Why do people advertise "pet free, smoke free environment" for audio gear?

...because other than cosmetic issues, at least in the case of pets, the microscopic allergens that are sometimes left behind can have far-reaching effects to an allergy sufferer.

For me, I have an off-the-charts cat allergy that has required hospitalization or epinephrine on several occasions since I was a child. Those sticky allergens often take several years to denature and reach safe levels to an allergy sufferer, and stereo equipment and LPs seem to be safe haven for pets. All it would take is bringing something doused like that into my bedroom, or getting redeposited in my house, to set off a possible attack. Sometimes even simply handling the stuff. While a severe reaction is probably going to be rare occurrence, the chance still looms, and even minor reactions can be no fun.

I don't think many people realize how life-threatening severe allergies can be. It's not just a simple case of runny eyes and the sniffles. Ask anyone with a severe peanut allergy just how little it takes to set it off. Anyone remember the true and tragic story about the girl with the severe peanut allergy who died after simply kissing her boyfriend who had eaten a peanut butter sandwich *several* hours earlier? Serious stuff.

Again, the likelihood of something this severe happening is rare, but many allergens have a cumulative effect, and as noted earlier, can take years to reach safe levels once deposited -- 3-5 years in the case of cat allergens. Thus, it's imperative for many sufferers to keep their living environments as pristine as possible. While it obviously can't all be controlled, it can still be contained and ameliorated with proper caution.

 

A friend of mine takes zoloft with very good results. It wasn't for me. It made me sit and stare at walls for hours at a time.

 

Same with library books that reek of the last 34 people's hand lotion. I return really stinky library books without reading them rather than throwing them in the trash, but the effect is the same, readingwise.

 

What was the first symptom you attributed to a liver problem?

 

If you really enjoy nicotine...try cleaning a jukebox. Why settle for one smoker when you can have the remnants of thousands?

 

Gear in smoke filled rooms tends to have more issues with electrical contacts being intermittent. And also the smell reduces it's resale value. The jukeboxes which live in smoke filled bars tend to need the most repair work to stay alive. Contacts on those are often so crudded up that they need replacement much of the time.

 

Not me. I have allergies and a very sensitive sense of smell.

I am also like David Modny, but I have not been hospitalized, but quite close. Those not sensitive to smoke just have no idea how serious it is to breathe the stuff, even the lingering smell, and make no mistake, it can stay on anything for years and years. It's that bad!

 

Yes. Ozone will kill the cigarette smell but also the rubber including the insulation on the wire. On power amps and such without sensitive wafer or rotary switches, variable caps, etc, a DI water spraydown and then THOROUGH drying will clean them up but on items with small mechanicals that is very destructive. Macs have potted transformers which is a big help, they will tolerate a good sprayout without getting water in the transformers.

 

Disgusting to see a fine lot of records that are smelling like a dozen ashtrays - No matter how rare they may be no deal with me ! In 9 out of 10 cases those records are also dirty and noisy and overall a pest to handle or listen to - if audio gear stinks I don't want it - I'd rather take some japanese High End not that far from Fukushima for free..

 

Likewise, I have asthma and many allergies.

 

Airborne dander and shed hairs can cause problems as the static electricity from electrical components draws them in.

Smoke not as much, other than the smoke film and odor.

 

I am allergic to cat dander. Visiting a 1 cat household will give me a headache and cause wheezing within a couple of hours. A 2 cat household will wipe me out with flu like symptoms for at least 3 or 4 days and I'll need my inhalers for the duration. And I still avoid carpets and upholstered chairs and head straight for wooden chairs, etc.
Not sure how much that relates to audio but I see it as and added feature. I do know I would not buy speakers from a cat house, for the sake of the grille cloths alone.
I recently furnished my new home with a lot of kijiji/craigslist furniture and everything I bought was cat free/smoke free.

Besides, it's a proven fact that cats are emissaries of satan.

 

I get the same reaction to most cats, but not all of them affect me in the same way.

 

I bought the two Eddie Murphy standup laserdiscs off of Ebay a long time ago from the same seller, they both smelled strongly of smoke and still do nearly 12 years later!

 

A smoker is going to give me his LP collection. They have been in storage, but I sure hope they don't reek. I'd hate to have to turn them down. He supposedly has a lot of good rock from the late 60s and 70s.

 

Wise words.

I have two cats. I don't have big floor speakers, my computer is inside a cabinet. My turntable is on a shelf attached to the desk and chase them away when they sit on the dust cover. My LPs are fastidiously cleaned and bagged but of course I will find a hair somewhere.

 

I sold a subwoofer to someone and his cats promptly peed on it. I've also opened up boxes of audio equipment and been welcomed by the smell of stale cigarette smoke. So yeah, it makes a difference.

 

McGruder, in case you're still wondering why people advertise gear from a pet free home, then see this thread. http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=275006

 

Update: I got lucky! The stuff was in storage and there is no cigarette smoke on the records. And, I think he quit smoking, too!

 

I'm not offended by cigarette smoke - there are far more offensive odors coming from humans, IMHO....ever take the 1am Peter Pan bus from New York to Baltimore?!...or hang out with a novice vegetarian/vegan couple?

Anyway, I've pick up a lot of vintage gear and my worst experience with smoke was when I bought a early 50's Gibson guitar amp. It must've spent decades in a bar somewhere 'cause it was coated with a thick nicotine paste, so much so that I ended up using a plastic paint scraper and mineral spirits to get it off. It came off like a thick coat of paint and the amp went from a dark brown to tan...an amazing difference. I removed the grill cloth and dipped it in a pan of water with mild detergent. The water immediately turned black and I had to change the water 3 times before it simply turned brown and was usable. I sprayed the electronics down twice but still left a brown coat on everything I didn't have to replace.

All n' all, a disgusting task which left my hands stained even though I wore gloves. On the positive side, the coat of nicotine offered some degree of protection as the covering looked excellent (save for a few tears) after cleaning and the amp (Gibson GA-75W) sounded great - a real blast from the 'smokey' past!

 

Count yourself lucky. I repaired a pair of Quad II's a while ago that stank of pork fat!

 

oh, so that's where the term "good vibrations" comes from!

 

I just love the smell of burning cat hair in a heated up amp.

 

I have two cats. Fortunately, for me and for them, both of them pee in the litter box.

 

Yes it absolutely can matter. For a lot of audio gear like amps and things it shouldn't matter much, you're just kind of gunking up the heat sinks over time which usually happens anyway with dust.

But you can definitely see it a lot with very hot components with active (fans) cooling, particularly video gear (lenses and such to consider as well). If you've ever been in bars in areas that still allow smoking, that use projectors and such, the smoke and grime REALLY does have a pretty significant impact on the interior of the electronics particularly where the air flow happens. Filters get gunked and jammed up very quickly, contacts fail, the lenses get totally gross. It's quite nasty.

Now, a bar or club is going to be pretty extreme compared to a home with a smoker, but still. Think about if you cook indoors a lot and fry steaks and stuff on your stove, a lot of that grease gets in the air and lands everywhere, and after a few years you go to clean the top of your fridge or the hidden corners of your cabinets and it's coated in greasy goop! All that stuff is flying around and getting all into your electronics. Things that move or have contacts or need lots of airflow or have optics (disc drives, video stuff, etc) will all be affected much more quickly in a dirty and grimy environment than in a clean, pet-free, and smoke-free home.

And I can't count the number of electronics I've encountered that magically "just stopped working for no reason" because someone spilled soda on it ("impossible! No one here drinks soda ever!")...

You want to buy used stuff from people that treated it well.