I'm An Idiot - I may have damaged my equipment and couldn't think of a better thread title

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by AudioClown, May 14, 2022.

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  1. AudioClown

    AudioClown Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    De Pere, WI
    Hello do you guys think I did any damage to my speakers or amp. So I got a new set up, my first real setup, about a month ago. Klipsch heresy 4 paired with an audiolab 6000a. today I hooked up my CD player and the perfect storm happened. Instead of connecting the RCA to aux 1. I connected to power. I then accidentally turned the mode knob instead of the selection knob. Which turned mode to power. It was loud as hell I quickly turned off the CD player. I then corrected my mistake and listened. Didn't really hear anything off. However my ears hurt a little right now. So do you guys think I could have caused any damage. Sorry for the dumb question.
     
  2. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    If things are working, especially amp and speakers, you may have dodged a bullet. Have you cleaned your underwear yet?

    We've all done idiot moves with our stereos over the years. I learned my lesson. I double check connections before powering up for the first time. Preamp goes on first, amp goes on after preamp is engaged with volume down. Don't move cables, connections or components unless system is powered down.
     
  3. AudioClown

    AudioClown Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    De Pere, WI
    Thanks for the reply and definitely learned my lesson on double checking connections.
     
    Mike-48 likes this.
  4. stereoguy

    stereoguy Its Gotta Be True Stereo!

    Location:
    NYC
    AC: We ALL have done things like that. Dont stress over it. The only important thing is that your hearing is ok.
     
  5. Helom

    Helom Forum member

    Location:
    U.S.
    Me too.
     
    jonwoody, okc_craft and AudioClown like this.
  6. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    It sounds like you shut everything down before any damage could take hold. We’ve all done stuff like that; it’s part of the territory.
     
  7. AmadeusMozart

    AmadeusMozart Forum Resident

    Klipsch Heresy IV: 100 watt cont., 400 Watt peak. Audiolab 6000a: 75W /4 Ohm, 50 Watt /8 Ohm.

    Only potential damage is to your ears, how long before they stopped ringing and hearing returned?
     
  8. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    The only way to tell is to play the system and keep an eye/ear out for trouble developing down the road. You may have harmed nothing. Then again, something may have taken a hit that will only manifest over time. Two examples from my own experience: (1) My first Nakamichi tape deck took a surge from lightning so strong it partially erased the tape I was playing at the time. (Lesson learned: don't run equipment during lighting storms!) It seemed fine at first, but after a few weeks it started having problems--don't remember what, but problems. They came on gradually, I do remember that. (2) One Saturday I was playing my NAD receiver pretty much all day, and by evening it overheated. Not sure why; it was properly ventilated, and I wasn't playing it at any kind of insane volume, but overheated nonetheless. Sound just shut down, which was my first intimation that it had done so. I turned the thing off, let it cool down, and all seemed well for a while, but again, after a little time, functions started dying one by one. Eventually nothing was left that worked right.

    Could these issues all have been coincidental? Surely. But then again, I've always thought there was a pretty high likelihood they were related to the "trigger events" that I'd noted some time, but not too much time, earlier. I hope your luck will be better!
     
  9. nosticker

    nosticker Forum Guy

    Location:
    Ringwood, NJ
    I sent a line in to a line in, turned it up loud and wondered why over and over I heard nothing, then realized what I had done: I fried 16 Motorola piezo tweeters.

    Beat that!


    Dan
     
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  10. AmadeusMozart

    AmadeusMozart Forum Resident

    Due to the amplifier size and the capacity of speakers it is highly unlikely (actually I regard it impossible) that he has damaged anything except perhaps his ego <wink>.

    Regarding the lightning: That is a high voltage spike and does damage. I once ran the IT department at a varisty and one staff member did not belief in using anti-static procedures. I let them run a trail - two classrooms got new idential computers so one other staff member was to use anti-static procedures and he could use his "method".

    The result? At the end of the year of the 30 computers in each classroom: anti-static had 4 repairs, the non believer had 23 repairs but he still insisted to use "his method" as "anti-static was BS".

    This is similar to lighting - I had a surge protector blow apart when lighting struck a power transformer 100 meter from our place. Neighbour had his phone socket blow out of the wall ad all electrical appliances fried. My laptop computer seemed to have survived OK but 5 months down the track it needed a new motherboard (under warranty). Knowing that "non-believers" likely did the repacement I sold the laptop shortly afterwards while it was still going fine. I never buy "pre-loved" equipment, due to not knowing the full history. It may be fine, at the same token it may not be: e.g. were speakers used for rave party? Tube gear is far more robust which is why they still used it in the milatary as it would survive the EMP from a nuclear blast.
     
