I haven't fried any equipment (yet). Does installing 16 speakers in a Ford Pinto count as dumb? -- had large midrange horns hanging from the ceiling and a set of 16 ohm boxed speakers in the back. Maybe the dumb thing there was slapping in a cassette tape of a 45 minute drum solo on a long road trip with my wife-to-be on our fourth date (I'm still hearing about that one). Hmmm. I too got rid of most of my LP's. That was dumb. I too fried myself, more than once, forgetting to let those darned capacitors discharge.
All in, I think the dumbest thing I did was waiting so long to get into this hobby. I took three years of electronics in high school and subscribed to audio magazines (Stereo Review and Audio -- talk about stupid!) for about 20 years before taking the plunge and setting my old JVC/AR combination aside. I really was convinced that most stuff sounded about the same and thought the folks who read Stereophile must be insane. $500 for a cable????? It wasn't until later that I actually just listened. I still wonder about those cable prices though.
All in, I think the dumbest thing I did was waiting so long to get into this hobby. I took three years of electronics in high school and subscribed to audio magazines (Stereo Review and Audio -- talk about stupid!) for about 20 years before taking the plunge and setting my old JVC/AR combination aside. I really was convinced that most stuff sounded about the same and thought the folks who read Stereophile must be insane. $500 for a cable????? It wasn't until later that I actually just listened. I still wonder about those cable prices though.