Worst Audio Injury !!

Have a friend who was electrocuted to the tune of 120VAC into the temple, due to an open AC connection.

He was experimenting with AC motors for his turntable.
Something along the lines of him thinking (flash thought/reaction) about possible damage to his Kiseki Cartridge (!) ...as he went down.... ( Mein Leben! - Wolfenstein)

He is a known audio manufacturer and it’s his story, so I can’t give a name....

As for the LP12 Valhalla board, yeah, mine has got me more than a few times...

@mikem ,

I hope there was no lasting damage done. Being so unexpected, it must have been terrifying. I can picture images of microwave arcing like what happens when you accidentally put the wrong dish inside.

I've never had anything like that but I did once touch something live on the Linn LP12 circuit board. 

My finger felt like it was literally glued to the component. It took a considerable effort to pull away.

Not an experience I'd ever want to repeat.

No wonder they called it the Valhalla board.

@cd318,
It was an unusual painful experience! Winter time here with the heat on gets things very dry.. I run a humidifier in peak season now.. along with my ground strap ! I also now have silk dome tweeters !

@mikem,

Rubber soles and certain acrylic fabric clothing often get me mildly zapped, but never like that.

Besides the usual back pain from moving speakers and power amps, I had an unusual experience with static zapping..  I had a pair of focal 1038’s several years ago. I was bending down in front of the speaker To pick something up and as my ear came close to the dome tweeter, I heard a loud noise and a sharp pain in my ear as My static buildup found a path to ground. Hurt like heck and was loud, wish I had a picture of the arc. My DAC shutdown instantly, once restarted all was well. A very strange painful incident.
I now have a grounding probe That I keep on the rack so I can ground myself before doing anything near the stereo.

I thought we all had people who do that sort of thing, "Oh Geevs"..... would you be so kind to move that speaker a tad to the right?🧐

None i use body armor when i handle stereo stuff.

03-09-2021 11:05am@jccampbellii,

Yes, the dreaded delay is one of the worst things about back injuries.

You can go to bed feeling fine totally unsuspecting the spinal locking up that can happen 24 or even 48 hours later.

Sometimes this will be accompanied by chronic pain in your lower back or legs together with an awful cold sweat as your body takes over in a primal way to prevent you doing any further damage to yourself.

I find that pulling in my stomach muscles can offer some protection before lifting the odd 25kg bag of potatoes or moving the 35kg Tannoy Berkeley.

Yep--nothing like it.  Even to this day my back will "lock up" if I spent too long bending...
A heating pad on for 20 minutes is one of the best things...I have even read that it is recommended by doctors as the best, to help the back.  About 25 years ago I got smart and bought a 2 wheeled moving cart...I use it for anything with heft--this includes stacking my stereo and moving it all at once, rather than several small trips.  Moving several smaller things (again, bending) can be as brutal to me as one heavy lift.  Now, I lift with my cart, gravity and leverage and not my back!

@jccampbellii,

Yes, the dreaded delay is one of the worst things about back injuries.

You can go to bed feeling fine totally unsuspecting the spinal locking up that can happen 24 or even 48 hours later.

Sometimes this will be accompanied by chronic pain in your lower back or legs together with an awful cold sweat as your body takes over in a primal way to prevent you doing any further damage to yourself.

I find that pulling in my stomach muscles can offer some protection before lifting the odd 25kg bag of potatoes or moving the 35kg Tannoy Berkeley.

Yes!  Lifting my speakers into my car heading back to school...hit me the next day like a ton of bricks!

I keep weight belts in prominent easily accessible and easily seen places, so I don't lose track of them and have no excuse for not using one...when looking to move any gear over 50-60lbs or so.

@passthedutchie,

"Haven’t (badly) hurt my back yet but it’s probably just a matter of time with 130-pound stereo speakers, a 110-pound solid-state amp (with dangerously sharp heatsinks), and subwoofers that are well over a hundred pounds each."


Err..with those kind of weights involved, it’s definitely only a matter of time.

My speakers only weigh 32.5kg each but each passing year they seem to be getting heavier.

My advice is DO NOT INJURE YOUR BACK.

Do all the stretching / yoga /McKenzie manoeuvre exercises you can beforehand.

Once your back goes, it can have a cumulative effect on your knees and ankles.

YOU DON’T WANT TO GO THERE.

Coming back from a back injury is one long hard trek. There’s far better things you would rather be doing with your time.

I burned my thumb on a hot valve in a tube amp last week.

Have hit my head multiple times trying to get up from behind the equipment rack (the sharp edge of a fireplace mantle is right there).

