I, too, have noticed UNBELIEVABLE static in my listening room lately. It is about 20 degrees outside and dry as a bone. Last winter, my daughter pulled her blanket across the carpeted floor, and a wave of static electricity traveled across the floor to my system, which shut down. Fortunately, my equipment has protection circuits. Lately, I have to mute my preamp prior to touching anything, especially my tonearm!!
static electricity
I have found that when I walk across the room and touch my preamp, sometimes a tiny spark travels from my finger( static electricity) Nothing unusual in static electricty, but it produces a crackle sound in my speakers. The preamp is Audio Experience Mark II (all tube). IF I touch my amp ( Velleman 4040 tube) or CD player ( AMC CD6D TUbe) I never hear any crackle. Is this dangerous to the speakers, tubes or solid state circuits?? Should this happen? Hopefully one of you fellows with some engineering experience can help. All of the equipment has heavy duty, 3 prong, detachable power cords, and are plugged into a surge protector.