Peavey CS 800 pops speakers?

[spudler]

I am curious I don't remember the other PV CS800 doing this butI could be wrong. when I power it up with the levels at OFF. Is it supposed to cause the speakers to go pop. not real loud just like I power up. I thoght this amp had silent on or whatever they call it so that does not happen??

[jcgss77]

I have heard of many amps doing that, and many that don't. I have never heard of that kind of amp(I assume it is a peavey) before, so here is what I have heard. It seems to me the best way to circumvent that problem is to install a toggle on/off switch between your amp and speakers, that you have off at powerup, and on after. I don't believe this is bad for a SS amp, but I have a gut feeling this is bad with a tube amp, though I have never heard of a tube amp doing this. Keep in mind, I have never performed this mod before, and will once I have my Crate project up and running.

[newey]

Starting the amp up without a speaker load connected is something you can get away with on a solid state amp- but personally, I'll take the pop over a chance of damage.

Many modern amps have circuitry to "failsafe" the amp if no load is attached, but older SS amps may not. And while it's not as likely to do damage to a SS amp as to tubes, to my mind this comes under the heading of "babying your equipment"- you may not need to do it, but you do it anyway just to be on the safe side.

I seem to recall we had some prior discussion about the use of a cap across the power switch to "stop the pop", but I'm no amp tech and I could be misremembering it. But that may be a better way to solve the problem than starting it up unloaded.

Your home stereo receiver (gawd, I'm dating myself . . .I mean your "home seven-point-something surround sound system") has a relay in the power circuitry to solve the popping problem- that's the elegant engineered solution. Most guitar amps don't have that, either because it:

a) "sucks tone" (how it does so is never explained), or
b) "Leo didn't do it so it's not 'vintage' ", or
c) Because it costs money to put it in.

Take your pick.

[ashcatlt]

If I'm not mistaken (and I doubt I am, since I've worked with a number of these in the past), a Peavey CS800 is a stereo power amp which delivers 400W per channel into 8Ω. Most of these amps do have a "soft startup" which should avoid that popping when you turn them on.

It's been a while since I've done live sound, but I don't remember ever having that trouble. I'd suggest having a qualified tech take a look at. The bench fee might be close to the resale value of the amp, but it's also probably around what you'd pay to recone a PA speaker or replace an HF driver.