Haven't (badly) hurt my back yet but it's probably just a matter of time with 130-pound stereo speakers, a 110-pound solid-state amp (with dangerously sharp heatsinks), and subwoofers that are well over a hundred pounds each. I guess the trick is to never move anything. :-)

I stumble while carrying large capacity loudspeakers. I broke my arm, this is the most severe audio show I've ever encountered. But that's not all, I really love the sound making profession and use modern audio equipment.
dan am thanh hoi truong is one of my favorite jobs

I got hurt pretty bad when I heard what a really good system could do. Well, it hurt my feelings, anyway.

I suffered a psychotic break when some Audiogoner with two posts revived a twenty year old thread, everyone started posting like it had been active the whole time, and now going mad trying to understand who is the fizzle bomber.

well I heard that almost all accidents occur with in 5 miles of home................so I moved  :)

I agree with the point that the major of teh accident can occur inside the home.
Proper care is required when dealing with electric switches.

Yup, my amp kicked me in the lower back one day and put me out of commission for about 2.5 months. But I got even by putting that sucker to work daily for 2.5 months. 

@drkingfish, surgical scalpel?

That was beyond brave.

So easy to over focus on one area ('it's got to be perfect') and forget that you have a scalpel in your hand, or a soldering iron.

Back injuries are so ludicrously easy to inflict on yourself - and cause no end of discomfort afterwards. Those of you who are unfamiliar with back pain, please try and keep it that way. 

A number of yrs ago I was doing "surgery" on one of my inverted done tweeters (very delicate work).  I was using a surgical scalpel, I needed to switch to fine tweezers and put the scalpel blade up in my left shirt pocket.  Anyways I reach down with my left hand for some reason and drive the full length of the blade into the meat  at the base of my thumb.OMG!!!!! to say the least!  I still have an L shaped (or an upside down 7) 2cm scar to prove it.

@jeffloistarca , "The drill fell off, and landed business end first on my bare foot, driving a Robertson bit right through just above my big toe. The bit was sticking out the bottom of my foot. I hobbled to the bathroom with the drill hanging out of my foot, pulled the drill bit slowly upwards, a which point I lost several pints of blood."

OMG! Ouch! 

I once nearly burned through the soldering iron cord and my hand in frustration as I tried to solder a missing capacitor on the back of a CD drive - don't ask!  Damn thing was tiny and I knew I was beat. Eventually got it done by a local electrical shop by an experienced guy who was leagues better than I'll ever be. 


@zorathustra , "Next thing I see is a bright flash, and a VERY loud "POP! CRACKLE!" sound. The current went in one arm and out the other, both arms and my chest tensed up so hard I thought I was having a heart attack. It was maybe a 1/2 second long, but it felt like about 10 seconds, before I broke the connection."

OMG! x 2.

I thought touching something live on the circuit board of my LP12 was bad enough. Took an effort to pull my hand free, and yes time seemed to slow quite dramatically.

I beg anybody reading never to mess with live electronics unless you are thoroughly experienced and have access to a well lit child and pet free work area PLUS superhuman powers of concentration.

Even then, please be careful out there - it's only audio, and we're only audiophiles. 

I dislocated my jaw laughing at Geoffkait's Teleportation tweek !!!!!!!!!!!

I hurt my jaw pretty bad when it hit the floor when I heard The Intelligent Chip the first time. 🤕 

The worst one I've ever heard of happened to a fellow audiophile's wife. He told me that he put on a Tom Jones recording and then nailed his wife between the speakers. 

Frank

I recently built bookshelves and a console for my components. During all that time I was carrying plywood etc and my back started to hurt. Then I had to move my amp, 100 pounds, and tweaked my back again. A little later I was kneeling on the floor and lifted one of my speakers with steel base and spikes (130 pounds) and the pain hit me. I could hardly get back up.

It was mostly muscle spasm but with a sciatic/spinal stenosis component with referred pain down both legs (which is a bad sign). I could hardly move for 3 solid days. Had to sleep in a chair. Wife had to help me get dressed. Missed a day of work which I never do. Worst pain I've ever had and I've had broken bones and kidney stones. That's been over 6 weeks ago and I'm still not 100%.

My worst one was when I almost broke my back and had to wear various Posture Correctors from Befit to hold my back intact for like a year. Yeah, it was that bad. How did it happen? I lifted our stereo and instantly heard a crack in the back. Thankfully I was able to recover pretty fast from it.

