Leaving amps on

zingo

or 845s.

nedh84

Is it true that the fluctuation from Hot (warmed up) to Cold (amps powered off) can possibly do more damage than keeping the amps/receivers on 24/7?

!Jeremy

I feel out of touch with amplifier technology since I wasn't aware that the sound changes based on temperature. I honestly haven't noticed a difference between first turning on my HT gear and what is produced after a couple of hours. So to answer the question Iposted only turn on my gear when I intend to use it. My thought process is that all equipment has a specific life span which is typically rated in hours. If I don't turn on the gear for a month than _hopefully_ I have extended the life by that amount. Bear in mind that all of this is pure speculation and typically isn't very relevant in real world practice since my electronic gear seems to last longer than my desire to own it.

venomclan

fishbones wrote: »

hey hey, another Florida Polkie!!

Well, I can tell you that my stuff stays unplugged whenever not listening, cause I don't need to tell you how it is with lightning down here in south Florida. Surge protectors will only stop so much, and in the 20 yrs I've lived here, I've had 2 direct hits to homes I've lived in! :eek:
...my 2 cents

Depending on the amp, also not a great idea to fight the air conditioner all day long with the amps heat. Especially tubes. Venom

sda2mike

so..on the weekend i've started leaving the amp on all day...i turned it on abt 1030 and started listening at noon....big difference...i kept it on till 9..still cant go to bed knowing it's on:p...

heiney9

I'm at work and everything w/o tubes is on at home for a listening session tonight. I leave my SS stuff on a lot. No worries.

H9

sda2mike

heiney9 wrote: »

I'm at work and everything w/o tubes is on at home for a listening session tonight. I leave my SS stuff on a lot. No worries.

H9

i hear ya...my right ch on my amp is warmish..the left barely room temp..so before i make a habit of leaving the amps on any longer than i do, i need to get the bias sorted out...i have to find the 'emitter' resistor. thats where the test leads go

heiney9

sda2mike wrote: »

i hear ya...my right ch on my amp is warmish..the left barely room temp..so before i make a habit of leaving the amps on any longer than i do, i need to get the bias sorted out...i have to find the 'emitter' resistor. thats where the test leads go

I agree 100% if you know it might have an issue, don't leave it unattended. I sometimes don't like to leave my tubes on if I'm in the shower. Mostly tubes I have just received that are used, until I know there are no funky issues with them.

H9

sda2mike

heiney9 wrote: »

I agree 100% if you know it might have an issue, don't leave it unattended. I sometimes don't like to leave my tubes on if I'm in the shower. Mostly tubes I have just received that are used, until I know there are no funky issues with them.

H9

it's funny: when i start to settle in to a long session, and i'm marveling at the details...i generally nudge the throttle a little at a time, until my hair moves:D that just goes to show what good clean power can do! highly addictive!

munk

There's no way with the brown outs, on and offs, and power surges I'd leave my stuff on. That's electricity for you in eastern montana- this is the last county in the continental US to get electricity, or so I've been told.

Then there's the lightening....

hearingimpared

sda2mike wrote: »

so....do you leave your power amp on..all the time, all weekend or only when you're listening??? your opinions, please;)

thanks
mike

When I was using all sand gear, I left my rig on 24 x 7. Now that I have tubes in two of my components, I turn my rig on a few hours before listening not just to warm up the tubes but also to stabilize the sand gear.

Of course when there was a storm brewing or high winds I would always unplug the rig and still do or if I leave the house for any length of time.

leftwinger57

my 2 channel gear is well, half on half off.My Adcom stays off put my onkyo pre is on stand by.All h/t gear is on standby. I also unplug everything when lightening is happening or going away for awile....LW

leftwinger57

for me it's a h/h situation. my Adcom is off but my pre is on standby,the cdp is also on s/b. All h/t gear is on s/b. When lightening is coming I do unplug everything immediately.
2-ch
Adcomgfa555
OnkyoP301-pre
Infinity sm112s
Denon1910ci cdp
Dual1219 turntable
Shure-pro headphones
H/T
Toshiba au37
Yamaharx v665 avr
Denon1910ci cdp
Klipsch500 set/wpwrsub
Yamaha ysd-11dock
Apple i-pod

Joe08867

Turn my tubes on at least 2 hrs prior to listening. My Solid State stuff for HT is on all the time. No real heat unless being used so power consumption I presume is low.

