Bugs in the System

This story gives a whole new meaning to a "bug in the system." Michael Curtin, an integrator with Audio Command Systems in Westbury, N.Y., offers these details:

A top designer called me to meet one of her best clients at their Long Island Home. The client is important to the designer so I wanted to make sure that everything went perfectly.

The homeowner said the multiroom audio system (AudioAccess) initially was acting buggy, changing channels and volume levels in a sporadic way, but was now not working at all.

The first thing the guys found was that a fuse was blown on the main controller. A tone and test of all the lines in the house told us that there must be more keypads than the number of zones the system supports (six). We asked the client, who told us of a little-used control out in the shed by the pool.

When the guys opened the box up they found the keypad to be the warm and snuggly winter home for some determined Halyomorpha halys aka the stinkbug. Apparently these foul smelling critters have the ability to project a nasty smell when prodded, touched, threatened or as the homeowner told us … squooshed. We decided it best not to disturb them, lest they emit their God-given gift.

The guys went to the local Radio Shack and brought back a can of compressed air intending to freeze the buggers; however the stinkbugs apparently knew their welcome had been worn out as they all completely bugged out when the guys arrived.

We replaced the fuse on the main controller turned on the system and voila, music once again rocked the house all without the help of our star programmer!

UPDATE: Check out more creepy stuff discovered by installers.