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What's The Dumbest Thing You've Ever Done?

Lavane said:
I mistakenly installed a 25v electrolytic capacitor where a 450v capacitor should have gone. It went off like a loud, stinky party popper. Stinky bits of wet paper everywhere! :D
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Since this is an audio related forum, it probably won't hurt to include this little FYI for possible newbies who attempt repair of their own equipment. The voltage that comes out of the wall, that we call 120 VAC, is in reality, 340 VAC P-to-P. Important to know when replacing a cap on the primary side of the AC.
 
Operated a Marantz receiver (secondary system) without connects/jumpers between the pre-out and main-in for over a year...wondered why it was so "finicky" in terms of performance... DOH!!!
 
Dumb things?.. how about giving away a Sansui AU111 that just needed a little bit of service. I did try to get it back and the answer was Nope... live and learn........ :(
 
Duke58 said:
Naw, I know a guy who divorced and remarried the same women EIGHT times.
Not me, I swear. Same guy also has four PhD's. (Not post hole diggers).
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At least it simplifies support payment, compared to trading to a different newer model every few years, as some have done.
 
Stupid is, as stupid does, and I did it...just the once!

Changed the oil in the car once, and forgot to screw in the crank case plug. DUH! :rolleyes:

Did the change on grass, which killed the grass as well.


Somehow got a feeling that I ain't alone in this..."Forgot-to-replace-plug club".

Q
 
Keeping this to Audio or music-gear-related (guitars/amps) probably unplugging or plugging stuff in while things are powered on, always worry I'll blow something out. Or getting a bunch of feedback and not figuring out how to make it go away quickly enough LOL.

Also once received an amp that seemed like it might be damaged...could hear something loose inside...plugged it in anyway...sounded fine for a few minutes and then...SPARKS! D'oh!

Was unsuccessful in repairing this turntable which was maybe less dumb than just showed my repair limitations/knowledge. It was a Fairchild 412 and it showed up with some shipping damage. Got it put back together and it actually seemed to work fine for a little bit, but then never could figure out how to get rid of this massive hum it had. So weird.

Scratched my most valuable record with my fingernail...keep those trimmed! Still got $150 out of it when selling but should have been more like $300-350 (it was Beck's Sea Change, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs pressing).

Selling all of my physical media for a pretty penny. Not sure if that was smart or dumb yet.
 
First wife.

Smartest thing? Second Wife. It's like night and day.

Audio related? you bet! The "audio" in my home got much better after wife one hit the bricks......
 
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There are two scenarios. What I should have done and what I did. First I sold my two 275's and bought 2100's because at the time of the middle 70's McIntosh couldn't guarantee returning the tube amps to being better than factory specs with tubes being made at the time. What I should have done is a two parter, first just struggle on thru till the MC 7200 came along, or bought four MC 3500 in the first place Like I wanted too instead of the 275's. But $4000 was a lot of money in 1969. I probably would still have them today. Why 4000 dollars. Because I bi-amp. You have never heard dynamics till you have heard a 3500 driving great speakers. There is just something about the bass and midrange even todays SS amps can't match. The new 3500 can't match the sound either. Yeah so the old 3500 is a bit colored, but it sounds so real with my speakers. But I am SS state now and happy. Any one want to give me $60,000????
 
I'm an artist, not an electrician. I decided to put lights in a large sculpture I was building and I thought I had it all figured out. I was in my graduate studio which was in an old building on campus. I ended up with two wires that were not connected and in my infinite wisdom I hooked them together. I woke up unable to see, lying on my back. I realized I wasn't blind, I had blown the fuse to part of the building. I staggered out to the fuse box and replaced the fuse and the building lit back up. On a funny note, my studio was next to the men's room and there was a guy in a stall in there yelling over and over to quit screwing around and turn the lights back on.
 
In my early days (way long ago, pre-internet) I got my hands on a very large, very heavy amplifier. Looked tatty, and had no name or other information on the chassis. Lots of tubes, but they were all missing. Couldn't get it running, nobody knew what it was, so I tossed it. It was an MC 275....
 
arts said:
In my early days (way long ago, pre-internet) I got my hands on a very large, very heavy amplifier. Looked tatty, and had no name or other information on the chassis. Lots of tubes, but they were all missing. Couldn't get it running, nobody knew what it was, so I tossed it. It was an MC 275....
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Ouch. That definitely still has to hurt
 
When my brother was in first grade he saw Mary Poppins and decided he would jump off a 2nd story garage but use TWO umbrellas for extra safety. Didn’t go well. Landed on his feet which forced his knees into his eyes. Looked like he was in a prizefight with mike Tyson.
 
Not turning the system off before removing or connecting cables or wires.
Second dumbest was somehow tipping over a stand with a Snell JIII on it, which damaged (small tear) the woofer surround. BUT it turned out for the good as it inspired me to return my Infinity Reference Studio monitors to my main system. Since I was going to have the Snells refoamed I figured why not have my RSM woofers refoamed at the same time. The Snells had taken the place of the RSM's when the RSM woofer surrounds had rotted. Using the RSM's again inspired me to buy a pair of Infinity RS II's once I had proper amplification.

I haven't read the entire thread but I suppose "didn't turn down the volume" before turning on the system has been mentioned. It's standard practice for me. My NAD 1700 preamp automatically turns on with a "low level" (mute) setting, so even if I did forget to turn the volume down (it's happened maybe twice) the NAD does it for me.
And about twice I forgot to turn off the "low level" after turning the system on and wondering why the sound level didn't jive with the volume control setting.
 
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