can i ask if when I turn on an amp should I keep the volume knob at 0?

[Mantra]

Hallo to everybody

somedays ago i was in a hifi store , and the reseller talking about Denon and Marantz amps , he told me to keep the volume always at 0 before turning on

I could understand for tube amps ,but transistor amps seems a non sense

is that true ?

thanks

 

[amirm]

No need at all to keep it at zero. I never do. I just keep it low enough just in case the source is too loud and playing when the amp turns on

 

[Mantra]

No need at all to keep it at zero. I never do. I just keep it low enough just in case the source is too loud and playing when the amp turns on

Hi
for all amps , even for tube amps?
thanks

 

[Zek]

for all amps , even for tube amps?

Only with amplifiers that have implemented protection on the speaker output.
With all other amplifiers, the volume potentiometer should be reduced to the minimum to avoid a bump on the speakers.

 

[sergeauckland]

Hallo to everybody

somedays ago i was in a hifi store , and the reseller talking about Denon and Marantz amps , he told me to keep the volume always at 0 before turning on

I could understand for tube amps ,but transistor amps seems a non sense

is that true ?

thanks

I never do, and anyway, switch-on thumps (if any) usually come from the power amp section as the output transistors stabilise the output voltage. This is after the volume control so turning the volume down will have no effect. It's a pretty poor pre-amp that has switch-on thumps, but anyway it's Good Practice to turn on the pwer amps last and switch off first if they are separate units.

Ditto with switch-off thumps.

Wtih tube amps there's even less reason to turn the volume control down as the valves warming up are intrinsically a slow switch-on.

S.

 

[Purité Audio]

Hallo to everybody

somedays ago i was in a hifi store , and the reseller talking about Denon and Marantz amps , he told me to keep the volume always at 0 before turning on

I could understand for tube amps ,but transistor amps seems a non sense

is that true ?

thanks

‘0’ on pro equipment ( and many crossover designs) if fully unattenuated, so in those cases definitely not!
Keith

 

[Mantra]

Only with amplifiers that have implemented protection on the speaker output.
With all other amplifiers, the volume potentiometer should be reduced to the minimum to avoid a bump on the speakers.

hi Zek
all my amps when I turn on , they mute the volume or the volume is 0 "they are mute even the volume is set to 20 " , after a "clack" sound , they send the signal to the speakers
is the implemented protection ?
thanks

 

[Zek]

after a "clack" sound , they send the signal to the speakers
is the implemented protection ?

If the "clack" sound comes from the amplifier and not from the speakers, then it is the relay that opens the signal path from the amplifier to the speakers and that is OK.

 

[Mantra]

If the "clack" sound comes from the amplifier and not from the speakers, then it is the relay that opens the signal path from the amplifier to the speakers and that is OK.

yes , they all do ,also my vintage '70 amps Denon Pioneer and Marantz , the denon do sound like a shutter , it's still working great like the others
I have posted in the same forum , with the title differents amps ,might I have some advises about them? , i changed the titles because it does sound so silly , so i have changed it
sorry for my poor english , it's not my native language
thanks Zek

 

[tomtoo]

Hallo to everybody

somedays ago i was in a hifi store , and the reseller talking about Denon and Marantz amps , he told me to keep the volume always at 0 before turning on

I could understand for tube amps ,but transistor amps seems a non sense

is that true ?

thanks

Not a bad habbit to do it. Maybe you not need it always. But its still not a bad habbit.

 

[egellings]

Hi
for all amps , even for tube amps?
thanks

Makes no difference what type of amplifier it is.

 

[egellings]

My preamp with analog volume pot is always set to zero before I energize my power amp. Old habits are hard to break, but, the routine hasn't failed me yet.

