Chatted with the techie from Mesa (in California) today. He said the pop is normal with the Prodigy and that I should hit the standby switch first before powering down. I asked him if this was a design thing and he said yes, but obviously didn't want to tell me just what. Probably just as well, he would only have confused me! I'm trusting him at this point and plowing forward. The amp is working great.