The Scariest Story Ever Told?


What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you while listening to your high end audio system? Your story can involve anything, from buying an outrageously expensive component that sounded terrible when you turned on your system or a mishap that cost you lots of money to repair or buying tubes only to discover that the boxes were empty.

Last night, while I was talking to a good friend of mine over the telephone, I heard a loud "pop" through my left speaker and soon thereafter, some static. I immediately inspected my amplifier only to discover that one of my left channel output "vacuum tubes" was on fire (internal flame within the tube, believe it or not!) Now, that blew my mind! Fortunately, it only turned out to be a tube going bad and my amplifier did not short-out. Thank God!

I must admit that I nearly had a heart attack and felt lost without my trustworthy and extremely loved Berning amplifier.

hawaiikid
My story is a little different and less expensive. When I was in highschool many moons ago, my friend had a rockin' party one saturday while his parents were out of town. He put his stereo outside and we drank and... we were having a very good time. A live Frank Zappa album blaired out of his marginally mid-fi system as his dad pulled up. His dad was getting out of the car just as Frank was addressing the croud " if your not here to have a F-ing good time...
Sheesh. All of these stories about tube products belching out smoke, blowing up, spitting fire, etc... makes me want to run right out and buy more tubed gear. If i remember correctly, i made mention of this kind of stuff in what turned out to be a tube vs SS thread. People were busting my balls saying that i was full of it. According to those folks, tubes are just as reliable as SS and almost as convenient / easy to use. You would never know it by reading threads and multiple posts like this. Thanks for proving my point several months later.... Sean
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hearing a loud pop from my left speaker and watching blue flames shot out of the bottom left of my mc2000 tube amp. and i still have not taken it to get fixed. may this week though.
Hawaiikid,
Your comment
I must admit that I nearly had a heart attack and felt lost without my trustworthy and extremely loved Berning amplifier.
made me wonder if you might be a victim of the infamous "Berning Scam." Apparently some guy on eBay has been selling "Berning" amps which actually turn out to be "Burning" amps!

Check the label carefully and report back....
Rel, thanks for your recommendation. However, I purchased my amplifier directly from the one and only David Berning!

Many thanks to everyone for your stories, some are hilarious, spooky or catastrophic.