What is your scariest moment in High End audio?

A House cleaning service staff worker somehow knocked over an expensive floor-standing speaker into a MAPLESHADE audio rack with its threaded / knurled steel pipes supporting the shelves .

The momentum of the large floor-stander speaker crashing free-fall into the audio rack knurled steel pipe chipped a sizeable chunk out of the premium wood veneer finish.

I could not stomach looking at the resulting FUHBAR , so I immediately sold the speakers that cost me a sizeable wad of cash by a forced accident damage discount

Yep…. I cringed when I had to fess up to the missus about new speaker replacement cost after first dumping  the muthatrucker dumbass house cleaning staff that tried to hide it by squirrelling out of the house without telling me first. 

@retiredaudioguy 

When I first read your post where you said you had a glass of wine in hand, my first image was you spilling it into your tube preamp. That would make for a mighty bad day.

KennyC :  

repeat after me: “forgiveness is (almost always) easier than permission”

However, that being said, I completely concur, that wrath is the one consistent fear-factor in our “hobby” - and that should assist everyone of these other events being put in perspective -  

Was listening to a c.d. when lightening struck. The strip protectors weren't so good back in '88 , heard a loud pop. It destroyed the transformer on my 120w Kenwood amp.

Reading the great posts triggered another memory.  I had bought a store's (several years old) demo unit of a highly regarded PP 300B amp, with its tubes.  Some months later, as I was listening, smoke came out of the ventilation grid on the chassis top, and a bright red anode appeared. A 300B tube filament had sagged and touched the grid. Instant destruction of the tube and the bias resistor.

I sent the amp back to the factory where they repaired the damage and installed the protection circuitry of the newer version.  To this day I try to never leave a running tube amp unattended for any extended period.

The 300B specs do state that the tube is best used used in a vertical position, or if that is not possible, with the filaments' long sides vertical.