weak/cheapish power switches on gear

[Hades]

anybody have the impression power switches are the weak spot of gear nowadays ?

Thursday evening I wanted to turn on my Focals, and only one went on when I flipped the switches.
Now, I had one of them have the same problem when they were only 4 months in my studio several years ago,
but yeah, since they were still under warranty, I sent the monitor back to Music Store and they just sent it through to Focal so I was never able to get a decent explanation from them afterwards,
and I was without monitoring system for almost 2 months.

After that I left my monitors on for most of the time, because I was convinced it would happen again some day.
But I started a new job recently which gives me far less time for my music,
so I started turning them on and off again regularly, because it was ridiculous to leave them on for say 4 days if I was only using them maybe 3 hours of those 4 days.
And hey, we're only 2 weeks further and I have the same problem as before.

And tbh, I have the impression gear nowadays comes with more and more cheapish power switches.
Everyone here who owns a few pieces of HW knows that nowadays manufacturers leave out a power switch asap if that means they can cut costs (even my Moog has no power switch), but yeah, on the other hand, better to have no power switch than a power switch that is of low quality.

I just brought in my Focal to a guy I know that repairs vintage hifi as a hobby (since it's out of warranty anyway),
so hopefully I won't be without monitoring system for weeks.
And my Focals are great otherwise, but that power switch thing just pisses me off.
It shouldn't be that way for monitors that cost 1500€ a piece...

Anyone else have the impression power switches become cheaper and cheaper ?
Even my old mom was complaining last week about all the electronica that breaks down because the power switch just stops working eventually.

[WOLF!]

I leave everything on and switch the stuff of with remote control electrical outlets .
I have 3 groups in my studio:
1) pc, monitors and stuff that's on my desk.
2) Mixer, external fx, hardware synths, sequencer.
3) DJ booth.

[arkos]

Like Wolf said, get a power strip just for your monitors and just use the on/off button on that. When the power switch on that gets fucked you can just go to the store and get another one the same day, no 2 months wait

[Hades]

Like Wolf said, get a power strip just for your monitors and just use the on/off button on that. When the power switch on that gets fucked you can just go to the store and get another one the same day, no 2 months wait

Thx for the info,
but I have everything in my studio that is even the slightest bit expensive already connected to my Furman power conditioner (even through power strips if needed because mine only has 8 outs).
So yeah, switching that one off switches off most stuff in my studio,
but I never really liked the kind of sudden "clack" it made on my monitors,
so I preferred switching them off individually before I turned off my Furman.

Maybe someone like Mattias or Steve, with a little more experience in high end monitors could tell me if it hurts switching off my monitors by just cutting off the power (like I would do if I switched off my Furman) instead of using the slightly flimsy on/off switch ?

But nonetheless, this isn't just a discussion about my Focals,
I really think power switches are the weak spot on a lot of our gear at the moment.

[Hades]

I leave everything on and switch the stuff of with remote control electrical outlets .
I have 3 groups in my studio:
1) pc, monitors and stuff that's on my desk.
2) Mixer, external fx, hardware synths, sequencer.
3) DJ booth.

as said above, I have anything remotely expensive connected to my Furman power conditioner.
see my previous post.

[Lost to the Void]

Like Wolf said, get a power strip just for your monitors and just use the on/off button on that. When the power switch on that gets fucked you can just go to the store and get another one the same day, no 2 months wait

Thx for the info,
but I have everything in my studio that is even the slightest bit expensive already connected to my Furman power conditioner (even through power strips if needed because mine only has 8 outs).
So yeah, switching that one off switches off most stuff in my studio,
but I never really liked the kind of sudden "clack" it made on my monitors,
so I preferred switching them off individually before I turned off my Furman.

Maybe someone like Mattias or Steve, with a little more experience in high end monitors could tell me if it hurts switching off my monitors by just cutting off the power (like I would do if I switched off my Furman) instead of using the slightly flimsy on/off switch ?

But nonetheless, this isn't just a discussion about my Focals,
I really think power switches are the weak spot on a lot of our gear at the moment.

Switching off the monitors, if they are actives, from the power outlet etc can be just as bad as doing the same with an amp and passives.
A lot of decent powered monitors will have a standby as part of the on/off process that switches the amp in to protect moments before it switches off, effectively attenuating to prevent any pops which potentially could damage your tweaters.

It`s a low probability to cause problems, but personally I never risk it, the monitors in the production room get turned off via the remote control, and I always switch my big amp in the mastering studio to standby before switching it off (as both the amp manufacturer, and my speaker manufacturer recommend).

[Mattias]

Sad to hear about the issue. It happened me on my old mixing console.

It's a bit cheap that those Focal doesn't have soft-start buttons?

[Lost to the Void]

It is weird that a speaker of that quality on has a hard on/off at the back. No standby or soft off on the front.
Dick move by Focal.

When you turn it on, do you hear another click after the switch?

