulate matter, plaster dust and grout. It was not a planned renovation but the result of a shower leak. I used those springy metal poles with 10 mil plastic, taped the seams top and bottom and did an exhaust vent in the plastic "wall"- then installed a big HEPA filter system on the "clean" side.

I was amazed that nothing penetrated. We did wrap all the record shelves, but I didn’t want to put plastic drop cloths on the gear, which remained pristine.

More info than you needed to know, but perhaps it will come in handy. Dust does get attracted to stuff through a charge, as well as from finger oil.

Stop touching it, use the remote.

I get zapped every winter and it stops late spring when the temperature and humidity rises.

I have fireplace tools near my system, so I got into the habit of touching them first to discharge the static electricity - before I touch any of my stereo components.

Nylon carpeting is often a culprit.  Synthetic materiels in clothing can hold what you pick up from your feet. Solutions can vary.

So I will get rid of my carpet, install a fireplace, and listen barefoot and naked.  That should do it.

So I will get rid of my carpet, install a fireplace, and listen barefoot and naked.  That should do it.

If you haven't been doing this already, are you even an audiophile?

Bit of advice from Down Under - use wool carpets!  Inherently free of static buildup ...

Bit off topic but I just discovered wool dryer balls. 

How did no one ever tell me about these?

My Audiolab 6000cdt gave me a shock multiple times and now it won't pickup the remote signal. At least it gets me out of the chair......