monitors/mixer for studio in a box

[corban]

hopefully soon I'm actually going to have a fairly nice dedicated studio space, an attic with wood floors. I'll be recording all sorts in there but won't have a separate room for tracking. I run everything through my preamps -> motu -> into my computer and do all other processing in the box, so I don't use a mixer. I just control the level of my monitors with the volume knob on my MOTU. However since I'll be tracking in the same room I envision having to turn my monitors on and off regularly for tracking and then listening back. I'll put them on a dedicated power bar and just hit the switch when it's recording time.

Is there any reason I should avoid doing this? When my Behringer Truths have only been turned off for a short amount of time, they pop when you turn them back on. Is that a problem? Should I just get a small mixer?

 

[KineticSound]

It would be easier to simply mute the output buss that feeds the monitors during tracking (I'm assuming you'll monitor through headphones during tracking via a headphone buss, which is what I do). Then you simply unmute the monitor buss during playback.

The damage potential depends on how much you're turning those amps on and off. I'm not the expert, but I would think you could easily damage the capacitors in the monitors' amps by constantly turning them on and off. That, in turn, could potentially damage the speakers. Best to leave them on and simply mute the signal.

 

[corban]

Only problem there is my MOTU 24i (which I have because I got it from a friend for next to nothing) isn't very flexible when it comes to outputs, so I can't do any routing. It only has the main L and R outputs. I run those into a headphone amp, and take the outputs from that into my monitors. The headphone amp does not control the outputs it just passes it through. So if I turn down the volume on the motu, I not only lose my monitor volume, but headphone volume as well.

Thanks for the info on possible damage.