Each on of my amps running all year costs less than their idle Prius charger hanging on the wall costs them for one month.
An idle Prius charger draws less than two Watts. Your box fan uses a lot more power than that, let alone any amp that needs to be cooled down by one.
I admit that I will occasionally leave my Pass XA60.8s powered on over night if I’m planning a critical listening session the next day, but generally switch them to standby when I’m not listening. But I had to call you out on your rediculous statement.
Yes and yes. People have the perception that heat is the enemy of electronics. They are only partially correct. The enemy of electronics is the heating and cooling cycles. This creates the expansion snd contraction of electronic components that will creat micro cracks and eventually lead to failure. Quality manufactures use components that are made for their heat ratings. I am running an old sansui 7070 in my wife's business. Other than power outings it has not been shut off for 26 years. I run class A mono blocks and yes they get very warm. When I am done listening I put a box fan on them. Don’t feed into the so called “green” crowd. Each on of my amps running all year costs less than their idle Prius charger hanging on the wall costs them for one month.
1) Could you please cite examples of amps burning down residential houses. Provide links for articles specifically noting the cause of the residential fire that destroyed a home was a high end audio amplifier.
2) There's no need for excuses for leaving the amp on if it improves sound quality. That's the entire point of having better equipment.
My Herron M1 amps have been on for years. I only turn them off if I'm going on holiday for more than a week or if we're having electrical work performed on our home.
I would not leave a big power amp on continuously. 1) They are powerful enough that if something goes wrong it could burn down your house. Unless you put in a tiny fuse, which would defeat the purpose of having a big amp. 2) In today's world there is no excuse for burning up the planet just for a bit of euphoria. If your amp needs to be on all the time it's time to change it, good excuse to go shopping!
IME SS amps sound best when left on continuously.
I listen to my system at least a few hours daily (usually more) so leave the amp on unless I'm out of town for a few days or we're having thunderstorms in the area.
Yes, leave it on all the time, so that when the power bounces on and off due to a quick summer thunderstorm you can haul the smoking carcass of your amp back to the manufacturer so they can charge you big bucks to replace every component inside. The best advice was to turn it on an hour before listening - the rest of it is elitist audiophile hogwash.
i am bothered by two things in your question. First the assertion that it must be left on constantly. Maybe, but i do not find this to be true with my own designs. Rather i find a HUGE change in the first 30 minutes, a smaller change int he net hour and a decreasing benefit thereafter -- but your experience my very. I will say that many of my designs have the low-power circuitry on 24x7 with no provision to be turned on and off - because it does improve sound ( and IMO, longevity). But the power hungry output stages....my advice would be - experiment and list. Do it multiple times since perception can be affected by many environmental influences.
My second concern is that it gets marginally too hot to touch. Maybe i'm just conservative, but that sounds like poor design to me. Nothing i design runs too hot to touch. Do your own testing.
Up to now, I’ve been following the instructions and using standby mode if I’m away all day. The amp sounds so amazing on a cold start as well as being on all day… maybe just a little more mellow when warmed up. I’ve only had it a few weeks and only get the weekends to really give it a spin around the block. I feel like the amp is thinking about the music - giving equal measure some of the time…while other times holding back on the boomy bass and articulating clean vibration…at the same time keeping highs like warm honey…never shrill or painful…and presenting this amazing full spectrum of sound that I feel in my nasal passages and my gut at the same time. Slap, Boom & Sizzle… Combined with the SF Serafino’s… I feel like I’m being lured into heaven by Darth Vader who’s been abusing steroids and testosterone and a gorgeous Venice Canal Riva Boat leading me to Cipriani’s for that perfect Bloody Mary…!
