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Short in my system?

I keep getting shocked when walk across the room to touch the system, which then pops really loud through the speakers. 

I have a McIntosh 352 tube amp plugged into a Niagara 1200 power conditioner, which is really like a giant surge protector. 

I live in cental NC, and wSo I don't know if theres an electical problem with the house or with the system, or if this just happens sometimes.  It also happens sometimes when I touch the floor lamp, just a static spark.  Its just so much worse when I touch the amp because its amplified so loud and I'm afraid its going to short out the whole system, or at least blow some tubes.hile its been a cold dry winter, I live on a lake and it rained a couple of days ago so I don't think its the dry weather.  

mojo771

Showing 2 responses by reubent

reubent
7,071 posts
 

@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.

reubent
7,071 posts
 

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?

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