My home-brewed vacuum tube preamp powers up with all inputs disconnected. Reed relays do the connections, and these are selected via capacitive touch buttons on the front panel with latches and a bit of discrete interlocking logic. At turn-on of the preamp, a reset pulse is immediately sent to all the relay drivers to be sure they are off. A pair of normally-closed relays short the outputs to ground, which does not harm the preamp. The relay drivers' enable pins are held low (disable) for enough time to allow warm-up and passage of any turn-on transients. After the timeout expires, the buttons are enabled, the shorting relays energize to allow signal output, and a selection can then be made. A little green "ready" LED on the front panel illuminates when the warm-up sequence is done. End result is that the preamp always powers on muted. Of course, when I select something, I need to check that the volume control is at a reasonable setting. My power amps are not powerful enough to damage the speakers if I make a mistake. All I get is a surprise and little else.

 

[TonyJZX]

i seem to recall that some amps in the dank dark days of the 80s 90s had thing you can set where the vol. knob would also set itself back to say 10-20 (on a scale of say 0-80) on startup so the music would always be soft and then you can manually set it to what you want

that may be mandela effect

 

[egellings]

i seem to recall that some amps in the dank dark days of the 80s 90s had thing you can set where the vol. knob would also set itself back to say 10-20 (on a scale of say 0-80) on startup so the music would always be soft and then you can manually set it to what you want

that may be mandela effect

A motorized volume control?

 

[Mantra]

A motorized volume control?

yes it is a motrized volume control
thanks

 

[dasdoing]

‘0’ on pro equipment ( and many crossover designs) if fully unattenuated, so in those cases definitely not!
Keith

well in pro audio you always start with the faders at -∞ anyways hehe

 

[dualazmak]

I believe that the feasibility and necessity of "keep the volume knob at 0" would vary depending on our audio setups.

We should be much careful about not only the possible "pops" caused by our audio gears (including amplifiers) but also by possible accidental intrusion of loud sound/noise given by digital/analog music players and OS of PC/Mac/RPi etc., especially in DSP-based multichannel multi-SP-driver multi-amplifier active setups.

Just for example, in my such setup (ref. here), I have protection capacitors for midrange tweeter super-tweeter drivers, and also always perform careful "startup/ignition sequences" and "shutdown sequences" (ref. here).

 

[OldHvyMec]

I use a preamp that ramps up from the muted position to the last used volume setting. While the valves are warming up it triggers on servo
subs, the bass tower amps and the mains which are valve amps. If its real cold, I'll leave the valve power amp in the "standby" position for 5 minutes
of so, before it's flipped on. When I didn't have a way to sequence the gear on and have the ability to ramp up the volume, I always turned the volume
down even when flipping vinyl, it takes 2 whole seconds to be SAFE just in case there is a tonearm fiasco.

Old safety habits are hard to break. I QUE records on both Russco and Thoren TT. Within 1/2 a turn all of the broadcast and transcriptions
are up to broadcast speed, it may take a few revolutions to do a speed check for transcription or recording work but for listening.

 

[sergeauckland]

I use a preamp that ramps up from the muted position to the last used volume setting. While the valves are warming up it triggers on servo
subs, the bass tower amps and the mains which are valve amps. If its real cold, I'll leave the valve power amp in the "standby" position for 5 minutes
of so, before it's flipped on. When I didn't have a way to sequence the gear on and have the ability to ramp up the volume, I always turned the volume
down even when flipping vinyl, it takes 2 whole seconds to be SAFE just in case there is a tonearm fiasco.

Old safety habits are hard to break. I QUE records on both Russco and Thoren TT. Within 1/2 a turn all of the broadcast and transcriptions
are up to broadcast speed, it may take a few revolutions to do a speed check for transcription or recording work but for listening.

I added a mains sequencer so it turns on 8 individual items in the correct order, and switches them off in the correct order. One switch is easier than 8 and I'm less likely to make a mistake if not paying attention. It also switches off properly those items that only have a 'standby' switch on the front, (mains switch on the back).

As to turntables, both my turntables are instant start, and I always put the arm down on a stationary record then press Play. It's always worried me putting the stylus down on a moving record.

S.

 

[popej]

On many modern amplifiers, volume knob is kind of fake, it only gives control signal to microprocessor. Some knobs even don't have '0' position.
In that case is up to microprocessor to perform safe power up.