Question regarding pre-amp and amp

@sgreg1, I know there are multiple like that. But not my preamp. It’s a very good preamp and wanted to see what options I might have.

My tube pre amp the Freya + allows for me to turn the tube stage off while keeping the pre amp on and that is the procedure I follow.

@sgreg1 having a tube preamp, I don’t think it will be a good idea to leave it on. With the solid state I never turned it off until now and now I am having to do it because of tube.

@bob540 how did you achieve the triggering?

The sequence of always turning on the preamp first and turning it off last seems to preclude using the trigger feature.  I have mine set up to trigger through preamp, so the preamp turns on and then triggers the amp on, and when I shut it off the preamp turns off and then triggers the amp to turn off.  

Always leaving both on seems like it would shorten their life instead of extending it, wouldn’t you think?

I keep my amps and pre amp on all the time. I was told by a designer that keeping them on all the time does less damage than the on off cycle. By keeping on the caps and resistors maintain temperature and when pushed by more volume they are already warm. By turning on and off you create a heating and cooling cycle or expansion and contraction. That expansion and contraction can cause cracks that lead to failure. We have been told for years that excess heat is the evil in electrical components. To some degree it is but the heat cool cycle takes the evil to the next step. Example I have my old Sansui 7070 running in my wife’s salon other than power outages it has not been shut off for 25 years and is running strong.
Keep them on and enjoy the music.

What about those many who keep their amp on all the time?

Always always turn on source then preamp then amp and the reverse to turn off. Never turn anything in your system on or off while the amp is on.

It's always been wise to switch off the power amp before the pre. The thump or click can be down to DC offset and/or the capacitor discharge time difference between the rails within the pre. Good designs of preamplifiers can reduce amplitude of the thump/click through analogue circuit design but it's difficult to get rid of it completely without a control circuit to open the output before the rail voltage drops past a threshold.
I wouldn't worry about it in your case, it's unlikely to damage your equipment... just remember to switch off the power amps first.

Appreciate everyone’ feedback. I don’t have plans to use a power strip. Its all directly plugged into the wall. I was planning to change to mono blocks in sometime... that means will have to do more work to start listening:). 

While switching off the preamp it gives a huge sound if the amp is on. I checked with Don and as per him I should switch off the amp before I switch of preamp and switch on the preamp before switching on the amp. The solid state amp has a switch at the back and I don’t think it’s made to switch on and off on a regular basis. How is this normally managed?

@sudharl
Don is correct!!


This is an ancient problem- and it does not matter if your preamp is tube or solid state! You **always** **always** turn the preamp on first and allow it to settle before turning on the amp, if the amp is solid state. Some of the biggest sounds I've heard from breaking this rule have come from solid state preamps!

It was a bad move on the part of the manufacturer to place the power switch on the back. You'll just have to deal with it.

Amplifiers on first off last.   Is what I’ve always been told. 

Amplifiers on first off last.   Is what I’ve always been told. 

Many preamps have a soft on to prevent this. Unfortunately, as inconvenient as it is you’ll probably need to use the switch. 

They don't put the switch on the back to discourage use, they put it on the back to be close to AC in and the power supply. You can turn it on and off all you want. If you go the power strip route you are running the power for your amp that you presumably paid a lot of money to get great sound quality, through an extra crappy switch and power strip. Fine if all you care about is convenience. First Audiophile Commandment: Know Thyself.

You can plug the amp into a power strip and shut it off with the on off switch on that!
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