The receiver should be smart enough to mute the output when an HDMI negotiation occurs. It seems yours isn't doing so. When the state of the HDMI connections change the full HDMI chain has to renegotiate with each other.
For instance, when I'm listening to a DVD-Audio disc on my Pioneer DVD player, and I turn on or off my TV, the audio mutes while the receiver goes from being a repeater to an end point, the DVD player goes from outputting 1080i, to 480p. That takes a couple seconds, but then audio resumes without an pop.
I'd say it's a design flaw from the 8002 being an early implementation of HDMI, where not all the quirks had been discovered yet.
