Static System Damage



Hello Folks:

Could really appreciate some advice here. My reference system is almost complete and my speakers are the Thiel 7.2.

Unfortunately, my Musical Fidelity A5 cd player seems to have been the culprit in a static grounding problem that went away after the company serviced the unit.

What happened is when I would touch my audio rack, a loud pop would shoot right through the system and into my speakers. One of my speakers was spared, but the other has a slightly narrow, congested and rattling like sound at louder volumes in the compound upper driver. Seems I need to replace it.

What worries me is that with all this money spent and with the absolute enjoyment that I get out of these components, is there a way a test the speakers crossover, my amplifiers and CJ preamp without literally having to take test probes and look at every single component on the pc board's to see if it is still performing to spec? Let alone sending them back to respective manufacturers and spending a fortune?

The good news is that the system still sounds very very good. I just want the best performance of what I invested in.

My thanks.

D.H.
danhirsh
A quick start would be, based on your statement of "...my amplifiers..." that you have monoblocks. Just exchange them for each other, if the effect is still there it is not the amps, if it has moved it is the amplifier. If you have a spare pre amp exchanging that would also help eliminate the preamp. Shouldn't take long and should settle at least where the problem lies.
I had major static problems with a CJ preamp (Premier 17LS2). On dry days it had a tendency to go into muting whenever I touched anything in the system. Have you had any similar issues?

Dopogue:

Yes, When the static charge would go off, it did mute my CJ 17 preamp. I hope that was a protection circuit. Thanks for the response.

D.H.
Dan, the way I ultimately solved my own static/muting problems was to sell the CJ -- which I really liked sonically -- and buy an Aesthetix Calypso. I did manage to mitigate the problem by getting a couple of room humidifiers, stringing some antistatic tinsel (very festive) between the CJ and the center screw on a wall socket, and other maneuvers. Part of my problem was our synthetic fiber w-w carpet. This was mainly a wintertime issue, BTW, but it could happen just about anytime. Good luck, Dave