Break in: what do you folks think?
Comments
-
I was told directly from McCormack that the believe their amps should be left on 24 hours. The tech cited specifically thermal and stress issues with powering on/off, and that the transformer, being a large hunk of copper, would perform at its best if left fully energized. It is their thought that powering on and off will, in fact, reduce lifespan of certain components.
Also, he said the idle draw and temperature was not that significant, especially in the day and age of so many electronics in homes which are never truly powered down. My amp has been on for about a month now, and the heat sinks, at idle, or barely warm.
If this is true why bother installing a power button... -
I was told directly from McCormack that the believe their amps should be left on 24 hours. The tech cited specifically thermal and stress issues with powering on/off, and that the transformer, being a large hunk of copper, would perform at its best if left fully energized. It is their thought that powering on and off will, in fact, reduce lifespan of certain components.
Also, he said the idle draw and temperature was not that significant, especially in the day and age of so many electronics in homes which are never truly powered down. My amp has been on for about a month now, and the heat sinks, at idle, or barely warm.
If this is true why bother installing a power button...
Because you need to turn the unit off when swapping cables etc.The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact. -
Don't swap cables or it could affect the lifespan. I'm just saying. I don't necessarily agree with leaving them on, I just find it funny , leave it on don't leave it on. We are not talking stoves or fridges and as a poster above mentioned most now come with power and standby.
-
If I am going to listen to music during the day I turn my amp on and leave it on, I don't turn it off when music is not playing. I don't see any benefit in letting it run 24/7 though, so it is turned off overnight.The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact. -
I was not necessarily suggesting that you never turn anything off completely just that if you minimize on off cycles there may be a long term benefit. I read some stuff about thermal stress causing voids and stuff in IC interconnects. this can not be good.
-
meh. Afterburnt asked... and I offered what I had been told by a respected builder of amps. A power switch is handy in bad weather.... I don't leave anything on, or plugged in when lightning is around. And doesn't standby leave current but disconnect the outputs?Polk Lsi9
N.E.W. A-20 class A 20W
NAD 1020 completely refurbished
Keces DA-131 mk.II
Analysis Plus Copper Oval, Douglass, Morrow SUB3, Huffman Digital
Paradigm DSP-3100 v.2 -
I figured that a lot of the folks here that are into electronics on a technical level may have explored such minutia. Anything that I think is just a WAG I imagine that maybe a transformer could maintain the same temps but the amp IC's have relatively wide swings in temp
-
amps are one to leave on, but if your pre has lighted front panel I know from experience that it WILL wreck the panel. My old Yamaha receiver burned out many of the lit LED's and the ones not burned up were too dim to see anymore. I now leave the panel on my Denon AVR OFF as well as any other I only turn on to see what the heck I'm doing then right back off.
-
'Standby' on an amp is different than 'On'. My Pass amps are in 'Standby' all week, but only 'On' on Friday and Saturday. When in 'Standby' they consume little electricity, and are cool to the touch. When 'On' they consume a lot of electricity, and are hotter than Hades to the touch.
On the other hand, my Pass preamp is always on since it does not have a power switch.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
afterburnt wrote: »I am wondering about thermal stress on components and cycling them on and off frequently and how this could effect component performance and life span. I know temperatures generated by some components are a function of the load and vary accordingly. I am trying find out if certain components reach operating temperature and generally maintain that temperature or if some have wide variations while they are in use as opposed to just being energized.
Thanks
Dave
Depends greatly on the components, the design, and how they interact, etc. There is no one "blanket" statement. Well designed equipment is engineered in a way that they will be extremely reliable within their parameters of use.
Visa-versa for poorly designed equipment.
You are making it too complicated.
H9
P.s. My amp idles at 200 watts and get so hot you can only touch the fins for less than 10 seconds and it will raise room temp by 2-3*. BUT, it was designed to run that way and there is a reason to run it that way (better performance in this design, Single Ended Class A). The amp designer Nelson Pass states they have less than a 1/10th of 1% failure rate and the components (transistors) are only running at less than 30% of what they are rated for.
Rock solid for 10+ years and I leave it on for days or weeks in the Winter. Not so much in the Summer because of the heat.
Lesser designs would vaporize.....lol. My point is you can't make a blanket all encompassing statement.
"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
To answer the vague question, I believe very much in breaking in new gear as well as gear sitting un-used for a period of time.
H9
P.s. I've heard the difference break in can make. Tube gear, as an example, takes a good 20-30 minutes to start to reach it's best sounding point from cold."Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
It also takes my solid state amp about 40-60 minutes to start to open up and sound its best. So I always turn everything on about an hour before a listening session. Amp stays on most of the time during the 3 seasons. Summer I shut it down if I know it's not going to be used.
H9
P.s. This is by design....your results may vary. Single Ended Class A takes a bit of warm up time to settle in to sounding its best."Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
do you
-
leave tube
-
gear on all the time?
-
You never leave a tube amp powered up while not around.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
afterburnt, you're over thinking this. Do whatever you are comfortable with.
Me....my big rig stays on 24/7 unless there's a T-storm, same for my office rig. The other rigs I power down when not in use.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
What about the old saying amp on last and off first? My SAE has no power switch so am I to assume I should leave it on? I did have it restored so I not worried about failure so much as just the correct method. It does sound better well warmed up.
-
"not worried about failure so much as just the correct method"
I'm not even worried about that anymore. That's her problem baby!
-
@GDP even with your sae amp has been completely overhalled, i would not keep it on all the time.Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
-
Sometimes I have been leaving it on through the weekend if I I'm home to use it, but I have been shutting it down during the week. I never feel comfortable leaving it on, if I'm away from the house verry long.
![[Deleted User]](https://w4.vanillicon.com/40bc09a87daec053937ab0249c85e591_100.png)