Word of mouth/grapevine says the Hugarian made Qualiton tube amplifiers are fabulous. More expensive than Quicksilver and Raven Audio though. Maybe different levels of performance to explain higher cost. Charles
this is my response in these power on threads. i have a couple amplifiers that are over 30 years old. i always power down when not in use. they still sound great today, even after a short warmup. i do this with my newer amps and preamps too. would my 30 year old amps sound this good today if they had been powered on continuously for the past 30 years? dont know, dont need to.
posts06-12-2021 4:49pm’I leave the main power switch on but put my Diablo 300 into standby as recommended by Gryphon (either by remote or front touchpad) when I’m done for the nigh’
That makes perfect sense. @jomohifi were you aware that your Diablo has a standby mode? Charles
I leave the main power switch on but put my Diablo 300 into standby as recommended by Gryphon (either by remote or front touchpad) when I’m done for the night. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes to be fully back but usable during that time. The power draw in standby has been measured at 0.5 watts compared to 152 watts at idle by Stereo Magazine.
Moon By Simaudio is Class A/B and the manual for my 600v2 states to leave it powered up and only to shut it down if you will be away for a prolonged period of time. I am going to say the the 600v2 may be going back as this Qualiton X200 is a much better sounding unit and $3000.00 lighter.
The Hungarian is staying and I think we became an all tube house. Audio Hungary, Raven, Quicksilver.
Amps can be “on” continuously, if you choose to do so.
My amps, preamps, source, are unplugged until I’m ready for a jam night, then I plug them in, remove the covers, power up 24 hrs before I sit down with a dram for a nice relaxing music evening. With our power we have here, I keep unplugged. Have had my Furman on many occasions shut itself down due to over current. Better safe than sorry. Love my Furman!
It’s up to you, if the amps are plugged into a good strip, go ahead and leave on,...or turn off during the week, and power up for the weekends........
congrats on the new amp!!, heard nice things about it. We expect a report and review in a few weeks.....
Have heard leaving on is better for the inrush limiter, for the caps, and everything, as it’s stabilized when on all the times. On and off repeatedly have heard is bad for the internal parts, going from charged to uncharged caps every time the amp is turned on. Then again, also heard it’s bad to leave on, .........
it is up to you. Many people leave their components on 365 days a year With no issues for many years. with my luck, I baby my components, off and covered until ready for use.
Did leave my old Carvin dcm amps on all the time, they lasted over a year , until one fan went out , then one amp just smoked one evening, while listening, smelled this capacitor burn smell,....sure nuff, other amp just puffed a small cloud, and shut down. Those were fun amps, had 2500W mono pair carvin amps.
I LOVE the reference to "House".. That's hysterical..! Thanks for that, @millercarbon.......I LOVE talking about all this stuff and I'm always open to learn anything. I just can't believe I'm lucky enough to own such lovely pieces....
All solid state regardless of class takes days to reach full saturation/equilibrium and so needs to be left on 24/7 in order to hear full performance.
Don’t take my word for it. Never just take anyone’s word for anything. That includes the manufacturer. Unless you really think any manufacturer is going to tell you the truth, that his SS masterpiece will not sound its best unless left on 24/7/365. He won’t. Truth hurts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk4g3cippOo
So what you do, leave it on for at least a week. Get good and used to how it sounds left on all the time like this. Then one night turn it off. Leave it off until the next time you are ready to listen. Turn it on. Listen.
Now either you realize it sounds nowhere near as good, or you realize you can’t hear the difference. Either way now at last you know the truth.
I guess the real answer is to try a one hour warmup and a 24 hour warm up and see if you can hear a difference. Personally I think it's bad form to leave high power equipment turned on 24/7.
While theDiablo 300produces more power than the Colosseum it is not a fullclass A amplifier. It produces about 20 watts inClass A. The maximum current delivery of the Colesseum stereo amplifier is astonishing allowing it to deliver a maximum short-term power of 5400 watts. TheDiablo 300limit is 950 watts.
You bought SS not knowing it needs to be left on to sound good? Tablejockey is correct. You will never hear a sizeable amount of what you paid for unless you leave it on. Live and learn.
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