Hi!
I am form the greater Montreal area and this summer there has been a trmendous number of thunderstorms. Almost every day. As a result, I have been listening to a cold system all summer... Now my 202-200 NAPSC combo has been on for 36 hours in straight line and it begins to sound good again... Do you guys allways unplug your system when there are thunderstorm forecast? On my side, I just do not want to take the risk.. Any of you heard about someone who fried an amp or any equipment leaving it on while there are thunderstorms?

By the way, We can't wait for the sun!.... It's been the worst summer I've seen... after the the worst winter...

Cheers!

Vince

Blakey

In 1988, I lived in the top floor of a converted malting mill, shaped a bit like a church and I lived in the long part of the roof, not the tower part. I unplugged all my kit and went on holiday, whilst away lightning struck the tower and induced a large enough voltage in my speaker cables (which were positioned with their backs against the tower part) to blow all the output stages in my amplifier, it also destroyed the display in my tuner which was plugged into the amp (both Rotel bits of kit).

On a happier note I got a full insurance payout and promptly used this to part fund a 62/140. And the 62/140 sounded just the same when it was sitched on from cold or when it had been left on for days, so I just used to switch it off (saves electricity!). I'm sorry I just don'y buy-in to this burn-in/power up for a long time, I just think that peoples perceptions change and therefore they 'think' thay have heard a difference.

So the moral is that even if your kit is unplugged you may not survive a very close lightning strike. The lightning strike we had went clean through a 8"x4" timber (and an unsuspecting pigeon) and hit directly the TV aerial distribution box within the tower roof space.

Mr Perceptive

i dont think i hear a difference,i know i defiantly hear a difference,and i think most others do.

quote:

Do you guys always unplug your system when there are thunderstorm forecast? Any of you heard about someone who fried an amp or any equipment leaving it on while there are thunderstorms?

Hi Vince

My answer to both of your questions is yes,
but it's wise to make sure your system is insured.
To my ears a fully warm Naim system sounds much better compared to a cold one.

Electronic components like to sit at their operating temperature, rather than being switched on/off & heating/cooling, so leaving your system on (as far as possible) will increase longevity.

Have fun - John

Weather here change so suddenly sometimes that is impossible to anticipate.
So i have a small medal at my neck: "Couldn't unplug the system".
Just in case of faint in the street, in a bar etc etc

With the changeable weather how do you keep your sofa dry Gianluigi?

quote:

Originally posted by 555:
With the changeable weather how do you keep your sofa dry Gianluigi?

quote:

Originally posted by 555:
so leaving your system on (as far as possible) will increase longevity.

Have fun - John

Strange.
That's the same my urologist's used to tell me every time.

There are some linguistic mysteries that even babelfish.yahoo.com can't solve!

Hi Blakey,

There was a lightning strike just across the street. I was in and the kit was unplugged from the mains. It fried every piece of electrical equipment in our flat, the hi-fi, the video, Sat tuner, even the FritzBox was blown off the wall. It even took-out the telephone system and melted telephone wires in the basement!

So, yes, unplug from the mains, but if the strike is near enough then there is nothing one can do.

By the way, the insurance paid for everything and my Naim dealer was very helpful and took care of everything.

Bob

We have had two storms this summer.

Nice video here: (worth a look) http://www.vimeo.com/1432732

Hi Blakey,

I'm upwind of you near Toronto so I've likely seen the same storms you have. I get so frustrated with these electrical storms, my system hasn't been on for more than four days at a single-stretch.

Today has been a particularly nasty one ...

Yep, scary stuff. As I've reported here before, lightning stuck the garage of a house I was living in years ago, took chunks out of the concrete floor.

I was in the house at the time, actually saw flame shoot from unused wall sockets. No electrical appliance would survive that, and my 250, switched off but not unplugged, didn't. Neither did the Linn Saras which were attached to it, melted voiced coils all round.

The episode had a lasting impact on me, I always unplug things now.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Yeah Shoot... It's so frustrating. Sometimes I ask myself what good is it to pay so much for a system to listen to it only when it's cold (because I do hear a big difference between a cold and a warm system..). Last night I was up at my sister's place and she played her boyfriend's Sony Home theater system... She played music on a cheap DVD... At least she has JM lab 816 speakers but the rest of the system is not low end stuff. Funny, I could hear only highs and lows.. No mid, warmth, detail and timming.

When I came back I was very happy to listen to my system even if it was not fully warm... So much better!

Today the system is even better! Wow! Two days and a half without shuting it down...

Nice shot Christian!
How long, the exposure?

Vince

Yes, ah-ha beware ! I had a couple of 250s and SBL drivers fried when I live in South Africa (apparently the power amp are the most vunerable). It happened 2 summers before I learnt and put in a surge protector (which is supposed to degrade the sound but to be honest I could not tell). Even then that is no protection for a direct / close strike. Although the equipment was insured it was a long wait for the equipment to do the round trip to Naim for repair and that means no music for that time.....

Blakey

Unfortunately i'm not the photograper. Found the picture on a newspaper page.

Last summer my sister in Colorado Springs had a strike on their house. Her husband is an electrical engineer. EVERYTHING was fried. He took everything apart with his work mates to see what happened to the insides. They were amazed. They will never be without insurance she said. It paid for everything. And they now have a lightening rod on the chimney.

Thankfully we don't have lightening in LA much, but they do in the mountains east of here.