[tonyptony]

In the past few weeks I've made the mistake of flipping vinyl without first muting my preamp. I got some nasty static noise coming out of my speakers. Of course what do I read recently but Mikey himself warning that that can do nasty things to a system. But what kind of things? I ask because I think I'm noticing some subtle changes to how things sound, but I could just be imagining it. Can static noise cause subtle sorts of things to change in a system, or is it more along the lines of "pop" and something dies?

[Wayner]

Static, that ends up high enough to turn into an arc, can destroy a cartridge's coils. It's becoming winter now and most homes will have their furnaces running soon. This drys out the house and a dry house is a breeding ground for static build-up.

Wayner

[FullRangeMan]

When I worked in a data center the maintenance tech dont allow people wearing wool blousons to be near most equips in repair due the huge statics these dress can make.
IBM repair literature warning it can generate spikes til 32K Volts at low current.

[dminches]

I hate the period during which my heat is on for these reasons.  It creates dust and it creates static electricity.  People should have a way to ground themselves before they touch their equipment.

[Wayner]

Make a grounding pad out of metal (like aluminum) and connect it with wire to the ground of your power outlet. Touch the metal pad before you touch the table. This should discharge your body safely.

Wayner

[Quiet Earth]

An exposed screw or unfinished metal area of a grounded audio component is already a direct path to earth ground. I suppose you could touch that if you wanted to quickly discharge yourself. I don't know if that is a fun experience for everyone though.

FWIW, an electrostatic discharge wristband designed for factory use and good ESD practices is connected to a 1 mega ohm resistor before it goes to the earth ground of an outlet. One reason is for safety, and the other is that you would bleed off the static as you sit and work at your bench with the wrist band on.

None of this will change the fact that flipping the record over is causing the static.

I have never blown a cartridge or preamp up because of static, but I have blown quite a few FETs from not wearing my wristband at work. 

[tonyptony]

None of this will change the fact that flipping the record over is causing the static.

I have never blown a cartridge or preamp up because of static, but I have blown quite a few FETs from not wearing my wristband at work. 

Right. That's the source of the problem in my case, QE. I always touch a piece of grounded equipment before changing volume or pressing buttons. But when pulling the vinyl off the platter there is that source of static that goes right out the speakers. I'm not sure it would even dissipate if I touch the vinyl with one hand and a grounded point with the other, before pulling the vinyl off the platter. I think it's the action of the pulling that causes the static discharge.

What I'm worried about is the coincidential mentioning of this by Fremer, in which he advises us to make sure to mute the preamp. That suggests this kind of thing could damage the preamp, amp, or speakers.

[WireNut]

Static fried my $2000 Dac. Years ago my daughter went to clean my TV screen while it was on and hooked up thru my audio system.
I heard popping thru the loudspeakers but by the time I said STOP it was too late.

In the winter static is a real pain here. I always touch something metal first before my equipment but that's not fool proof.

Do you all think a dehumidifier humidifier would help?    I have a couple small ones for this winter.




 

[Devil Doc]

A dehumidifier wouldn't help at all. A humidifier might.

Doc

[WireNut]

Oops, yeah that's what I meant 

[tonyptony]

This is an aside, but on Friday or Saturday at RMAF I was in the GTT Audio room (with the YG Sonjas). We had just finished listening to a selection, and the seated folks got up. One fellow walked up to ogle the Sonjas and touched the left speaker. I heard the static "snap" and the whole system shut down. After that a nasty 1 second periodic thump started coming out of the left speaker. Fortunately the Mola Mola gear has good self protection. The whole thing had to be "rebooted" and it came back. The "thump" was one of the amps going through it's periodic check to see if it could come up to an operating condition.

Getting back to my original post, it sounds like this kind of damage would typically result in something dying outright - not some subtle "am I hearing a change in sibilance" type head scratcher.

[Douger]

I just  received the static-draining brush from Mapleshade.  It does a great job on vinyl, reviving several lp's that I had given up on. I have had the Zerostat since it was invented, and I used to use Static Guard fabric treatment until I wore out the pads that I trusted and couldn't find any more...
When you brush your hard platter mat with the Mapleshade it works well there as well.

[kgturner]

Vinyl static destroyed my Nighthawk phono stage a few years back. Read about it here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=85949.0

Kevin T

[tonyptony]

Wow, that was a nasty loss Kevin. Glad it worked out well. One more example of how stuff can go poof.

[BobM]

A friend of mine (yes, he is still a friend after this episode) invited me to his place last winter to listen to vinyl. He left the room and the record ended. So I got up off his plush micro fiber couch, went over to the turntable and touched the cueing lever to raise the tonearm. A huge blue spark popped off the cartridge tip making a loud SNAP (it hurt too). No sound out of the right channel from that point forward.

The good news is that Grado accepted it back as a trade in and gave a nice discount for a new cartridge, which he is very happy with (the old Grado was fairly old and due for replacement).

Yes, static is evil! I have a small grounding spot that I added to my shelf with a wire running to my grounded heating pipe in the wall. I use this all winter before I touch anything on the rack.

[rollo]

 I'm with Bob on this one. I use a steel washer connected to a wire connected to ground. Before anything is touched just ground yourself touching the washer. Edmund Scientific offers anti static mats. Put one by your rack ground it and be happy.



charles

[Charles60]

I also have a static problem with vinyl records. I went through two Zero Stat guns and started looking for something better. I wound up
buying a ionizing bar.There different brands that can be found on the internet. The one I got was from Airtx International. The bar is 12"
long and has a 5' shielded cable that plugs into a power supply that two bars can be attached. I talked to their teck guy and ask if he
thought it would work on records. He thought that I might get  RF interference if I got to close to my audio equipment and would have set
it up off to the side away from the turn table. I bought and set the system up and held the bar around turntable. The only time I picked up any hum was when I held the bar about 3" over the tonearm and cartridge. I wound up making a bracket that holds the bar 5" above
record while on the truntable (the bar works up to 7" away). It is mounted on the left side of the truntable where the record passes under
neath it. I have had the bar on while the record was playing or turned it off after a couple of passes and I can't tell any difference in sound. The bar and power supply cost about $500.00 and I have been using it for about two year.

[plastico]

When the dry season comes around I just put a used dryer sheet on the platter. It still has the antistatic properties, and  it seems to cure the static for me.