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

@jl35 I've repaired over 50 amplifiers.  Leaving them on 24/7 definitely shortens their lifespan due the wet-electrolytic power supply capacitors failing.  Pass knows this, but the failure is gradual (takes about 2000 hours) and he figures you won't be comparing your amp to a new one to notice the difference anyway.

I understand aball, but after all these decades,  I'm going to keep trusting Pass and McCormack...

@jl35  I'm like them - we don't care if your amp is worn out. This information is for those who want to know what really happens inside.

Every piece of equipment I've had a failure with was on power up. I've found that most of the small electrolytic capacitors are what fail due to heat in my krell equipment the big power supply caps don't seem to fail as often. 

The power-up condition triggers failures due to inrush current.  In standard failure theory, the starting condition is always the toughest (it's the same for mechanical systems).  Electrolytics are typically rated for 85C, which is actually quite low.  They try to get nicer 105C rated ones for the supply.  Unfortunately many amp designers don't think about thermal management enough.