FugaziDave
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2008
- Posts
- 14
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- 0
Not sure where the best place to post this is, so moderators feel free to relocate if this isn't the right forum. Copypasta from my blog...
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I just got back from a trip, but last night when I was getting off the plane, it looked like I might be held up. In short, don't fly with your cMoy amp.
For my listening pleasure, I have some nice Roland headphones and a portable cMoy headphone amp that is built into an Altoids tin. Really cool little device, the amp is, and it sounds great too. However, it apparently looks rather suspicious to people in the airline industry.
About halfway through my flight back from Ohio to Texas, two of the flight attendants took a distinct interest in my amp. I showed them how it worked, explained the whole thing and why it helped get better sound out of good headphones. Simple enough, right? So I thought.
Until I was exiting the plane, anyway. The captain stopped me and asked to see it. I pulled it out, showed it to him, and it was explained to me that it's exactly the sort of thing that the TSA should have noticed when I was going through security. Loose wires, switches, and a power supply - apparently it looks sort of like a detonator. As the pilot put it, "The only thing missing is a stick of dynamite."
He took some pictures of it to send to the TSA to ask how it got through without any questions, though he assured me I wouldn't be mentioned by name or anything. Not that I'm worried - it's a headphone amp and nothing else and that much is very easily proven. Still, it was a little weird. But, that was all it was, and so I started down the jetway to go pick up my bag. I got about halfway down when three attendants and a handful of TSA folks showed up.
Round two of explaining also involved a demonstration of how it worked and what the switch (bass boost) and knob (volume) did. Several TSA people, an attendant, and the pilot all listened briefly and seemed satisfied enough. Then four police officers showed up. Cue round three of explaining. Everybody looked a bit concerned but eventually satisfied, especially once the various people had listened to a little music through the setup.
Ten minutes later I finally was on my way to get my bag, but the whole thing pointed out just how easily one can unintentionally cause a bit of a scare. Everyone was very professional about it, and I was very forthcoming with information about the device and making with the demonstration, so ultimately everything was fine and things didn't get crazy. I was not detained anywhere, I was not interrogated, there were no background checks or cavity searches.
Though everything ended up being fine, I don't think I'll be flying with my cMoy again any time soon. At the very least, not before I build it into a more standard-looking enclosure like an aluminum stomp box and maybe write up an explanation of precisely what it is along with a wiring diagram to help dispel any concerns.
This whole experience really highlights just how sensitive things are in air travel where security is concerned. Rightly so, I think, as it is important for the TSA, etc to do what they need to in order for people to be safe. As much as a pain as the security stuff can be, ultimately it is important. I don't deny that the system could be improved vastly, but for now it's what we have to work with. At the same time, we as travelers should do what we can to help streamline the process. That is, don't do things like take suspicious-looking electronic items on board an aircraft. The reasons are twofold. One, we don't need the extra hassle in our lives. Two, with everything they already have to worry about, the airline industry absolutely does not need any extra false alarms. Things are complicated enough already.
So yeah, be careful if you intend to fly with a headphone amp or any other home-brewed electronics like that.
Oh, and the airline people were all quite impressed with the sound.
EDIT: Note that mine is one of the JDS Labs amps, so it's a super-clean build (below) and not a crazy mess of wires like some cMoys are inside.
================
I just got back from a trip, but last night when I was getting off the plane, it looked like I might be held up. In short, don't fly with your cMoy amp.
For my listening pleasure, I have some nice Roland headphones and a portable cMoy headphone amp that is built into an Altoids tin. Really cool little device, the amp is, and it sounds great too. However, it apparently looks rather suspicious to people in the airline industry.
About halfway through my flight back from Ohio to Texas, two of the flight attendants took a distinct interest in my amp. I showed them how it worked, explained the whole thing and why it helped get better sound out of good headphones. Simple enough, right? So I thought.
Until I was exiting the plane, anyway. The captain stopped me and asked to see it. I pulled it out, showed it to him, and it was explained to me that it's exactly the sort of thing that the TSA should have noticed when I was going through security. Loose wires, switches, and a power supply - apparently it looks sort of like a detonator. As the pilot put it, "The only thing missing is a stick of dynamite."
He took some pictures of it to send to the TSA to ask how it got through without any questions, though he assured me I wouldn't be mentioned by name or anything. Not that I'm worried - it's a headphone amp and nothing else and that much is very easily proven. Still, it was a little weird. But, that was all it was, and so I started down the jetway to go pick up my bag. I got about halfway down when three attendants and a handful of TSA folks showed up.
Round two of explaining also involved a demonstration of how it worked and what the switch (bass boost) and knob (volume) did. Several TSA people, an attendant, and the pilot all listened briefly and seemed satisfied enough. Then four police officers showed up. Cue round three of explaining. Everybody looked a bit concerned but eventually satisfied, especially once the various people had listened to a little music through the setup.
Ten minutes later I finally was on my way to get my bag, but the whole thing pointed out just how easily one can unintentionally cause a bit of a scare. Everyone was very professional about it, and I was very forthcoming with information about the device and making with the demonstration, so ultimately everything was fine and things didn't get crazy. I was not detained anywhere, I was not interrogated, there were no background checks or cavity searches.
Though everything ended up being fine, I don't think I'll be flying with my cMoy again any time soon. At the very least, not before I build it into a more standard-looking enclosure like an aluminum stomp box and maybe write up an explanation of precisely what it is along with a wiring diagram to help dispel any concerns.
This whole experience really highlights just how sensitive things are in air travel where security is concerned. Rightly so, I think, as it is important for the TSA, etc to do what they need to in order for people to be safe. As much as a pain as the security stuff can be, ultimately it is important. I don't deny that the system could be improved vastly, but for now it's what we have to work with. At the same time, we as travelers should do what we can to help streamline the process. That is, don't do things like take suspicious-looking electronic items on board an aircraft. The reasons are twofold. One, we don't need the extra hassle in our lives. Two, with everything they already have to worry about, the airline industry absolutely does not need any extra false alarms. Things are complicated enough already.
So yeah, be careful if you intend to fly with a headphone amp or any other home-brewed electronics like that.
Oh, and the airline people were all quite impressed with the sound.
EDIT: Note that mine is one of the JDS Labs amps, so it's a super-clean build (below) and not a crazy mess of wires like some cMoys are inside.
