In What Order Do You Turn On/Off Gear Separates ?

Peter -- the "pop" can be many things, one of which is some dc... a low volume "pop" isn;t going to damage the spkrs, it's the unexpected eventuality of a loud pop that we're talking about here.

Mary: your only option is to switch OFF the pre first (because, when off, it cuts all upstream signals going to the amp) and switch ON the phono first, then the pre. As a precaution, let the gear lie without music for a minute before switching off.

Please note, however, that there shouldn't be any loud pops... (i.e. if there are, s/thing is slightly wrong).

Mary, please tell us what preamp and power amp you have. That may help you get the correct response for your situation. Some preamp manufacturer's absolutely recommend turning off the power amp first (and on second) because there can be a risk to your associated equipment. If your preamp has a muting circuit, you should be ok if you mute the output first then turn only the preamp off. I don't believe stuff on the input side should be affected. So, I would say either let us know the specific equipment you have, so someone here with directly related experience can answer you, or maybe more suitable in your case would be to call the preamp manufacturer directly. BTW, is any of this covered in your owner's manual?

Stevecham's advice is a common practice and this is also recommended by some surge protection manufactures. Some Panamax and Monster's models offer " sequential on/off". To turn on: source(s), pre, amp and to turn off: amp, pre,sources. The logic is source(s) and pre need to be on first to be stablelized before amp being turned on. You can find some explaination about sequential on/off feature in Panamax surge protection.

I have a similar problem. I have a Bel Canto power amp that should be left on at all times. I also have a Rotel CD/HDCD player and a modified Dynaco Pas tube preamp that should be turned off. I turn the CD player off, and then when I turn the preamp off, there's a small pop, and then a slight continious buzz that won't go away while the preamp is off. The buzz does go away when I turn the preamp on though. I assume the slight continous buzz is ok for the speakers?

Very simple

First off...always mute and/or turn down the gain control on your preamp

After that the golden rule which is etched in stone..."amps last on and first off" Anything in between doesn't matter