Trigger without trigger function?

[kenken]

Hi, my basX is amping a minidsp device that doesn't have a trigger. Are there any hacks/workarounds to get the amp to turn on/off with the minidsp?

I saw something about using a smart powerstrip that can be configured to turn on/off when it senses a trigger signal from minidsp's usb, but that's kind of like just pulling the power cord out. Is that OK for the amp's health?

Thanks

[ttocs]

My BasX A-800 has the Auto-Sense feature, which I now use. So, it keeps turning on and off automatically multiple times every day, just depends on which channel I'm watching. I'm of the opinion that yes, it would be better to not keep turning on and off a bunch of times each day, but I've not been made aware of any problem with this via instruction manuals. I don't worry about it. And the same can be said for being trigger activated and being used in the same manner whereby the program material dictates the amp powering on and off many times in a day.

Yes, using a power outlet that's trigger enabled is the same as pulling the power cord. I wouldn't worry about the shut down. Upon startup there's a routine that needs to be satisfied before power is fully applied, so, I wouldn't worry about that either.

I wonder why Emotiva isn't using the auto-sense much anymore? Maybe the cost?

Others around here have done DIY trigger setups. The search function on the forum isn't working like it used to, so when I want to search for something I know is out there I just use the keywords I'm interested in along with emotivalounge.proboards in a web search engine and the results usually show what I'm after.

[Zombie]

Mar 22, 2023 10:40:04 GMT -5 kenken said:

Hi, my basX is amping a minidsp device that doesn't have a trigger. Are there any hacks/workarounds to get the amp to turn on/off with the minidsp?

I saw something about using a smart powerstrip that can be configured to turn on/off when it senses a trigger signal from minidsp's usb, but that's kind of like just pulling the power cord out. Is that OK for the amp's health?

Thanks

I’m not too familiar with the minidsp. Does it stay on all the time or do you power it on each use?  If you power it on then the Tricklestar Power Strip and ET-3 will work with your set-up. The amp would be plugged into an “always on” outlet so it would be sleeping not powered off. The ET-3 would be on a “switched outlet” and powered on by your minidsp. Again this will only work if you cycle the power to your minidsp. 

[kenken]

Mar 22, 2023 12:06:36 GMT -5 Zombie said:

Mar 22, 2023 10:40:04 GMT -5 kenken said:

Hi, my basX is amping a minidsp device that doesn't have a trigger. Are there any hacks/workarounds to get the amp to turn on/off with the minidsp?

I saw something about using a smart powerstrip that can be configured to turn on/off when it senses a trigger signal from minidsp's usb, but that's kind of like just pulling the power cord out. Is that OK for the amp's health?

Thanks

I’m not too familiar with the minidsp. Does it stay on all the time or do you power it on each use?  If you power it on then the Tricklestar Power Strip and ET-3 will work with your set-up. The amp would be plugged into an “always on” outlet so it would be sleeping not powered off. The ET-3 would be on a “switched outlet” and powered on by your minidsp. Again this will only work if you cycle the power to your minidsp. 

The minidsp device has an off button that puts it into standby.

Thanks I'll check out the tricklestar stuff.

Also, what's ET-3?

[cawgijoe]

Mar 24, 2023 12:45:20 GMT -5 kenken said:

Mar 22, 2023 12:06:36 GMT -5 Zombie said:

I’m not too familiar with the minidsp. Does it stay on all the time or do you power it on each use?  If you power it on then the Tricklestar Power Strip and ET-3 will work with your set-up. The amp would be plugged into an “always on” outlet so it would be sleeping not powered off. The ET-3 would be on a “switched outlet” and powered on by your minidsp. Again this will only work if you cycle the power to your minidsp. 

The minidsp device has an off button that puts it into standby.

Thanks I'll check out the tricklestar stuff.

Also, what's ET-3?

Emotiva's Trigger Expansion Module.

