Woofer thump when preamp comes out of standby

I just posted this on the other thread:

I'm assuming you are talking about the auto-warm up
feature on the PV7 that stays muted for about 45-60
seconds after turn on?

Your PV7 inverts phase through the line stage, but not
the phono stage.

Did you swap the positive and negative at the amp OR at
the speaker? Do just ONE swap, not both. That
"might" solve the problem.

Did your old amp do the same thing?

You should always turn the preamp on first, then the amp.
You reverse this sequence when you turn off the gear.

You might wait until your preamp has gone through the
auto warm-up sequence, THEN turn your amp on. That
will keep this from happening for now. There should be a
capacitor or resistor in the PV7 that should keep this
from happening. Maybe call or email cj and see what they
say. You could also call David (Belles) and ask him. He's
a pretty cool guy and would most likely know.

It could also be that the interconnect cable isn't shielded,
(at all or not properly). I've had this happen a few times.

I put my cary tube amps back in the system and the problem is there. I have tracked it down to the preamp. I tried changing tubes with some extras I had, no help. With the cover off and a power line glove on, I moved the line stage tubes just a bit and the hum changed with every tiny move. I swapped a SS preamp into the system and the problem isn't there so I am going with a problem with the preamp. I tried switching the speaker wires as indicated and that didn't work. I also tried as suggested to power up the source and allow the preamp to come out of standby before powering up the amp and the problem is still there. The only time the problem goes away is when intake the CJ PV-7 out of the system completely. I guess I'll send it back to CJ to have them troubleshoot it. Could it be just a bad tube socket? The preamp IS 30+ years old.
Thanks for all the help

It sounds as if your PV-7 could be leaking DC to the output, possibly a faulty cap that needs to be replaced.

Called Conrad Johnson. They said it sounds like a power supply problem. They want quite a bit of $$ to look at it. I'm wondering if it's even worth the cost as old as it is.

I agree that preamp should be turned on before the final. If you do it that way, there is no thump, right? Some preamps output a wave when their power rises, then settle back to normal. There is such a thing as a no-thump circuit, but some preamps don't have it, and that is why people have the habit of not turning on the finals until the preamp settles. To make a no-thump input, the designer has add a circuit that disables the preamp output for a couple seconds until the channel settles in. It's one of those nice little touches to the design.

If the preamp output had a leaky output coupler cap you can measure the leakage with a DC meter. After the preamp is up, output should read zero volts if the output is OK. A quick meter will also show you the "thump" wave when you turn it on.

If you power the preamp first, then the final, and still get a thump, then you might have leaky coupler cap in preamp.