Hot plugging is the practice of connecting two appliances when one or both of the appliances are powered on.

Hot plugging can be a costly mistake; we know of cases where customers have shorted speaker cables and damaged circuitry because the amplifier was on when they connected the speakers. Hot plugging is also problem with video and HDMI connections.

Some suppliers are now sending out bulletins that warn about the dangers of hot plugging. An arc can fry the processors on a printed circuit board and the damage may be disallowed as a warranty claim.

It's well worth the few extra seconds to avoid the temptation to hot plug, and to get into the habit of making sure that all units are turned off before you connect any components.

Another speaker saving habit you might want to adopt is to turn the amplifier volume to minimum before playing any source. I developed this habit in the days of playing LPs on turntables, when the stylus hitting the record could cause a damaging bang through the speakers. Even if you don't have a turntable, turning the volume down to avoid a sudden burst of very loud sound is still a good habit to get into.

- Terry Anderson