In my tear down articles, I routinely emphasize safety factors which are often missed. In reviews I also note at times when equipment has regulatory certification or not.
Often the retort is when was the last time something had gone wrong with electronics this way. So I thought I share a recent experience on this front.
I went to hook up a passive speaker to my Purifi amplifier on my desk. As I hooked up the wire, I am hearing sparking sound. I immediately think the speaker terminals are shorted but quick glance indicates they are fine. No spark is visible and at any rate, the amplifier is still off. Yet the "buzzing" and clear and loud sparking sound continues. I immediately reach for the power strip and hit off and the noise goes away.
Guessing that it may be the IEC cable, I touch that and realize that it was not inserted all the way. I pulled it out and smelled it and indeed it smelled like burnt rubber. Pushed it all in and it was fine. The amp is in standby mode and with its switching supply being on all the time, it was causing that sparking.
The reason to tell this story is that it is not the scenarios we can think of that are unsafe, but the ones we can't! I would have never thought of such a fire risk before it happened this way. Imagine if I were not home and this thing was sparking this way for hours on end. And the cord was a non-name one with no fire or safety rating (UL, CE, CSA, etc.).
So please, unless you really have to, buy audio electronics with proper safety regulations. I can't tell you the exact scenario they may be unsafe. What I can tell you is that it can manifest itself per above when you least expect it.
Now I have to go and check to see if that outlet was on Arc Fault breaker and still did that.
Often the retort is when was the last time something had gone wrong with electronics this way. So I thought I share a recent experience on this front.
I went to hook up a passive speaker to my Purifi amplifier on my desk. As I hooked up the wire, I am hearing sparking sound. I immediately think the speaker terminals are shorted but quick glance indicates they are fine. No spark is visible and at any rate, the amplifier is still off. Yet the "buzzing" and clear and loud sparking sound continues. I immediately reach for the power strip and hit off and the noise goes away.
Guessing that it may be the IEC cable, I touch that and realize that it was not inserted all the way. I pulled it out and smelled it and indeed it smelled like burnt rubber. Pushed it all in and it was fine. The amp is in standby mode and with its switching supply being on all the time, it was causing that sparking.
The reason to tell this story is that it is not the scenarios we can think of that are unsafe, but the ones we can't! I would have never thought of such a fire risk before it happened this way. Imagine if I were not home and this thing was sparking this way for hours on end. And the cord was a non-name one with no fire or safety rating (UL, CE, CSA, etc.).
So please, unless you really have to, buy audio electronics with proper safety regulations. I can't tell you the exact scenario they may be unsafe. What I can tell you is that it can manifest itself per above when you least expect it.
Now I have to go and check to see if that outlet was on Arc Fault breaker and still did that.