[kenken]

Mar 22, 2023 12:06:36 GMT -5 Zombie said:

Mar 22, 2023 10:40:04 GMT -5 kenken said:

Hi, my basX is amping a minidsp device that doesn't have a trigger. Are there any hacks/workarounds to get the amp to turn on/off with the minidsp?

I saw something about using a smart powerstrip that can be configured to turn on/off when it senses a trigger signal from minidsp's usb, but that's kind of like just pulling the power cord out. Is that OK for the amp's health?

Thanks

. Again this will only work if you cycle the power to your minidsp. 

I put the minidsp in standby. That's the only option. When I press the off button on the remote - it goes into standby.

Does that count as cycling the power?

[Zombie]

I would think so. The Tricklestar will power the switched outlets when it detects that the host device (minidsp in your case) wants more juice. Waking it up should also power the ET-3 that would in turn trigger your amp. There’s a setting on the Tricklestar to adjust the sensitivity. I had a similar set-up using a Node2 that worked fine. The Node also didn’t have a trigger so I used the ET-3 to trigger my Emotiva A-300.

[kenken]

Mar 27, 2023 11:12:31 GMT -5 Zombie said:

I would think so. The Tricklestar will power the switched outlets when it detects that the host device (minidsp in your case) wants more juice. Waking it up should also power the ET-3 that would in turn trigger your amp. There’s a setting on the Tricklestar to adjust the sensitivity. I had a similar set-up using a Node2 that worked fine. The Node also didn’t have a trigger so I used the ET-3 to trigger my Emotiva A-300.

Would this work?
www.amazon.com/Outlet-Advanced-Powertap-1080-Joules/dp/B00ND7MTLA

[chito]

Hello there. New member here. New to Emotiva too.

I just purchased the BasX A2 and I have two questions:

1. My unit has the Auto On switch and it does work when turning on the source (preamp). However, while the A2 turns off when no more audio signal is being received, it takes more than 5 minutes to shut off. Is this the norm for this feature? I find it too long.

2. Should I burn in the amp, and if yes, for how long? Can you recommend a proper way of burning in?

[KeithL]

The short answer to your first question is that:
Yes... it's normal.

With "auto on" features there's always a trade-off between sensitivity and hold-time.
You want the amp to turn on when there's music... and not turn off during occasional pauses... or momentary quiet interludes in the music...
And you want it to turn on quickly when there's actually music... but not stay on because of a tiny bit of background hum or hiss...
The best compromise seems to be to turn on rather quickly, after sensing a somewhat moderate level, than remain on for several minutes...
In fact, I believe the amp will remain on slightly longer after the audio stops depending on how high the level was for a few seconds before that.
Bear in mind that the idea here is to have the amp turn on when you start listening to music and turn off when you're done...
(It's not like an intercom where you want the amp to simply cut on for a few seconds when you press the "talk" button.)
The amp doesn't draw all that much power when it's on...
And, even with modern solid state circuitry, it would stress the amp a little bit to have it turning on and off every ten seconds all day...

To be really honest, if your source device has a trigger output, we prefer to use the trigger input on the amp so they turn on and off together.
(We tend to only use the auto-on feature when using a trigger cable would be inconvenient or impractical... or the preamp doesn't have a trigger output.)

I'm going to give you a sort of soft answer on that second question...
The amp may sound a tiny bit different after it's been warming up for a half hour or so...
(The bias on the output stage does self-adjust as it warms up.)
However, here at Emotiva, we're not really believers in burn-in...
Some users may disagree... but we wouldn't expect the amp to sound significantly different after several hundred hours of use.
(And there's certainly no reason not to start listening to it right away.)

Dec 14, 2023 10:40:45 GMT -5 chito said:

Hello there. New member here. New to Emotiva too.

I just purchased the BasX A2 and I have two questions:

1. My unit has the Auto On switch and it does work when turning on the source (preamp). However, while the A2 turns off when no more audio signal is being received, it takes more than 5 minutes to shut off. Is this the norm for this feature? I find it too long.

