Where there’s smoke…

I spent the weekend at my apartment in Starkville since my podcasting studio is located on the second floor of my palatial estate and we were overdue for another 10th Wonder Podcast. I was about two hours into editing the podcast when I started noticing an ominous smell: burning electronics.

This smell is usually a tell-tale sign that I’ve done something stupid, but to my knowledge I hadn’t experimented with voltages much lately so I peeled off my headphones and started to investigate. I checked around our studio but I couldn’t pinpoint the source. When I opened the door to my staircase the smell was much stronger.

The further I walked down the stairs, the stronger the smell became. When I turned the corner to my living room I could tell there was a thin haze of white smoke in the air. Something was definitely wrong.

All of the electronics in my living room are conveniently located close to my TV: The TiVo, Xbox 360, PS3, and the surround sound unit all turned on and were functional. I tried the TV and it worked fine, too. Where was the smoke coming from? It took me five more minutes, but I finally stood back and kept a close eye on the area and then I finally noticed a puff of more white smoke coming up from behind the surround sound unit underneath my television. I quickly unplugged it and yanked it out of its place.

It’s a super scary experience to walk into a room full of smoke and not know where it’s coming from. My guess is that the onboard fan on the sound unit died and the thing just started overheating. Glad I was there to stop it from melting down any further but the whole experience rattled my nerves, that’s for sure.