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A shocking reminder

We are deep in the throes of winter 'round here (Bethesda, MD) and you know what that means - very dry air and tons of static electricity generated by walking across your carpeted floors. Reach out to the volume control on the preamp and ZAP! another blue spark causes a major THUMP thru your speakers.

My solution? Lay an anti-static dryer sheet (Bounce, etc.) on top of the preamp and touch it before anything else - PROBLEM SOLVED.

Try it, it really works...
-RW-
rlwainwright
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Another idea is to get some anti-static lotion (as I have. I think you can get it from any engineering lab supply outfit & Markertek.com might also have it). Apply it before listening session & it works great - no blue static arcs!
Agree with the "permanent" fix of setting the humidity level in the 40% range to avoid this problem altogether.
FWIW.
natnic
33 posts
 
Take one ounce of Fleecy and 4 ounces of water and mix put it in a spray bottle and apply it to carpet. Works wonders on cutting down static. you can buy it premixed at about 50 times the cost of home spun.

Any fabric softner will do.

If you dont have a Humidifier take a large glass fill it with water and put it on heating vent if they are in floor. Also wrks well.
sonicbeauty
324 posts
 
I once blew my speakers with this. I had a Sim Audio 1-5, when the static spark came on, the volume setting (electronic) went for ''o'' to ''50''. I could never get any damage $ from Sim for this, but apparently they have fixed the problem and made this amp somewhat static proof . Yet another reason why I ''love'' this company...hummm
rlwainwright OP
1,904 posts
 
I have a high-capacity humidifier and it still does not eliminate the problem - the Bounce sheet does...

-RW-
subaruguru
1,375 posts
 
Then don't drag your feet on the carpet!
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