2. Should I burn in the amp, and if yes, for how long? Can you recommend a proper way of burning in?

[KeithL]

Multiple times a day certainly would not be a problem...
If we were talking every five minutes, all day, every day, I think I'd leave it on.

The short answer to why we don't include that feature more is simply that it is of limited usefulness and most users find a real trigger connection to be a better and more reliable option.
It's really difficult to choose parameters that will enable an auto-on feature to work reliably over a wide range of different levels and with different types of content.
(And adding adjustments would mean more parts, more complexity, more cost, and more stuff to adjust... or potentially adjust wrong.)

It's still a pretty popular feature on subs... but that's mostly because people put them across the room from their processor...
The sub is on a different outlet, they don't want to run a separate trigger wire, and the power switches on subs tend to be all the way on the back.
But, with most of the sources people use with our amps these days, the source is located near the amp, and does have a trigger output.
(And, with a lot of movies, which may use the height channels only occasionally, and at low levels, auto-switch might not work well at all for an amp for those channels.)

Mar 22, 2023 11:40:10 GMT -5 ttocs said:

My BasX A-800 has the Auto-Sense feature, which I now use. So, it keeps turning on and off automatically multiple times every day, just depends on which channel I'm watching. I'm of the opinion that yes, it would be better to not keep turning on and off a bunch of times each day, but I've not been made aware of any problem with this via instruction manuals. I don't worry about it. And the same can be said for being trigger activated and being used in the same manner whereby the program material dictates the amp powering on and off many times in a day.

Yes, using a power outlet that's trigger enabled is the same as pulling the power cord. I wouldn't worry about the shut down. Upon startup there's a routine that needs to be satisfied before power is fully applied, so, I wouldn't worry about that either.

I wonder why Emotiva isn't using the auto-sense much anymore? Maybe the cost?

Others around here have done DIY trigger setups. The search function on the forum isn't working like it used to, so when I want to search for something I know is out there I just use the keywords I'm interested in along with emotivalounge.proboards in a web search engine and the results usually show what I'm after.

[ttocs]

Dec 14, 2023 14:43:49 GMT -5 KeithL said:

Multiple times a day certainly would not be a problem...
If we were talking every five minutes, all day, every day, I think I'd leave it on.

The short answer to why we don't include that feature more is simply that it is of limited usefulness and most users find a real trigger connection to be a better and more reliable option.
It's really difficult to choose parameters that will enable an auto-on feature to work reliably over a wide range of different levels and with different types of content.
(And adding adjustments would mean more parts, more complexity, more cost, and more stuff to adjust... or potentially adjust wrong.)

It's still a pretty popular feature on subs... but that's mostly because people put them across the room from their processor...
The sub is on a different outlet, they don't want to run a separate trigger wire, and the power switches on subs tend to be all the way on the back.
But, with most of the sources people use with our amps these days, the source is located near the amp, and does have a trigger output.
(And, with a lot of movies, which may use the height channels only occasionally, and at low levels, auto-switch might not work well at all for an amp for those channels.)

Mar 22, 2023 11:40:10 GMT -5 ttocs said:

My BasX A-800 has the Auto-Sense feature, which I now use. So, it keeps turning on and off automatically multiple times every day, just depends on which channel I'm watching. I'm of the opinion that yes, it would be better to not keep turning on and off a bunch of times each day, but I've not been made aware of any problem with this via instruction manuals. I don't worry about it. And the same can be said for being trigger activated and being used in the same manner whereby the program material dictates the amp powering on and off many times in a day.

Yes, using a power outlet that's trigger enabled is the same as pulling the power cord. I wouldn't worry about the shut down. Upon startup there's a routine that needs to be satisfied before power is fully applied, so, I wouldn't worry about that either.

