Buzzing noise.

It is normal for a buzz to result if the amp is on and connected to a preamp which is off.

The preamp of course should be turned on first, this to avoid damaging the loudspeakers should there be a turn-on thump.

If the buzz is then so quiet as to only be audible when your ear is pressed to the drivers of the loudspeaker, it simply is not a problem!

Jea48, Almarg and others... can you please advise about the power up/down sequence in my particular case? Frankly I haven't given much thought to which component to turn on or off first, etc. My integrated (Musical Fidelity M6si) has a power standby mode and my speakers (Golden Ear Triton One) have their own amp and is of course connected to A/C. I keep both the amp and speakers on separate power strips and the strips have their own power on/off switch. When powering the speakers off I wait until their internal amp goes into standby and then power down via power strip. In the case of the amp I've been powering it down with its own power switch and then powering down at its power strip. Point here is I haven't been paying attention to the M6Si in relation to the speakers, but based on what I'm reading herein it would still be advisable when powering down to go Amp first then speakers and vice-versa on the power up. But does this really "matter" in my case?

Hi Gdhal,

It may very well not matter, since both the MF amp and the amp in the speaker are presumably and hopefully designed to not generate significant transients at turn-on and turn-off.  But I would say that good practice would be to turn the speakers on last and off first with respect to the MF, and to turn the MF on last and off first with respect to the source components.  That way there will be no possibility of a low frequency transient emanating from the MF at turn-on or turn-off being processed by the amp in the speaker and applied to its woofers.

Although I suppose it's conceivable that turning the speakers on or off while the MF is powered up could induce a transient into the MF, via either RFI or effects on the power line.  But that seems unlikely, and you would probably already have noticed the resulting sound if that were occurring to any significant degree.

Regards,
-- Al
 

Thanks as always Al! And yes, you're right in that I would have noticed (heard) something undesirable if there were an issue. I haven't, nevertheless I'll follow your recommendation for power on/off.