Hi folks
I have been using Arcam amps (from the 90s, nice neutral sound and very reliable), and each one has a switch on the front to isolate the speakers - it’s for a “second” set but the logic is you use the first set if you don’t want speaker isolation switch or the second set if you do.
I am in the process of moving to Quad amps (a 306 and a 520F at the moment), which have no speaker isolation switches.
(They also have no level control which is another complaint but I’ll save that for another thread maybe).
What are folks thoughts on this?
I use the switches to isolate whenever I go to bed, or leave the room for a significant amount of time.
Also very useful when plugging/unplugging of course, nothing worse than a power amp at full gain (because it doesn’t have level controls!!!) and an rca connector being swapped.
I could modify the Quads (don’t want to make them non-standard), I could build an external switch or relay box to do the job, or I could ignore it and put up with switch on thump (low level so not a worry) and the concern of an amp going bad whilst I’m away from them or asleep and frying a woofer (unlikely but still something I obsess about, which is probab;y why I have never had it happen), AND have to power down power amps whenever I make a change to connections (happens at least weekly at the moment, sometimes hourly.
I couldn’t afford to replace blown speakers, and most of my speakers have irreplaceable drivers anyway.