Powering on a Mackie Mixer

We have a large mackie mixer at church. The music team likes to set the mix and then just turn down the main volume before powering on or off. The priest is concerned that, with the individual sliders up the board may suffer some electrical surges that might damage it, even if the overall volume is at minimum when powered on. Is he right?

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Graham

Hello Graham,

Leaving the channel faders up when powering on/off the mixer will not hurt anything. NOTE: Be sure that the power amp is off before turning the mixer on or off to avoid damaging the speakers.

That being said, it is always best to lower all faders and zero the pots (knobs) when the mixer is not in use. Leaving a potentiometer in the same position over time can create a little oxide build-up that can cause the potentiometer to not work smoothly and cause scratchy noises when the fader or knob is passed through that area. Granted it is a pain to have to readjust the mixer each time, but it is a very good preventative measure.

Best Regards,

Dave


[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 02-08-2005).]