Wow Ernie! What a story. I've heard of "Bats in the bellfree", but this takes the cake!! Just say three "Hail Marys and ..."

Ernie all I can say to that story is boy can I relate! I feel for you.

Subwoofer accident? Sort of... and with sincere apology to Tubegroover: As a teenager in the late 60s I traveled around northern Rhode Island playing baroque organ at wonderful French Canadian churches sporting huge 4 and 5 rank organs (mostly made by the Casavant Freres of Quebec). I remember playing for a wedding service at St. Cecilia in Pawtucket, RI, one Saturday, and in the middle of the service saw a large shadow of a bird traversing the length of the cathedral below. It was a crow flying back and forth under the ceiling lights, casting airplane-like silhouettes on the congregation. Soon enough the entire crowd's attention was fixed on this aerial display, to the dismay of the wedding party. At the end of one pass the crow landed on the tallest organ pipe, a good 15' above my head. I reasoned that I could scare him away without disturbing the services by shaking him up with the 32' Bourdon. So I pulled out this mammoth stop, lowered my foot on the low C pedal, and felt the shudder of the 16Hz "tone" shaking the whole place. I suppose most folks assumed it was a truck passing by, or a mild tremor of some sort, but the huge infrasonic pressure wave startled the bird sufficiently to result in it falling down inside the organ pipe! Throughout the remainder of the service, to my horror, I could hear the bird rustling in the pipe, unable to get out! The priest and wedding party were grateful for the cessation of the aerial display, but I have never been able to forgive myself for this murderous note, and consequently limit myself to a sound system flat down to 32 Hz as penance! This is a true story...thanks for letting me get it off my chest....Ernie

You guys are too much! Two memories surface: When I was around 12 (ca. 1964) I remember installing a tone control in an old 5 tube non-transformered table radio, and, not having disconnected it from the AC, carefully applied the old "keep one arm behind your back" adage so as not to complete a circuit through my corpus. Well, after several moments I recall waking up on the floor on the other side of the room with a nasty bump on my head. A quick look-see in the mirror revealed a small red mark on my neck (no hickeys in this kid's life yet!). The next day I reapproached my basement workbench with trepidation, and looking up, noticed the dangling here-to-fore-innocent piece of 16 ga that I had clamped to a cold water pipe as a convenient "working ground". Boy did it work!

It was either E.L.O. or "You Light up my Life".

Recres@msn.com, judging from the year that accident happened, could "Electric Light Orchestra" have been playing? That would explain the shocking encounter.

Back in 1976 I had a pair of my brothers' home made electrostatic speakers. It was a big full range job and used a high voltage power supply for the diaphram. Incidently, the wire used for the power supply had a crack or cut in the wire, which found its' way to my foot as I walked by. It burned a small portion of my little toe, and threw me back, wondering if a 12 year old could really have a heart attack ...

Tubegroover, it takes courage to tell a story like you did. Your love for your other family members, including the feathered ones is an insight to your personality. I can just imagine you dancing to music you love and enjoying the birds who are reacting to the energy and the sound . I suppose I should not be surprised that a person who cares so deeply for music would care equally about the well being of a small bird. For me, It was particularly enjoyable that you choose to share your experience.

Here's one for you. I went to retube my old VTL Deluxe Preamp, after it had been unplugged for 2 weeks. Well, the capacitors in this unit may look like "D" cell batteries, but they hold what feels like a car batteries worth of potentially fatal electricity. This I found out the hard way. I've got one hand on the metal case of the unit, and the other on one of the tubes. I'm "wiggling" the tube gently to free it and it comes part way out, backing into a verticle PCB (the tubes are mounted horizontily). Next thing I see is a bright flash, and a VERY loud "POP! CRACKLE!" sound. The current went in one arm and out the other, both arms and my chest tensed up so hard I thought I was having a heart attack. It was maybe a 1/2 second long, but it felt like about 10 seconds, before I broke the connection. My arms and chest were sore for about 2 days after this little mishap. Now this may sound like an easy way to drain the Cap's before you work on a piece of tube gear, but I wouldn't advise it :) I guess in a pickle you could revive someone having a heart attack this way.....

Hey Tubegroover, I hope you are still able to eat Chicken after a horrible experience like that. Seriously, glad to hear the bird is fine.

