GaN Amp & Speaker Popping Sound At Power On


Forum Members,

I just got a GaN400 amp and when it is powered on, the speakers make a popping noise that is about the magnitude of the music at the Peachtree startup setting (volume of 3 out of a possibility of 8).  It does this whether I use the 12 volt trigger from the PreDAC or manually power on the amp on by pushing the power on button.  There is no way to start the amp with zero volume.   

I am using speaker wire with bare ends that are tightly attached to the speaker and amp connectors - verified this.  The popping noise is much louder than with the Nova500 that I am in the process of trading in for these new units.

I have observed that the popping tends to be louder with a longer gap between turning off and turning on (similar to the music volume at startup) vs turning off and on with a few second delay (sometimes quite a bit less loud than the music volume at startup).

Is this induced speaker popping noise a concern for long-term speaker damage with many on/off cycles?  

Those of you with this amp or other GaN amps, do you experience a similar popping sound out of your speakers at powerup?  Peachtree technical support stated that this was a characteristic of GaN technology.

Note, other than powerup, this amp is dead silent as far as noise induced artifacts, including when powering it off.

Appreciate your thoughts.  (Note that I am querying both Peachtree and my speaker manufacturer about this, but would like to hear back from you all.)
michiganbuckeye
That’s a capacitor charging/discharging! A design flaw that was deemed insignificant! Just leave the amp on 24/7. Class D should run cool to the touch!
Must be in their amp designs.  Some sort of audible relay protection device?
I remember we had to do quite a bit of fiddling so that when the output devices turned on the amp was already switching. So our amp starts up dead silent.
I just received my GaN400.  Mine has the same popping noise on power up as you described.  I emailed the salesperson and explained the problem.  She said the pop/static noise during startup is normal for this amp, it will cause no harm to the amp or the speakers. 

michiganbuckeye

GaN Amp & Speaker Popping Sound At Power On

Forum Members,

I just got a GaN400 amp and when it is powered on, the speakers make a popping noise that is about the magnitude of the music at the Peachtree startup setting (volume of 3 out of a possibility of 8). It does this whether I use the 12 volt trigger from the PreDAC or manually power on the amp on by pushing the power on button. There is no way to start the amp with zero volume.


Is it alarming loud, if so not good.
Do the bass drivers move in and out excessively, if so not good
If you have a sample hold dc volt meter you could tell us the peak dc voltage these pops are at.
Even if moderately loud, it’s not good over time even for the drivers, and maybe the xovers
Cheers George
I don't know about the GaN400, but the Merrill Veritas amps (class D) I had were meant to be left on at all times - and honestly sounded better to me after a day or two of constant power.