Amp — Leave on or turn off


I always turned my Benchmark AHB2 amp off after use every night. After all, why is there an on off switch on the front panel if not to do that? Last night I accidentally left it on. This morning, when I played my first record, I couldn’t believe my ears. The same record I played last night sounded infinitely better. I tried a second record and that, too, was much better.
I know there’s a debate on the question of leaving an amp on all the time.
I now know where I stand!

128x128rvpiano

I'm using class D amps and they usually stay on 24/7, so does the Pass B1 preamp. I only turn them off if I leave for more than 24H. And when I do, it sure takes a little while to fully "bloom" again.

Believe it or not, the only device I turn off at night is the DAC, because it draws more current than the rest (crazy, huh) and has this fluorescent display that you can't switch off and is, as all fluorescent displays, prone to aging.

@soix You can look up ripple capacitor ratings yourself.  Also, McCormack doesn't care if your caps are shot or not lol.  He's in the business of selling amps.  The degradation is gradual so you probably won't realize it until they bulge and blow a fuse.  But I've repaired around 50 amplifiers at this point so I have seen it all.

For the last five years, Bel Canto Black EX is always on except for power outages. components with tubes always turned off after use, but require warm up after they are powered up.