Is speaker popping dangerous, or just an unpleasant sound?

[Komodovaran]

If I turn my computer on/off without turning off my monitors first, they make this loud pop/crack.

Is this "bad" for the monitors, or is it just because the soundcard sends out some sort of discharge that results in a pop, when it loses the powered USB connection?

[8O]

Unless your speakers have some protection circuitry to limit the transients, then yes, it can damage your speakers.

[xzusa8ky]

No No! If you keep on popping they will produce nice crisp "popcorn" nothing bad about popcorn!

[Komodovaran]

Shouldn't semi-expensive monitors be less prone to dying from this? They're Adam A7X.

[Punky921]

Just turn your speakers off first. And yes, it's very bad for your speakers.

[hacktheplanet]

Just turn your speakers off first. And yes, it's very bad for your speakers.

I'm a lazy asshole and use my rack power conditioner to turn everything on at once. There's a thump, but it's not very loud.
Am I slowly destroying my monitors? Do you have any further information?

[rikhyray]

Am I slowly destroying my monitors?

Yes, you do.

[Punky921]

Just turn your speakers off first. And yes, it's very bad for your speakers.

I'm a lazy asshole and use my rack power conditioner to turn everything on at once. There's a thump, but it's not very loud.
Am I slowly destroying my monitors? Do you have any further information?

Don't be a lazy asshole unless you want to spend money on new speakers soon.

[Angstrom]

in the olden days I was told that the thump is the amp going briefly DC as it shuts down, it pulls the coil back, then the cap discharges and fires the coil to the end of its travel.

the reason this was given as being bad was in normal use the coil is held in magnetic tension, it rarely hits the end of its travel (clipped speaker) without resistance.

In reality I bet a large cone is resilient enough to handle a few hundred firings to the end of its travel, but I'd be a bit more concerned about ribbon tweeters getting a burst of DC. Personally I turn my monitors off, and then everything else because that noise makes me wince, regardless of whatever the truth of the matter!

There are circuits available to shunt the current away from the cone on amp shutdown, but if you are hearing a 'pooom!' , then you haven't got one.

Note: my info is 'pre-internet', in that it comes from one of those dudes who used to hang around studios fixing stuff, but never being quite clear enough about his explanations. That's what it was like in the olden days kids.

[hacktheplanet]

That makes sense. I've been a lazy asshole for years, but haven't ever killed any monitors. I'll stop doing it anyway.

[divonic]

I got something similar to one of these:



each switch corresponds to a outlet (socket) on the back. I plug it into my Power conditioner and I turn things on in order; last on and first off is always the monitors. First on and Last off is always the power conditioner.

[Vios]

Depends on how loud it is. If it's "loud" then yes it's something you should guard against. I also have Adam A7X's and I get a medium-low volume pop when I turn my computer on and off while they're on. I'd estimate the volume to be about 50dBA. The sensitivity of typical loudspeakers is 90DB/1W. Doing quick math, that means my speakers are receiving about 1/10000W for 1/2 of a second. The speakers are rated for 150W continuous RMS, so that means they're receiving approximately 1/1500000 W of their continuous AC RMS rating. Yes it's DC current, but I can't imagine the 1/2 second DC withstand current rating of the speakers being less than 1/100th of the continuous AC rating. Probably way more analysis here than needed

For me, I feel comfortable having my monitors on and turning my computer on and off. I have had my monitors for more than year and they're functioning great. If it was much louder I wouldn't do this. I do feel it's always good to practice 'better safe than sorry' when it comes to your equipment.

[xzusa8ky]

Just turn your speakers off first. And yes, it's very bad for your speakers.

I'm a lazy asshole and use my rack power conditioner to turn everything on at once. There's a thump, but it's not very loud.
Am I slowly destroying my monitors? Do you have any further information?

Yes! But only slowly dying!

[synnack]

You guys turn your stuff off ever? Interesting.

[2be]

I had my KRK Rokit G2 6" studio monitors repaired twice because they were turned on/off in the wrong order.
(Was actually my girlfriend once and my brother another time, I of course take care of my babies!)
They are not the most expensive speakers, so maybe they are more prone to break, but I really wouldn't take a chance either way!

I have a remote control button on my table nex to my keyboard linked up to my monitors and sound interface. Easy to press and it's nice to have a failsafe option if you ever get some nasty loud signal (happended to me one time when I was experimenting with feedback loops in Live and turned up the send just a little bit too much... I didn't even know my monitors could go so loud that the furniture starts to shake. Happy I didn't took any hearing damage from it!)
And I don't think you can guess the damage of such a signal. You might only hear a tiny bit of the actual signal. I have no sources for this, but I'm pretty sure there could be some nasty ultralow or superhigh frequencies.