Hey let's be honest, we all make mistakes. Some are pretty dumb. And when you get into the audio world, dumb mistakes can be costly.
Just yesterday I was playing my Kenwood KA-7100 and moved my speakers while it was playing and shorted something out. So dumb 🙄. (Taking donations on that repair. 😉)
So anyway, maybe you all could share some mistake you've made, especially in the audio world. The more costly the repair, the more interesting it will be. Thought it might be interesting for us all.
Just yesterday I was playing my Kenwood KA-7100 and moved my speakers while it was playing and shorted something out. So dumb 🙄. (Taking donations on that repair. 😉)
So anyway, maybe you all could share some mistake you've made, especially in the audio world. The more costly the repair, the more interesting it will be. Thought it might be interesting for us all.
Convincing myself that I don’t need it. Sometimes being too rational will lead to long term regret.
There's that quote that rings true to the theme here.....
"Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgement" - Attributed to numerous folks over the centuries
I used to teach skiing and snowboarding "back in the day", and I'd tell students when they looked discouraged from a hard fall, "If you ain't fallin', you ain't learning."
"Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgement" - Attributed to numerous folks over the centuries
I used to teach skiing and snowboarding "back in the day", and I'd tell students when they looked discouraged from a hard fall, "If you ain't fallin', you ain't learning."
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The worst mistakes are the ones that you repeat because you don't learn from them. I recently connected the wires to a temperature controller, which has screw terminals for mains and the temperature sensor. Yes, I mixed them up. Powered it up, bang, magic smoke came out. I should have looked at why that happened, but instead I decided my work can't be wrong, so I wired up a new controller in the same way, resulting in more bang and magic smoke. 🙄
Yeah, I wish. I think it's quite a bit worse than that. Probably a couple hundred dollar repair 😒.
There's a quote that goes, "Learn from other peoples' mistakes because life isn't long enough to make them all yourself."
My larger DIY mistakes, a couple directly linked to audio projects.Worst first...
I ran my left index finger through a tablesaw, straight through the middle of the nail, from tip to the base of the nail bed. It opened up like a grotesque meat-flower. I'm very fortunate to have a somewhat shortened but functional digit. Sooooo dumb.
I stuck my right index finger into a running tube amp to point something out to a friend. I do electrical work and this was probably the worst jolt I've ever experienced. Also SUPER dumb.
I wired up a PS cap bank backwards once. The gunshot that went off behind me, in my suburban kitchen, was unexpected to say the least. Had my wife been present, I'd probably be in the ground.
Oh yeah, one more doozy.... I had a ~600 or so CFM fan pulling air through a large cylindrical charcoal filter in my shop while I was welding/grinding about 20' away. Twice, I looked around because of a slight haze in the room. Then I found it... glowing orange with almost half of the charcoal fully ablaze but it was still largely self filtering the output air. I dumped a fire extinguisher into it, hauled it out to the hose and drenched it. Escaping spousal scrutiny on this one my be the 8th wonder of the world.
All of these mistakes have lead me to working in a safer, more methodical way, both at home and on the job. Be careful out there.
I ran my left index finger through a tablesaw, straight through the middle of the nail, from tip to the base of the nail bed. It opened up like a grotesque meat-flower. I'm very fortunate to have a somewhat shortened but functional digit. Sooooo dumb.
I stuck my right index finger into a running tube amp to point something out to a friend. I do electrical work and this was probably the worst jolt I've ever experienced. Also SUPER dumb.
I wired up a PS cap bank backwards once. The gunshot that went off behind me, in my suburban kitchen, was unexpected to say the least. Had my wife been present, I'd probably be in the ground.
Oh yeah, one more doozy.... I had a ~600 or so CFM fan pulling air through a large cylindrical charcoal filter in my shop while I was welding/grinding about 20' away. Twice, I looked around because of a slight haze in the room. Then I found it... glowing orange with almost half of the charcoal fully ablaze but it was still largely self filtering the output air. I dumped a fire extinguisher into it, hauled it out to the hose and drenched it. Escaping spousal scrutiny on this one my be the 8th wonder of the world.
All of these mistakes have lead me to working in a safer, more methodical way, both at home and on the job. Be careful out there.
I'm an architect (building-design kind) and ... the version I was told / often used here is: the person who never made a mistake, never made anything.
I have made several naturally, esp as a young sprog; one or two of which seemed utterly-cataclysmic at the time... AND, are now funny when re-told from the perspective of another 20+yrs of making mistakes under one's belt ... That's how it goes, right? 😉
From my toolmaking days, you're only as good as your last F*&k up😳
I've done what everyone says not to do. Probing an amp with DMM probes while powered up, to check bias, rather than using clips. PFFFT! Arrrgh! F**&^^%!
It is only a Kenwood KA3500 but has some sentimental value and WAS mint. And the output transistors are NLA. And this unit is notoriously painful to get running with alternatives. I won't do THAT again...
It is only a Kenwood KA3500 but has some sentimental value and WAS mint. And the output transistors are NLA. And this unit is notoriously painful to get running with alternatives. I won't do THAT again...
Does wrecking my Marantz PM-94 count by using a magnetic screw driver? Had powered down the amp, but forgot to drain the huge caps. Whilst trying to screw back the heatsink to the chassis, my screwdriver decided to change course and hit the nearest transistor. Result, spark and magic smoke...
Got it back from the repair shop yesterday - and $165 later. Thankfully a much, much less expensive repair than I expected.
Through the years of doing much of the above I've settled on a Craftsman is someone that can correct his or her mistake and hide it......
Dumbest mistake I ever made, wasn't audio related but was DIY.
Went to do an oil change on my wife's car. Had done it countless times over the years. I guess I must have been a bit off that day because I emptied the transmission fluid and then dumped a fresh 5 litres of oil into the engine. The vehicle was parked in the driveway, blocking our other vehicles from leaving, so I couldn't even go buy what I needed to remedy the situation.
I was a bit sheepish when the tow truck arrived and I had to explain what the problem was.
Went to do an oil change on my wife's car. Had done it countless times over the years. I guess I must have been a bit off that day because I emptied the transmission fluid and then dumped a fresh 5 litres of oil into the engine. The vehicle was parked in the driveway, blocking our other vehicles from leaving, so I couldn't even go buy what I needed to remedy the situation.
I was a bit sheepish when the tow truck arrived and I had to explain what the problem was.
Wanting to change the Bios battery of a PC tower.
The computer was off but still plugged in.
The battery rolled and shorted something.
Motherboard RIP 🙁.
The computer was off but still plugged in.
The battery rolled and shorted something.
Motherboard RIP 🙁.