Honest question, has anyone ever been electrocuted by an eletrostatic headphone in normal usage (i.e. not in the bathtub or in the rain)? I've never heard of it happening.
Not to my knowledge. And I do hope such news never reaches me.
I did have a very close encounter once while developing my amp - mid/late 80s. Classical stupidity that happens by accident; one hand grounded, the other slipped and touched the direct output of the output tube plate ; 850 VDC , 65 mA with no signal, 1700 Vpp 10 kHz square wave. Together with my chair, I flew 2 metres away. The point I touched IT turned into an approx. 4 mm square "hole" on the tip of the finger, no scorch marks, simply
gone.
I was lucky the signal has been high frequency, were it anything around the hearbeat frequency, I would have not lived to tell the story.
I remember drinking astonishing quantities of liquid for a couple of days after that.
Remember, the very same electrical "point" I accidentally and unwillingly touched is any of the 4 stators or cable leading to those stators on any electrostatic headphone. Should the insulation fail and you are "caressing" a thermal radiator ( notoriously known for good electrical grounding ) ...
No commercial amp for electrostatic headphones is not nearly as powerful and therefore dangerous. But unsafe level is achievable trough transformer coupled normal power amps for loudspeakers. Remember, electrostatics need current and therefore power for the high frequencies - the most efficient subwoofer imaginable IS electrostatic "ceiling", which would have efficiency for all practical purposes equal that of the electrical efficiency of the amplifier. Now go and see how many
acoustical watts produces say a symphonic orchestra ( around 1-2 W ) and you will find such electrostatic subwoofer, if properly designed, could easily meet this requirement. On very low power amp, in single digit watt output. Because in the middle of its usable range, not being affected either by compliance of the diaphragm nor the effective moving mass ( mostly air in the gaps ) nor electrical losses, an electrostatic has zero losses in efficiency when converting electrical input into electrical output - something such subwoofer , if properly executed, should be capable of approaching in reality. In reality, due to large size of the driver(s) required, it would have to be built on site - a most impractical proposition, not to mention the cost.
A stroke of the cymbals, even when powering headphone size driver, is an entirely different matter...- here, ANY amount of power you can get into an electrostatic is still not going to be enough; remember, it is not only the amplitude, it is also the phase of the signal, both of which are getting harder to achieve with the rising frequency. Any amount of electronics wizzardy is required in order to satisfy the driver (and consequently our ear...) while keeping the power to a safe level.
Which has finally been achieved by you-know-who.