Sorry I should explain a bit better, have a possibile full ARC combo I'm thinking of going into, with a choice of the following amps; D200,D240,D300,100.2 or 150.2 to mate with the LS 3. Since there is no stand by to place the amp into (in some cases) this is where my question origionates from. I would put the pre into mute first and then start the amp but in the afore mentioned case that's where I got the popping when I muted even with the volumn turned down to it's lowest point before doing so. Aso at that time I was using A Proceed transport/dac combo where this time it will be an ARC CD 3. I hope this helps to make a better evaluation of the problem now.