The tubes don't get the workout I would like lately, just to dang busy.:(

leftwinger57

I NEVER LEAVER EITHER MY AVR OR 2-CH AMP OR ANYOTHER GEAR ON1. Ithink it's a waste of electricity.2. It clearly adds to the use/wear on the units. Maybe in tubes it's ok to be on for extended periods, but I can't see it. Also my town is prone to storms and lightening and the last thing thing you want is all your gear ready to take a hit. Surgex aside nothing is stoping a stray or direct hit from frying your gear.....LW

heiney9

I doesn't wear the unit out any faster, it most likely extends unit life. Power cycle on and off is harder on gear than letting it run all the time. As far as a waste of energy, I did a calculation with my gear left on per day it's about .10c for a total of about $3 a month. Not hardly a waste IMO.

H9

Rev. Hayes

leftwinger57 wrote: »

my 2 channel gear is well, half on half off.My Adcom stays off put my onkyo pre is on stand by.All h/t gear is on standby. I also unplug everything when lightening is happening or going away for awile....LW

leftwinger57 wrote: »

I NEVER LEAVER EITHER MY AVR OR 2-CH AMP OR ANYOTHER GEAR ON

So, which of you is the evil twin? :eek::p

sda2mike

this past weekend i had the amp on from friday to sunday night...it's gotta be something else but, i had an annoying ground-loop buzzzzz..now, it's gone! silence!

hearingimpared

Leaving solid state gear on 24 X 7 prolongs the life of the gear. I got that straight from the engineer at Spectral. It also makes sense in that you are not constantly causing a surge each time you power up through the components.

ShinAce

hearingimpared wrote: »

Leaving solid state gear on 24 X 7 prolongs the life of the gear. I got that straight from the engineer at Spectral. It also makes sense in that you are not constantly causing a surge each time you power up through the components.

In an ideal world. Yes. It's akin to "mean cycles between failures" which means, how often you can heat it up to working temp and cool it down before it breaks.

A car engine would have a similar stat. It's works better hot, but the constant heating and cooling can cause metal fatigue. How many engines have cracked on you?

The same applies to amps. If you're only worried about the transistors failing, leaving the amps always on is a good idea. But we're talking literally millions of heating and cooling cycles for this failure mode.

I personally leave my amps on until bedtime. They get turned on anywhere between 9am and 9pm, then off by 2am.

inspiredsports

hearingimpared wrote: »

When I was using all sand gear, I left my rig on 24 x 7. Now that I have tubes in two of my components, I turn my rig on a few hours before listening not just to warm up the tubes but also to stabilize the sand gear.

Of course when there was a storm brewing or high winds I would always unplug the rig and still do or if I leave the house for any length of time.

Exactly

inspiredsports

ShinAce wrote: »

In an ideal world. Yes. It's akin to "mean cycles between failures" which means, how often you can heat it up to working temp and cool it down before it breaks.

A car engine would have a similar stat. It's works better hot, but the constant heating and cooling can cause metal fatigue. How many engines have cracked on you?

The same applies to amps. If you're only worried about the transistors failing, leaving the amps always on is a good idea. But we're talking literally millions of heating and cooling cycles for this failure mode.

I personally leave my amps on until bedtime. They get turned on anywhere between 9am and 9pm, then off by 2am.

But is the reason to leave on versus cycle on and off completely about "fatigue to failure", or the slow degradation of caps, etc.?

leftwinger57

All my gear is off until played. If a storm is coming then I would unplug everything. After reading most of your posts concerning surge/pros I'm leaning toward buying a surgex or some equivilant product. It seems that if one can gamble on car insurance why not the gear that brings so muh joy......LW

thor098

I agree with eveinaz. My Parasound amps never sound bad. I have an adcom amp though that takes around 15 minutes to warm up and before it sounds it's best so when it was my main amp, I left it on all the time.

veerapaneni

If i left my Anthem P5 Amp all the time, i need to pay big for my PG&e Bill. It consumes 380W when idle. I use 12v trigger to control it.