I just bought a new power amp, but I am still waiting on my preamp to arrive. I hooked up my speaker cables, and turned on the amp to see if it powered up, but when I shut it off, it made a sound through the speakers. Was this because I did not have a preamp hooked up yet? Or perhaps it's the amp? I did not think it would matter if nothing was hooked up to it yet to just turn it on.

Well, try it with a battery powered CD player or I-pod.
But lots of big amplifiers make turn-off thumps.

I just bought a new power amp, but I am still waiting on my preamp to arrive. I hooked up my speaker cables, and turned on the amp to see if it powered up, but when I shut it off, it made a sound through the speakers. Was this because I did not have a preamp hooked up yet? Or perhaps it's the amp? I did not think it would matter if nothing was hooked up to it yet to just turn it on.


Not sure but I wouldn't think you could but: I would always wait to turn anything on untill you have it connected correctly, especially speakers. The manual will warn you not to cross the poss/neg wires, not to have any loose ends at the receiver, etc. becasue it can damage them. Take your time and double check before you turn it on. I would also check with the sub manufacturer.

Many amplifiers manufactured without output relays will 'thump' as the electrical inrush occurs. Not a big deal unless something goes 'boom'.

I will wait until I can hook up my preamp, before I turn it on and off again. Perhaps it is just that. There is no interconnect right now.
I have had amps that made a noise when powering up, but never when I shut them off.

I've used old school amplifiers that made thumps up and down. I currently use an amp that thumps if unplugged wich is what you're essentially doing when you push your amp off/on button. It's not gonna damage anything so I wouldn't worry about it.

But never connect audio interconnect cables when the amplifier is on!