Do I NEVER shut it off…?

High end SS-it's just what you do for "that sound"

How's the electricity bill?

Turn on 1 hour before listening that is enough.

Buy a power company.

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.

@jomohifi,
@ebm and @tvad provided you the correct information. Enjoy that amplifier 😊.
Charles

Thanks guys - Just double checking…!

Hey Guys - Just FYI…

While the Diablo 300 produces more power than the Colosseum it is not a full class A amplifier. It produces about 20 watts in Class A. The maximum current delivery of the Colesseum stereo amplifier is astonishing allowing it to deliver a maximum short-term power of 5400 watts. The Diablo 300 limit is 950 watts.

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. 

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.  

Told you it would hurt.

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....

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.

   Sorry, rambled again.........

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.

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.

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

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. 

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

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…!

Cheers to all for a sound weekend…!

The House reference, was either that one or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JOKakmbnVE  admittedly a close call. 

What, no mention of cartridge warm-up?

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.

My brother has the latest Diablo high bias in class A in part he  said shut off and then when listening it may take an hour to fully warn up.

I forget to mention if you have the digital card it will take much longer 
to warm up, my brothers  does not.

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.

@jnorris2005  
  +1
  Yep! 

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.   

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!

@ asiaaudiosoc7 - 

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.

&terry9  Obviously, you've not heard of Kart Koozies.....

Easy on, easy off; 2 versions, battery and USB powered....

...quite the rage...if you can't stand the idea of a cold stylus.....;)

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.

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.

My god, use standby mode.

good some have made these comments.

You guys are so snarky and mean to each other… 
I feel like Scarlet O’Hara trying my best to rely on the kindness of strangers.

I love all the helpful comments…and we’re all a little nuts here…(at least that’s what my wife thinks)… I’m inclined to agree with her….!!

Have a great Sunday…and don’t worry… I promise not to burn down my house or short change my Prius or fry eggs on my amp… (maybe heat up a burrito…!)

🌯

You might want to re-watch that one.

Frankly, my dear, etc, etc. 

Then watch A Streetcar Named Desire, where Blanch DuBois says, "Whoever you are I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."  

Pass Xa25.  Nelson says leave it on for an hour.  I have left it on for a week to experiment.  There is better space and transients.  Not worth the electricity.  Fyi.  Warm but not hot after that.  I turn off the tube preamp because i am under the assumption hours of life counts when turned on.

Whether a bad practice or not, i never leave something on forever. Heating and cooling cycles may cause strain but depends also on on construction and casing and how fast it cools down after shut off.

As I was told by a man with a great ear who owns several amps
including a Pass 250.8. Off, then a  One hour warmup. 

As I was told by another very experienced fellow also with a 
great ear. Keep the DACs on always. SS may take a week to 
fully wake up.

I go with the One hour warmup. Even for the DAC. After all there
must be some advantages to a limited hearing range.

As I was told by another very experienced fellow also with a
great ear. Keep the DACs on always. SS may take a week to
fully wake up.

I don't know about the ears but this one is a great listener. The other one, not so much.

I had the same question for whether to keep my first watt j2 on all the time or no. i posed the same question to Nelson Pass and he said one should keep it off until an hour or so before listening. Keeping it on all the time can reduce its life he said. 

You can leave it on all the time but it is best to shut it off for obvious reasons but for the best sound all the time you need to leave it on.

My Pass Labs XA-25 has not been turned off even once since it was plugged in...except for a couple power outages that lasted a few hours during storms. 

My Pass XP-15 doesn't have a power switch. 

Hello, 
First, I would ask the manufacturer. Something with a fan motor will not last. If you listen every day I would leave it on. If you go on vacation for a week or so turn it off. Somethings do not do well when they are turned on and off all the time. Some manufacturers didn’t even put a power switch on there amps. I have tested this myself. Most things improve drastically. If you can’t hear a difference then go according to the manufactures recommendations. I can’t imagine the caps are fully charged in an hour. I remember the big Electrocompaniet amps sounded best after 2-3 days though they were the size of carry-on suitcases. I do know that some standby power options still leave the amp pretty charged up. I am demoing the Ayre VX-5 amplifier. At first the amp was a little sterile, but the bass was really punchy. Two days later it sounds like heaven. Everything sounds so detailed and very life like. The store I buy gear from in the Chicagoland area is the only Ayre dealer in three states. https://holmaudio.com/
At 175 watts per channel this Ayre VX-5 amp is awesome. Any ways, Call the manufacturer. Ayre said leave it on unless you are not going to use it for a week or so. It sounds better. 

All this bs about energy consumption is not based on ANY science on this planet at any level or any narrative. 

Are there any rational people that actually believe that something like climate change could actually be caused by man?  That is so stupid and disproven by years of research, mathematics and physics that it make all the climate terrorists look stupid.

Do the science and math if you think otherwise.

i have a mcintosh mx132 in standby mode and my mc602 in the remote mode. is this the same as 'not turning it off'??

@bpoletti 

Please leave your politics at home.