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  11. Oddiofyl

    Oddiofyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    I think (hope) you got lucky there.... my daughter cranked the volume hard right one night and took out two mids and a tweeter on my H3.....
     
    hoytis likes this.
  12. Manimal

    Manimal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern US
    I’ve had something similar happen to me and the Heresy’s can do a pretty convincing shotgun blast in the living room. Scared the daylights out of me :)
    No damage to the speakers
     
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  13. Oddiofyl

    Oddiofyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Hopefully everything is fine, but the good thing about Klipsch driver diaphragms it they are super easy to replace.
     
    Manimal likes this.
  14. Oscillation

    Oscillation Maybe it was the doses?

    Look on the bright side, now you don’t need to break in your speakers!
     
  15. Rich-n-Roll

    Rich-n-Roll Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington State
    That's interesting I looked at your amp what is the power rca's for ? I've never seen that...as to damage to your speakers probably not your amps speaker protection circuit would kick in before anything like that would happen maybe your ears ;)

    I think we have all had a stereo system misfire of some sort I know I have on more than one occasion
     
  16. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Been there done that. I blew a pair of Spendor A5’s about. 3 years ago. Was messing around with the gain settings for my MC cartridge. Didn’t realise it was at the higher setting and damaged more than one driver. Still, it was a good excuse to upgrade…though it hurt my wallet!
     
  17. Oelewapper

    Oelewapper Plays vinyl instead of installing it on the floor.

    Yikes… Let your ears rest for a day… I hope you won’t have permanent ringing (talking from experience).
    Except for that, it sounds like your equipment survived.
    Just do a listening test (after your ears had some time to rest) to check it.

    It’s dumb, but dumb crap happens…
    I’ve done something equally dumb in the past:
    Back when I was into DJing, I used a mixer that had inputs that were switchable between line and phono.
    One time when I swapped out the turntables with CD decks, I forgot to select line instead of phono… didn’t end so well.
    I had to replace the input circuitry… at least I was able to do it myself.
     
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  18. mcbrion

    mcbrion Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut
    I hope everything turned out okay for you. Sorry you had to go thru that; that's a frightening thing to happen. Happy Ending yet?
     
  19. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    The integrated amplifier has a pre-out/amp-in loop. However they are extremely reckless with their jack positioning and labeling, putting simply ambiguous "power" right next to the other RCA inputs in the same "inputs" block. The only excuse was to save $1 on connectors.

    It normally wouldn't be dangerous, but instead of a configuration switch on the back to permanently set the mode to match the hookups used, or a jumper that must be removed for use: a knob that can be turned any time, whether a loop is in place or not.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. CoryG85

    CoryG85 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    The most expensive component of your chain, the speakers, are fine. They can handle more than the 6000a can put out.

    Man I bet you couldn't get this mistake shut down fast enough haha. Fumbling around for the power button etc. lol
     
  21. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    A happy ending…well that would at least be a distraction :confused:
     
  22. Rich-n-Roll

    Rich-n-Roll Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington State
    Seems complicated and unnecessary so it's a preamp out
     
  23. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    It’s tough to blow up a pair of heresy. Even if your amp starts to clip the horn isn’t as susceptible to catastrophe like a tweeter. If something was wrong, you wouldn’t have to ask, it would be obvious immediately.

    I’ve done many dumb things but the worst was connecting my REL powered sub to the center channel speaker out of my fisher 400. I wanted more bass, I wasn’t using the sub and it was an RCA to RCA connection. I really didn’t think it was going to work but I didn’t think it would explode. Turns out sending power to a powered sub will blow it up with a loud pop being the last sound it will ever make. $1,000 sub gone forever.
     
  24. AudioClown

    AudioClown Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    De Pere, WI
    Thanks for all the replies definitely made me feel better. Ears finally feel normal and ready for some more action. Been listening for an hour and everything sounds normal.
     
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  25. AudioClown

    AudioClown Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    De Pere, WI
    Man I bet you couldn't get this mistake shut down fast enough haha. Fumbling around for the power button etc. lol[/QUOTE]

    Lol that's exactly what happened.
     
    ubiknik likes this.
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