[arkos]

I leave everything on and switch the stuff of with remote control electrical outlets .
I have 3 groups in my studio:
1) pc, monitors and stuff that's on my desk.
2) Mixer, external fx, hardware synths, sequencer.
3) DJ booth.

as said above, I have anything remotely expensive connected to my Furman power conditioner.
see my previous post.

Well you could connect a small power strip (2/3) sockets to the furman and just have your monitors connected to that, I've been doing it that way for years not had any problems. The electrical engineer at my old job does it this way too.

[WOLF!]

You can setup your groups so you don't get any peak sounds in the speakers when starting up your studio cockpit.
So start up everything else before you power up your monitors.

[Hades]

It is weird that a speaker of that quality on has a hard on/off at the back. No standby or soft off on the front.
Dick move by Focal.

When you turn it on, do you hear another click after the switch?

yeah it annoys me as well that they don't have a soft switch at the front,
so I always have to walk behind them to switch them off.

no I don't really hear another click when I press the switch.
There is a fuse in them though, maybe the fuse just blew ?
No doubt I'll hear it from the guy who's repairing it.

[Hades]

You can setup your groups so you don't get any peak sounds in the speakers when starting up your studio cockpit.
So start up everything else before you power up your monitors.

the cockpit is pretty much set up that way.
90% of my gear is connected to my power conditioner.
Even though it only has 8 outs, I have a few power strips connected to 2 outputs to run all the synths and stuff.
I always switch on the power conditioner first, then I turn on everything else one by one,
and the last things I always switch on are my monitors.

My laptop and extra screen is not connected to the power conditioner.

[Lost to the Void]

It is weird that a speaker of that quality on has a hard on/off at the back. No standby or soft off on the front.
Dick move by Focal.

When you turn it on, do you hear another click after the switch?

yeah it annoys me as well that they don't have a soft switch at the front,
so I always have to walk behind them to switch them off.

no I don't really hear another click when I press the switch.
There is a fuse in them though, maybe the fuse just blew ?
No doubt I'll hear it from the guy who's repairing it.

I was wondering if maybe there was a relay in there. If you are not hearing a second click then no. At least those switches on the focals are easy enough to swap out.

[Hades]

as said above, I have anything remotely expensive connected to my Furman power conditioner.
see my previous post.

Well you could connect a small power strip (2/3) sockets to the furman and just have your monitors connected to that, I've been doing it that way for years not had any problems. The electrical engineer at my old job does it this way too.

you mean so I could turn on my Focals by turning on the power strip and not by using their flimsy power switches, right ?

[Hades]

as said above, I have anything remotely expensive connected to my Furman power conditioner.
see my previous post.

Well you could connect a small power strip (2/3) sockets to the furman and just have your monitors connected to that, I've been doing it that way for years not had any problems. The electrical engineer at my old job does it this way too.

you mean so I could turn on my Focals by turning on the power strip and not by using their flimsy power switches, right ?

Steve, you think that's a good idea ?
(not that I don't trust your opinion arkos, just asking someone I know has had high end monitors for ages)

[arkos]

you mean so I could turn on my Focals by turning on the power strip and not by using their flimsy power switches, right ?

Done it that way for over 10 years and never had a problem with 2 different makes of monitors and I don't think an electrical engineer would be doing it this way if it was bad tbh, electricity is electricity weather turned on or off from the power strip or the unit itself.

[Mslwte]

They must be some very poor quality switches. What focals do you have Hades? It could be easy enough to source a better alternative switch and fit yourself.

[Hades]

Twin 6BE's,
not exactly their lowest and cheapest (nor most expensive) model.
I told my tech guy that if he could fit another switch, he should totally do so.
In fact, if he replaced the switch and I'm happy with it, I'm even willing to part with my other monitor some day to have the same adjustment made to it.
Why bother keeping the original if you know it's gonna give you a headache some day ??

He replaced the rca cable of one of my SL1200's a while ago (a very well known problem),
and I never had a problem with it ever since,
and my other SL1200 constantly has 1 of the 2 channels dropping out.

Honestly, stuff like this on gear that famous/respected,
it really, really shouldn't be that way...

[Lost to the Void]

Steve, you think that's a good idea ?
(not that I don't trust your opinion arkos, just asking someone I know has had high end monitors for ages)

That all depends on the protection circuitry within the monitors. In general i would never use anything to power on my monitors except their own switches.
It really depends on how the monitors work.
I would be really surprised if the monitors work with a straight on/off. I`m willing to bet those power switches are connected to a (possibly silent) relay and before the relay switches on it mutes the speakers temporarily.
That is generally how high end monitors work in one way or another.

Get your guy to check it out, it could be that the physical switches are fine and the relay is dead.

Either way, there is always a risk when powering on monitors direct from a strip or the mains or whatever, that`s why they have their own switches. A low risk is still a risk, and when I`m dealing with 3 grand or more or kit, I don`t take the risk.

[Mslwte]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=focal ... vkTup5M%3A

Well looking at the back of your monitor it seems very easy to get inside and replace with an upgraded switch. The switch looks like a common shape and size as well.