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Why is a 12v trigger not standard on audio equipment?

restorer-john

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Because it's just unnecessary for 99% of HiFi systems for normal people and typical usage.

Triggers came into being in the 1970s for remotely placed monoblock amplifiers and they were about as popular as a vegetarian at a barbecue cook-off.

It's only fringe hifi nutcases like us, with multiple disparate boxes who think daisy chaining 1/8" cables everywhere to save their lazy asses from flipping a few power switches is vitally important.

Every brand had some type of control bus and they all fell in a disused heap of festering cables. I think Marantz still hang onto theirs after 30 years.

When old mate has a giant HT system in a 10ft rack that also runs his whole house, he might think it's 'cool' to fire it all up like some God of power distribution, but mostly, it's just a bit silly.
 

beeface

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When old mate has a giant HT system in a 10ft rack that also runs his whole house, he might think it's 'cool' to fire it all up like some God of power distribution, but mostly, it's just a bit silly.
And even then, when it comes to these types of systems, the controller is more likely to be talking to the equipment using either network control, bluetooth, RS-232 or IR.

12v triggers are definitely a weird niche feature.
 

NiagaraPete

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In my 50 + years I’ve never needed it and still don’t.
 

DonH56

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They are common on pro amps, though a slightly different scheme (not a 12 V trigger like your home stuff; usually a shorting relay across a Phoenix connector or some such rather than routing 12 V all over heck and creation). I think HT with all the powered subs is a big driver for them. With four amps and four subs I do appreciate the feature, lazy boy that I am. That said, I long for my old relay scheme I used for years that delayed power amp turn on but turned them off instantly. That allowed the preamp to stabilize before turning on the power amps, and turning the power amps off first allowed them to bleed down before the preamp switched off. It seems like an obvious feature for 12 V triggers but I haven't seen it yet on a home component.

A lot of older things had some sort of link, like McIntosh and a few others with their own proprietary schemes. I know there were a number of others but can't put a name to them all at the moment. I bet @restorer-john has a (long) list!
 

TonyJZX

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you'll find parasound sonance and that lot still do it... why? Because in whole home integration it makes some sense.

But for many of us, its irrelevant... if you have maybe 3 pieces you may as well just leave stuff on?

the idle power of most stuff isnt a blip compared to what your fridge and washing cooling heating might do.
 
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Rufus T. Firefly

Rufus T. Firefly

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Auto on/off would be fine.

I don't know just seems to me like it's no brainer, a common modern day convince that saves electricity.
 
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Rufus T. Firefly

Rufus T. Firefly

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Couldn't live without 12V triggers in my systems to turn on power amps, subwoofers and cooling fans. I found signal sensing auto on/off to be very annoying on my SVS subwoofers.
I was just reading in an AVR thread about how auto on/off can be a problem with subs being sent a too weak signal.

I can see where that would be super annoying.
 

restorer-john

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I was just reading in an AVR thread about how auto on/off can be a problem with subs being sent a too weak signal.

I can see where that would be super annoying.

That is primarily due to the signal sensing on most subs either being too sensitive (picks up RF noise etc) or too difficult to trigger, resulting in power off during parts where the LF is not present.

I have a mate i had to modify his auto power off sub as it was relay tripping on and off, in some movies due to the LFE being insufficient to trigger the unit.

Hey, here's an idea sub makers: instead of controls we don't need, make the trigger level continuously variable. Easy.
 

bungle

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HDMI CEC, signal sensing and master-slave extension cords do almost the same as 12V trigger.
 
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