Amp On or Off?

I'll share my opinion here..I know Iv'e previously mentioned it in some thread somewhere...It really does add up to your priorities, and wheather or not you want,can or should leave it on continously is a matter of choice. I have been around many professional audio shops over the years and find some prefer to turn off at days end and power back up at the start of business hours the next morning.Many prefer to leave on continously and damn the cost and wear(dealers sell them as demo's anyway and they wont have them for long)

I take the following approach...Since my pre amp is tube, that's turned off for obvious reasons of tube life..tubes heat up and stabilize fairly quickly(usually within 30min).

My Wadia stays on continously...The folks at Wadia feel very strongly that digital is best left powered on constantly. In fact, the say digital takes about 72 hours from cold start to sound it's optimum.

As for the amp... What I did was to incorporate a single source Hi current line conditioner made by the folks at Virtual Mode. They are a small company based in Conneticut.( Check out their site at www.virmode.com) Their ClearPower 2( now updated)line conditioner is a passive surge protector and voltage drop(brown AC) protection device that incorporates a 2 position switch that allows a soft start turn on/off cycle. The unit contains no MOV's or transformers and does not affect the audio band frequency, just the 60 hz line voltage. It provide RF protection and quiets the line noise. It works basically by allowing a small voltage to be at the amps power supply when in the off position( amp switch left on) then, when turned to the 1st position, limits the voltage to 90 Volts and upon switching to the on position after about 10 seconds.. allows full 120V to be at the amp..Essentially it's a double soft start turn on. I feel this allows the amp to be turned off and save wear,heat,electric etc.. while allowing the amp to cycle on so as not to have the in-rush of full voltage and current at turn on. It's reasonably priced as well. and is quiet as a mouse.
With out something like this PLC, I would probably leave my Plinius SA100 MkII on continously...although in AB not Class A! If I only had a Class A amp...Id rather turn it on/off as needed so it doesn't bake in its case!
Happy listening!-Ken

I use a Tripp-Lite surge protector. This, I hope, reduces in-rush current damage when amp is first turned on. For class A/B avoiding in-rush current seems to be the main reason to leave on all the time.

It depends of the design of the amplifier. A good example is:
YBA amps are designed to be leave on all the time but not Gamut amps as the designer told me.

Always leave it ON so that it remians stable.

This has been covered many times in the archives. There are some threads that contain various explanations / points of view as to why some of us feel the way that we do. I would suggest taking a look at those answers, digesting that info and then doing some simple testing for yourself. For your convenience, here's one covering Class A amps, but most of the info can be carried over to high bias AB amps also. Sean
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comments & first hand experience with leaving amps turned on

Bravo to Elizabeth for clarity.
There is compromise available. I have a Rowland which goes into standby when the 'Mute" button is pressed. In this position it stays on but only uses as much juice as a 100 watt light bulb. Surely other manufacturers offer this feature. Shop around.
The amp stays warm and the bill stays small. Everybody wins.

Off when not in use. Ask you amp's designer if it sounds different, in their experience, after it has been on a while. My designer said turn it off, but not tell anyone, if I wanted to stay in the "club." I do not appreciate in difference in sound, either.

Charlie

It being a solid state amp I would just leave it on. They say it will be less stresful on the internal components; plus it isn't very expensive. My old Bryston 4B-ST only cost approx. $7.00 a month to leave on. Best, Charlie