Thankfully I was protected with a Monster unit, but some time ago I touched the metal post on my rack and it give off a static charge. The system shut down and no damage was done, but it left me wondering as to how I could eliminate any static build-up on my body....hence my inquiry.
What's the best way to discharge static from your body prior to touching your system?
Thankfully I was protected with a Monster unit, but some time ago I touched the metal post on my rack and it give off a static charge. The system shut down and no damage was done, but it left me wondering as to how I could eliminate any static build-up on my body....hence my inquiry.
What's the best way to discharge static from your body prior to touching your system?
1. if its you, perhaps touch another piece of metal elsewhere just before walking over?
2. I demo'd a system last weekend and EVERY time i picked up the disc cover to put in a new CD, i got a teeny shock. i think there was something in the way they setup the system that must have been doing this. Very bizzare. But is this the case with your system? or does it discharge as soon as you touch it once?
1. if its you, perhaps touch another piece of metal elsewhere just before walking over?
2. I demo'd a system last weekend and EVERY time i picked up the disc cover to put in a new CD, i got a teeny shock. i think there was something in the way they setup the system that must have been doing this. Very bizzare. But is this the case with your system? or does it discharge as soon as you touch it once?
I'm thinking it's the carpet for one, but also it's very dry in here. That should not be so much as an issue as the weather warms, since it's pretty humid here in summer. I will bring in a music-sheet stand and see if I can discharge from there.
I'm thinking it's the carpet for one, but also it's very dry in here. That should not be so much as an issue as the weather warms, since it's pretty humid here in summer. I will bring in a music-sheet stand and see if I can discharge from there.
Gets a little chilly in winter but its the only way I found to stop the static discharge. Tried slippers with rubber soles but that didn't work either. Just the other day I forgot to take off the slippers, touched the CD player and zap! Player kept saying "No disc inserted" after that. Fortunately my universal fix for everything electronic worked for this too. I unplugged the player and when I plugged it back in it worked.
I find it strange touching the rack post shut your system down... Normally I would suggest doing exactly that before touching any other part of the system
A few thoughts:
1. Make sure the rack is grounded, e.g. using a wire to the safety ground of the power outlet. That should provide a path to ground better than the one through your components.
2. Get a humidifier, or even a pan of water, to get the moisture level up a bit.
3. You could get an antistatic floor mat (available from many electronic suppliers) to place in front of the rack so you step on it first. Ground to rack and safety (earth) ground, of course. You still may need to touch it first.
I find it strange touching the rack post shut your system down... Normally I would suggest doing exactly that before touching any other part of the system
A few thoughts:
1. Make sure the rack is grounded, e.g. using a wire to the safety ground of the power outlet. That should provide a path to ground better than the one through your components.
2. Get a humidifier, or even a pan of water, to get the moisture level up a bit.
3. You could get an antistatic floor mat (available from many electronic suppliers) to place in front of the rack so you step on it first. Ground to rack and safety (earth) ground, of course. You still may need to touch it first.
You know what...it wasn't the rack, it was the volume pod from my former IA that did it. I just remembered when you said you may have to touch the rack first. Duh!
I do touch the rack first prior to touching anything else and have had no problem, but I would like to get rid of it regardless. I will ask one of my friends about the ground wire from the rack to an outlet, as I DON'T UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE touch electrical. It terrifies me!
Hello and good morning to you, John. While the times of static in my house are far and few in between, whenever the static does charge up I simply start up the humidifier and the static discharges diminish to nothing. We do not wear shoes in the house and 95% of the time we are all barefoot [no slippers]. I don't recall ever having my system give me a charge. Unfortunately, it's usually my wife's lips. That is the only time it pains me to kiss her....no pun intended.
Hello and good morning to you, John. While the times of static in my house are far and few in between, whenever the static does charge up I simply start up the humidifier and the static discharges diminish to nothing. We do not wear shoes in the house and 95% of the time we are all barefoot [no slippers]. I don't recall ever having my system give me a charge. Unfortunately, it's usually my wife's lips. That is the only time it pains me to kiss her....no pun intended.
LOL! That's just too funny Tom! I'll have to remember that one! I wear slippers because I have to, but perhaps for those times when I listen to the system I could cheat and forego them for the barefoot life!
I have the same problem with static electricity in the winter. Low humidity and walking across a carpet and touching metal is a guaranteed way to discharge static electricity. I ground myself on the gear rack and all is good. If I touch the volume pot (or any other part of the metal) on my KRC-HR without grounding myself first, it will shut down.
i always ground my finger on my audio rack prior to touching anything, normally twice. tap, tap. which drains the static build up temporarily.
it's now a habit and i don't even think about it.
static charges will typically only throw stuff into protection mode and the gear must be cycled on and off and no harm. but i've seen enough painful static events to learn.
John, if you didn't have this problem in your old set-up, the problem is either the rug or the couch. Are either of them wool? Walking across a wool rug (especially wearing shoes with some types of soles) will generate the static. Or, the couch is not leather, and you are generating static between what you wear and the material of the couch. Some wools are worse static generators than others. Merino wool, for an example, is static resistant.
Walking bare-foot can help and so can listening in the nude. The latter is more pleasurable in company of the opposite sex.
John, if you didn't have this problem in your old set-up, the problem is either the rug or the couch. Are either of them wool? Walking across a wool rug (especially wearing shoes with some types of soles) will generate the static. Or, the couch is not leather, and you are generating static between what you wear and the material of the couch. Some wools are worse static generators than others. Merino wool, for an example, is static resistant.
Walking bare-foot can help and so can listening in the nude. The latter is more pleasurable in company of the opposite sex.
Nice when you don't have to say (elaborate), and people can figure out easily. :b
* We had a very good discussion in the past over at AVS Forum, regarding the effects of the sound impact in a hall with a nude audience as opposed to fully clothed.
...And also from an empty hall to a fully filled one.
...Plus at home, the effects of sound reflections from bare skin as opposed to clothing.
The word "discharging" all in itself is also interesting. ...Same for "static".
i always ground my finger on my audio rack prior to touching anything, normally twice. tap, tap. which drains the static build up temporarily.
it's now a habit and i don't even think about it.
static charges will typically only throw stuff into protection mode and the gear must be cycled on and off and no harm. but i've seen enough painful static events to learn.
I do that too and also do that prior to touching any computer in a carpeted room. I have a grounded copper pad that I touch on any desk that has a computer. They don't have to be copper, but I had the copper pads around the house and it is easy to solder a wire to them and plug into an outlet ground plug.
That happens to me too, every time I get up and change the record or volume knob, I found out the clothes I wear make a difference, some clothes make more static than others and some just dont... but I havent figured out which, and frankly I dont have the care to write it down!!!!
I do touch the rack before anything and it is almost automatic... I found an upside down metal cone discharges me faster and less painfully that any other thing, I just touch the tip of the cone...
If Using a leather couch would fix things... but I heard terrible stories about a leather couch making a terrible resonance in a listening room!
I am having this issue when I am playing records. Out of nowhere, this loud static sound cuts thru the music and catapults me to the ceiling. I am using a Graham arm and a TW table. I have tried ground wire to the arm, and the table and then the platform. The platform has a ESD copper layer. None of these have worked. I only have this issue with analog. Anyone experienced this problem? I have this issue in the summer also. I will try the humidifier next.