I wonder why Emotiva isn't using the auto-sense much anymore? Maybe the cost?

Others around here have done DIY trigger setups. The search function on the forum isn't working like it used to, so when I want to search for something I know is out there I just use the keywords I'm interested in along with emotivalounge.proboards in a web search engine and the results usually show what I'm after.

I began using the Auto Sense feature about a year or so ago. I think it was in response to try to duplicate a forum member's issue, but I left it that way until a few months ago. I got tired of the amp turning on during multichannel commercials while watching old tv shows that are 2.0 audio streams. So I went back to Trigger Mode and the amp is on while the processor is on - which still means it turns on and off multiple times a day. Lately I've been using All Stereo when watching regular tv shows and keeping the LCR amps turned off.

[KeithL]

It looks like it might do the job...

That said, various versions of this sort of thing have been around for a long time, and results seem to be rather mixed.
They have a tendency to turn on when you don't want them to... or to not turn on when you do want them to.
On the plus side for this one... it says it has a sensitivity control... and Amazon seems to show a pretty good rating for it.
On the minus side... Amazon actually has it flagged as "a frequently returned item".
(To be honest, if you're going to try it, this looks like a good one to try.)
 

Mar 27, 2023 19:51:21 GMT -5 kenken said:

Mar 27, 2023 11:12:31 GMT -5 Zombie said:

I would think so. The Tricklestar will power the switched outlets when it detects that the host device (minidsp in your case) wants more juice. Waking it up should also power the ET-3 that would in turn trigger your amp. There’s a setting on the Tricklestar to adjust the sensitivity. I had a similar set-up using a Node2 that worked fine. The Node also didn’t have a trigger so I used the ET-3 to trigger my Emotiva A-300.

Would this work?
www.amazon.com/Outlet-Advanced-Powertap-1080-Joules/dp/B00ND7MTLA

[chito]

Dec 14, 2023 14:32:39 GMT -5 KeithL said:

The short answer to your first question is that:
Yes... it's normal.

With "auto on" features there's always a trade-off between sensitivity and hold-time.
You want the amp to turn on when there's music... and not turn off during occasional pauses... or momentary quiet interludes in the music...
And you want it to turn on quickly when there's actually music... but not stay on because of a tiny bit of background hum or hiss...
The best compromise seems to be to turn on rather quickly, after sensing a somewhat moderate level, than remain on for several minutes...
In fact, I believe the amp will remain on slightly longer after the audio stops depending on how high the level was for a few seconds before that.
Bear in mind that the idea here is to have the amp turn on when you start listening to music and turn off when you're done...
(It's not like an intercom where you want the amp to simply cut on for a few seconds when you press the "talk" button.)
The amp doesn't draw all that much power when it's on...
And, even with modern solid state circuitry, it would stress the amp a little bit to have it turning on and off every ten seconds all day...

To be really honest, if your source device has a trigger output, we prefer to use the trigger input on the amp so they turn on and off together.
(We tend to only use the auto-on feature when using a trigger cable would be inconvenient or impractical... or the preamp doesn't have a trigger output.)

I'm going to give you a sort of soft answer on that second question...
The amp may sound a tiny bit different after it's been warming up for a half hour or so...
(The bias on the output stage does self-adjust as it warms up.)
However, here at Emotiva, we're not really believers in burn-in...
Some users may disagree... but we wouldn't expect the amp to sound significantly different after several hundred hours of use.
(And there's certainly no reason not to start listening to it right away.)

Dec 14, 2023 10:40:45 GMT -5 chito said:

Hello there. New member here. New to Emotiva too.

I just purchased the BasX A2 and I have two questions:

1. My unit has the Auto On switch and it does work when turning on the source (preamp). However, while the A2 turns off when no more audio signal is being received, it takes more than 5 minutes to shut off. Is this the norm for this feature? I find it too long.

2. Should I burn in the amp, and if yes, for how long? Can you recommend a proper way of burning in?