Less Power Hungry Amp

OOsemka

Hello Music Lovers,

I am looking for your advice on acquiring new/used not so power hungry amp.

I currently have RTI series speakers moded by Trey that are powered by Adcom 5802 (fronts) and Onkyo receiver 809 (middle and surrounds). I really enjoy my setup in terms of quality of sound in movies and music. I mostly enjoy the two front columns powered by adcom.
Even though I feel like Adcom 5802 is great for listening music, I have noticed that my power bills went up, substantially. So I plugged the Adcom to my power meter (kill-a-watt) and noticed that right after I turn the amplifier on the power usage goes up to 300W and then slowly goes down to around 200W. It never goes below 200W. Also there is no automatic power trigger, so amp needs to be turned on and off manually, which is little annoying and sometime I just leave it on for the entire day if I plan to listen to music multiple times during the day.

I am looking for amplifier that meets following requirements. Can you suggest anything?
- great for listening music
- preferably 3 or 5 channel
- is power efficient (either consumes low power at idle or has automatic switch)
- does not cost more then 1k-1.2k

I heard that A-Class amps are the most power hungry (Adcom is A-Class). Should I look for a D-Class device?

Please help!:rolleyes:

PreCd

How much difference have you seen in your power bill since you acquired the Adcom?

heiney9

That's crazy talk, you electric bill isn't going up significantly because of a single power amp. My amp runs full out 100% even at idle which draws about 200wpc and I've left it on equivalent to 1/2 month and my electric bill went up maybe $3. When I first got the amp I use a device called a Kil-o-watt (see link) to calculate the extra energy usage and it totalled about $3 a month with heavy use and being left on 24/7 quite a bit.

http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4460-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B000RGF29Q

The Adcom probably draws less at idle so I can guarantee it's not the culprit.

H9

P.s. My amp is full class A

heiney9

OOsemka wrote: »

I heard that A-Class amps are the most power hungry (Adcom is A-Class). Should I look for a D-Class device?

Please help!:rolleyes:

That is true class A amps draw much more at idle, the Adcom is A/B with a bias into A, but not full class A. Trust me, the amp is not the issue, unless you are looking to save $3-5 a month.

H9

heiney9

Here is a cost calculator. You will need to know your avg. cost per kWh in your area. I say avg. because many times up to a certain amount of kWh it's one cost and then after that it's usually a lesser cost. Assume 200 watts as you have measured.

If my amp is on 6 hours per day (at a draw of 200 watts) at my rate of .069c per kWh that costs me .08c a day. $30.22 a YEAR

Do you really want to get rid of such a great amp to save a few pennies a day?

http://www.citytrf.net/costs_calculator.htm

H9

OOsemka

Thank you for the information.

I think you guys are correct. I used the calculator from the website you provided and the amp should use about $26 worth of electricity a year, which is nothing. Now I wonder why my bill increased about 20-30% a month .. I don't remember bringing any other device to my home. I do have kill-a-watt, so will go around and check everything else.

PreCd

Bad water heater element will do this everytime.

heiney9

OOsemka wrote: »

Thank you for the information.

I think you guys are correct. I used the calculator from the website you provided and the amp should use about $26 worth of electricity a year, which is nothing. Now I wonder why my bill increased about 20-30% a month .. I don't remember bringing any other device to my home. I do have kill-a-watt, so will go around and check everything else.

Good idea, something is causing a spike.

H9

nooshinjohn

PreCd wrote: »

Bad water heater element will do this everytime.

Another thing I have found that completely kills my power bill is winter.

PreCd

Lol! Yes and I see the OP lives in NY. Hm?

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Another thing I have found that completely kills my power bill is winter.

bmbguy

And your bill isn't necessarily *all* power consumption. Just looked at my last bill -- nearly half of the total is the old "Service Availability Charge", which obviously we would pay even if we used 0 kWh. Oh, and then there's the "Delivery Charge" of $0.032/kWh - which is in addition to the charge for power used.

It's always somethin'

OOsemka

Winter this year was very mild here on East Coast and the 20-30% increase is comparing to the same month last year.

nooshinjohn

I always wondered about that "Service Availability Charge", which basically means I am paying someone else's bill on top of my own... I wonder if my power get's shut off for non-payment, does that other person get shut off too? I would hate to feel responsible for that.:rolleyes:

Sorry for the mini derail.:cheesygrin:

heiney9

Also be sure and check the past 6-9 mos worth of bills and see if can spot extra or increasing charges even though you kWh might be similar.

H9

bmbguy

Yeah -- point being that with those extra charges, you actually have to compare kWhs used to see what's really happening, not dollars paid.

Edit -- I see H9 beat me by a millisecond...

lanchile

bmbguy wrote: »

And your bill isn't necessarily *all* power consumption. Just looked at my last bill -- nearly half of the total is the old "Service Availability Charge", which obviously we would pay even if we used 0 kWh. Oh, and then there's the "Delivery Charge" of $0.032/kWh - which is in addition to the charge for power used.

It's always somethin'

lol, you are completely right!!! all this "sub-charges" are insane. I read the bill and the MTA takes a bite too (Here in New York) :sad:

Monster Jam

D class amp. Only uses the power when it needs it, IIRC.

Sunfire and Wired4Sound are a few of the most common Class D amp makers.

F1nut

If it ain't hot, it ain't worth squat.

Face

The local power company only reads the meter every other month. When their estimate is off, the following month they have to make up the difference, which sometimes adds up to a $10-20 difference for me.

F1nut wrote: »

If it ain't hot, it ain't worth squat.

Sure, if you're talking about pie. :twisted:

CoolJazz

If this is a concern, then I recommend selling whatever you have and considering gardening.

CJ

disneyjoe7

200w a hour, 24hr on, 4.8kw a day, adds up to 146kw a month. No too pretty in the end IMHO.

heiney9

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

200w a hour, 24hr on, 4.8kw a day, adds up to 146kw a month. No too pretty in the end IMHO.

For the above, $10.22/month at .07c kWh where I'm at. I don't leave my gear on 24/7, most people don't. If I listened to my rig everyday for several hours I might elect to leave it on. $10 a month is hardly a lot of money if you are enjoying your rig for several hours a day, everyday. If you leave it on 24/7 and only listen a couple hours a week, then yes, it's probably wasteful. Again $10/month isn't a crazy amount, IMO.

H9

SDA1C

F1nut wrote: »

If it ain't hot, it ain't worth squat.

I hope you are referring to tubes Jessie, if not ...I'll take that bet.