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Amps that switch on when receiving an audio signal

I see that there are power amps from Cambridge Audio and Parasound that switch out of standby and into operating mode when they receive an audio signal. This seems to me a pretty cool feature -- cool in more ways than one, of course. (Energy saving, etc.) Are there other amps that do this? Are there many? Is this becoming something of a commonplace and I'm just now noticing it?

Thanks.

-- Howard
hodu
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
I have an old Harman Kardon amp from the mid 90s that has that option.
As for subs, most powered subs offer this option.

A while back I bought an amp on ebay (can't remember the brand) that was listed as "dead" for parts only. When it arrived I noticed it had an auto on switch. I turned the switch off and the amp worked great. After some research I adjusted the auto on trigger and that worked great also.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Not really important no great amp have this.
czarivey
5,946 posts
 
My Sunfire 300 only uses 20...25w stand-by so no need to switch on-off. It stays on 24/7 and always ready to blast music.
zufan's avatar
zufan
563 posts
 
My Sony does, and also turns itself off with no signal after 15 minutes. Utterly love both features. I hit pause on the Sony server when music is playing, leave the house, and both units auto shut off.
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,791 posts
 
The (low-end) Sony subwoofer I use for home theater does this and it's a real bother (relay is very noisy).
Frequently clicks-off when no LF present in program.

Another function I've seen is auto off-on (Pretty sure my ARC VT-100 had this). A control cable is used to turn amp on-off depending on the state of the pre-amp.
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