Your worst gaffes


I thought it'd be fun to share our embarrassing experiences, or gaffes we committed with our equipment over the years. I hope that they all ended up ok, but feel free to share those that didn't as well... I'll start.

I had an outpatient foot surgery last year, and they administered a strong painkiller intravenously, and gave me a Vicodin on top of it after I came out of a full-body sedation. When I got home, I felt so good that I had a few shots of vodka, at which point I felt REALLY good. Well, of course I couldn't wait to listen to my records so I proceeded to my listening room and grabbed a record. Not a good idea!

Completely unaware of what I was doing, I lowered the lift lever before I cued up the tonearm so that it dropped onto the record. After a brief confusion, my heart stopped! Luckily, my Lyra Delos appeared to come out unscathed! Did I rest relieved? Of course not. I proceeded to "see" how far the tonearm dropped and whether it could have possibly damaged the cartridge by holding it with my shaky fingers with the lever down. I dropped it twice more...

A few hours later, a few vodkas later, and enough time to contemplate my stupidity, I was listening again, and thought that the anti-skating device on my Classic looked weird as it made the fishing line too taut (as it's supposed to do). As the record was playing, I flicked it for a reason I'll never understand. It sent the tonearm flying across the record with a loud scratch and off the platter. How it did not hit the side of the platter completely destroying the cantilever, I'll never know. I think what saved the cartridge was the fact that flicking the anti-skating mechanism literally sent the tonearm flying rather than drag it across the record, and that it was barely a minute into the first song. The craziest thing was that my Delos again came out unscathed! No bent cantilever, no damage to the stylus. Almost a year later, I still cannot believe it and count myself very, very lucky.

The next day I decided to read the discharge papers. In caps, it stated that the sedation significantly affects judgment, perception, and coordination for hours after the surgery. Oh, really you idiot! Lesson learned...
actusreus
Letting my brother in law change record on my Maplenoll ariadne signature. I ended up with a great record with a horrible scratch and a rebuild of my airy 3.
I blew a driver in my ProAc response 3's trying out several amps. I switched back to a Sunfire signature (no power switch) without unplugging it. What a terrible noise! I was so mad at myself I kicked a baby gate that was set up outside my room down the steps which made a couple nice holes in the wall going downstairs. Then I kicked it again when I got down the steps. (wish I had shoes on) I wasn't happy about fixing any of the damage. Makes me laugh now though. I'm smiling as type.
Paying 50% upfront for a pair of speakers that took 7 months to receive in damaged condition.
10-16-12: Jp1208
Paying 50% upfront for a pair of speakers that took 7 months to receive in damaged condition.

Care to elaborate?
Tpreaves, I paid roughly 3k upfront, waited 3 months longer than promised for delivery and the builder shipped them with a gouge in one side and a pit or hole in one baffle. One speaker developed a small bubble in the vaneer and has now cracked open. On delivery the bases that hold the "VERY" expensive crossover section were snapped in half due to a flimsy single box packing job. My 8 year old could have done a better job.
The worst part about this is that the builder wanted to fight with me about a ups claim that "I" was to file and then give him status once I heard back from ups. The gouge and pit mark were shipped this way without my knowledge and had nothing to do with shipping.
I guess I call this a gaffe on my part for trusting this individual.