The most memorable injury to me was mental (guilt) and real to "Joey" our pet cocketiel. During the winter months the birds stay in the house at night and often I will keep them in the listening room. Both Joey and Freddie love music, or so it seems, they can really get to talking and whistling up a storm when the music is playing. Sometimes my wife and I will "dance" with them, that we'll dance and have one or both on either finger and whistle or sing to the music. That and the music will generally get them whistling. They love it and it is a lot of fun for us too. On one particularly cold evening about a year ago the birds and myself were "dancing". It got a little out of hand and the bird started flying. I am always nervous when they start flying because of the tube gear, which they seem to instinctively stay away from but they can become disorientated and you never know. I thought, enough "dancing" for the evening, it was time to settle down a bit. Both birds ended up in their favorite place, perched on the back of the couch. I got Joey first and put him on the cage, which was on the floor. I turned around to get Freddie but he started flying again. I pivoted around to turn down the volume of the stereo and as I did I felt a soft lump on the floor under my shoes. I immediately got this funny feeling that whatever it was shouldn't be there. I lifted up my foot and there was Joey missing about half his feathers and just sitting there looking so helpless. I was pretty broken up thinking that there was no way he couldn't survive my 190 lbs. I held him and he was very listless. It was a Saturday night so I couldn't take him to his vet. I took him to an emergency hospital clinic. We waited and waited and Joey by this time was perched on my shoulder as listless as ever. The vet checked him out and everything appeared fine, no broken bones. He remained listless for about 2-3 days and gradually improved. But it took about 2-3 weeks before he started talking again. The guilt from this accident is worse than any physical pain I can ever remember incurring on myself. As for Joey he is fine and as irrepressible as ever.

I can't beat any of the aforementioned injuries, but sometimes my back and shoulder still hurt from carrying my Klipsch KLF20's (90+lbs packed) up to the second floor of my old apartment. When we moved I gladly paid for them to be moved.

Last week I was hospitalized in an intensive care section for "paroxysmal positional vertigo." I woke up one morning and could not move my head without the world spinning and shaking so fast that I would immediately throw up. For a few days I was totally incapable of even turning my head let alone standing on my feet and walking. My medical doctors did not understand this, but you audiogon doctors might see the relevance of the following fact to the diagnosis when I say that I do 95% of my listening on a very expensive set of electrostatic "earspeakers" (note: brand name not mentioned) and I wonder if the disease and the product are not related. However, I might have been healed by the plant that poisoned me: The vertigo tests at the throat-nose-ear doctor involved ear washes at different temperatures that improved my hearing (especially sensitivity to sounds in the 4-6KHz frequency range and transient response). It and the blood infusions I was given in the hospital were the best "upgrade to my system" in recent years.

Albert; thanks for the humor-- I needed it. I also should have mentioned "mental anguish" as an injury in my post. I don't know when we'll regain use of the 'steens. Cheers. Craig.

Garfish, this is the first situation I have ever heard of, where Richard Vandersteen was "foiled" in his attempt to build a speaker that was the "cats meow."

How about tripping over a speaker cable and falling on the corner of a faceplate of a Krell KSA 250. OUUCH!

A couple of months ago we got a kitten-- "Teasil" (now also known as the "Beige Bomber"). She was allowed run of our utility and family rooms. Well, I have a second stereo system in the family room with Vandersteen 2Ce speakers. I'm sure many of you know that Vandersteens are boxless and have cloth on all four sides. Teasil almost immediately started climbing the 'steens-- she could go up them like she was shot out of a cannon-- not good, not good. But according to vet. info., cats don't like tinfoil so we completely wrapped the 'steens in tinfoil, and I put 3/16s" (read heavy) steel plates on top of the speakers (to accomodate the cat). All this has largely stopped her attacks on the 2Ces, but as to the injuries: 1. badly bruised ego, ie the Beige Bomber has out-manuerved us on every count. 2. Have you ever heard speakers wrapped in tinfoil? I had to try it, but may never hear normally again. This experience gave new meaning to the word "tinny" sound-- circuit city stuff sounds better. P.S. I sure sympathize with Zoo and Jeff (above posts)-- great stories. Cheers? Craig.

Thanks for the compassion, Albertporter. I still have to sleep with the nightlite on (and I'm 44). By the way, Avguygeorge, if I decide to try this again I am going to get a pay-per-view contract first for all to enjoy!

The series of blows as initiated by my wife's flying fists that I receive every time I upgrade, you know the injury- accompanied by the statement "What Is THAT? Is that NEW?!!"... whack!!!

What? Whad ya say?

R_schwartz-hey, the cover did its job,kept prying fingers OUT!!

My posting was meant to be funny (about Best Buy and Bose) you guys, especially Zootallures and Jeffloistarca, deserve some compassion. Injury's like the ones you describe would haunt me, awake or asleep, for the rest of my life!