I left my 120 on for 4 straight months burning in 3 different streamers (silly me…). It’s hot at the heat sink, but its an amp born from the caverns of the underworld!
Lately I’ve been turning it off (standby - red light on) at night and turning it back on at breakfast. Warm up shmarm -up, immediately let the background music wake me up. Dont have a dedicated space so my amp does double duty in our living room. I do critical listening at all times, warm up or on all day…too many variables to consider.
My brain wants to tell me it sounds better after its been on for hours…but of course my fridge, water cooler or aquaponic garden want me to hear them instead…luckily i decided to hold off on a reef tank.
I leave my ss stuff on all the time (occasionally unplug if I will be away for a while or threat of severe storms). Improves dynamics and timbre especially on acoustic instruments. Takes my amp about three days to get up to speed. The DACs all behave differently, the Cambridge DACMagic seems to be bulletproof (I have melted a few power supplies, so I am cautious and turn it off), the Schiit DACs I just leave on, no problem with their cheap bur reliable power supplies. Not much current passes through the system when it’s not being used, so electrical draw is a non-issue. I am more concerned about the thermal cycles of turning the components on and off (when I say the DACMagic is bulletproof I mean it seems to be able to handle being turned on and off).Tube gear gets turned off, but they do sound better and probably last longer if left on. If I turn my Odyssey Candela on a few hours before listening it seems to be less fatiguing, but leaving it on overnight doesn’t seem to improve it. Probably wear out the tubes a little faster but I don’t care - they are cheap enough to replace.My advice is to test it yourself. You may not hear much if you are perched on the edge of your seat trying to discern a difference, but if you just listen to your program and make a few notes during and after the session you will notice some trends (musical engagement and lack of fatigue come to mind). Also, check with your manufacturer.
Current line-up: Source > ss Odyssey Suspiro phono-pre > Odyssey Candela (turn on and off) > Odyssey Khartego > speakers Source > various DACS that I leave on (except for the DACMagic) > Candela, etc. Note: I didn’t buy the Odyssey gear all at once. I started with a hot-rodded Khartego, then started adding new pieces as they came up (Candela from the ’gon, Suspiro I got talked into by Klauss). If you can deal with Odyssey (interesting people), you will end up with some really fine stuff without spending a ton of money.
I believe that if you have a well regulated power supply, an amp can be turned off. As Paul of PS Audio says, the huge turn on current of amps can eventually damage them. My Audire's have 4 26.000 mf filter caps per channel to fill, but with one chip per channel to regulate the current, it has so far not been an issue for 40 years. I wonder why PS Audio doesn't use this, or if they do, why would there be a lot of current? I do know: An audio manufacturer can use fewer, smaller filter caps to save money, but then they must recharge immediately. The Audire's 200 wpc Bryston contemporary used two 4000's per channel, vs. my 125 wpc Audire's 4 26,000 per channel. At a medium volume, it plays for about 20 seconds after turnoff. Three of theses does not blow a 15 amp breaker at turn on, so my 30 amper is fine.
I have a pair of Pass XA-200.5's. Warming them up for 1 hours makes a significant, easily noticeable improvement. Leaving them one for a day makes for another step - not quite as immediately noticeable but during serious listening - the subtleties, transits, images and the space around them and cohesiveness of the entire presentation is noticeably refined / better. Just what I've experienced. Anyone in the central NJ area is welcome to share an evening of listening to music for a fix that should last at least a week.
I agree with @sokogear. I use a Plinius pre and amp and my rig is always on unless I go on vacation. I always power everything down then just because of potential lightning storms. My rig has run this way for years. The way I look at it, cooling and re-warming is like bending a piece of metal, eventually it will break. I don't know if there is any validity to that hypothesis but that's what I do.
The Ayre VX-R benefited from being left on. Possibly due to the Billet chassis cooling combined w On Semiconductor thermal trac output devices. The VX-R Twenty, sounded fantastic 20 minutes out of Ayre standby.
I have all Ayre electronics which provide a trickle charge when "off". I don't hear a change from when I turn it "on" to an hour later, however, MCarbon may very well be right.....so I'll leave it on for a couple of weeks, turn it off and listen again the next day. Thanks for the tip.
No need to leave amps on all the time, just turn them on for awhile before you are going to listen so they can warm up. How long that is you'll have to find out or take the advice of other owners.
I have a pair of Class A amps that use up 300 W each when not putting out any sound. Keeping them on all the time would make the electric meter spin like a kid's pinwheel toy and would also turn any room they were into into a sauna in summer.
Leaving it on 24/7 is ridiculous! Absolutely no science behind any of it! Just peoples theories. Turn on, wait 30 minutes to an hour to get warm, then enjoy. Been doing this for over 25 years with some of the finest amps in the world. Works perfect! Pretty common sense here, come on!
I used to turn off my Plinius amp every two weeks when the cleaning ladies came just out of paranoia and immediately turn them back on after they left. When I talked to the Plinius service guy (yes there is one in the US even though their sales efforts have focused more or Asia/Australia/New Zealand) he told me not to turn it off ever - they don't go anywhere near the equipment, but I was worried just in case there was a new person in the crew.
They are very well designed and use minimal electricity when not playing. He said that powering everything up puts stress on the parts and will make the amp age faster. Of course he offered to recap and update everything in my amp (even though everything sounds better than ever). SS amps can last for decades without worry. That's the beauty of them - plus some sound really nice.
Other amps may not be as well designed - check with the manufacturer. Fans, tubes, whatever may have different recommendations. For me, I'd hate to have to wait an hour for warm up time. Often, I'll just play one record or a side. Turning everything on and off for that is nuts.
I had this exact question regarding my First Watt J2. So I called Nelson Pass. He said what turns his amp on earlier in the day if he knows he’s going to listen to it. So that’s what I do.
If Nelson says so, I don’t need no freakin science. 😀
The only piece of audio equipment that ever came close to starting a fire was a carver receiver I had in the late 1980's, it shot a big flame out the top cover, so I suppose if I would have put a magazine on top of it there might have been a fire.
Yes, shut it off, especially when going away or not listening for over a week. You are just wasting electricity. It only takes about a half hour roughly for most things to fully warm up. Class A may take up to 90 minutes to sound its best.
Ah well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.
"Not this science" responds and refers to "Their are many scientists that disagree with the accepted science." (invalid's post)
By all means, don’t take my word for it. If either of you can read a scientific discussion, ask the question on a science board. I’m retired, and don’t have the patience. And when last I looked, this was an audio forum. Yet again, please leave your politics at home.
That is NOT science. NOT the scientific method. ALL science must be subject to skepticism, and observed data. Just because a narrative fits a political agenda does not make it science and immune to review.
Well said. The so called scientists on this subject are not looking at anything but man made climate change.
That is NOT science. NOT the scientific method. ALL science must be subject to skepticism, and observed data. Just because a narrative fits a political agenda does not make it science and immune to review.
"Accepted science" requires proof, not conjecture. Science and the scientific method REQUIRES healthy skepticism, not blind acceptance. (Think of how dangerous pharma could become without healthy skepticism and hard proof.)
Every man-made climate change prediction has failed to materialize. The only observable climate change is more minor than predictions for natural cyclical climate. And far less severe than the Hamptons and Florida Keys underwater by 2012, ice caps gone by 2014.
The last I read, less than 20% of ALL scientists believe man-made climate change exists. I can think of no mathematicians that have reviewed the published work that
So the conclusion can ONLY be that man-made climate change MUST be political since it is not supported by science or math.
Your are correct that science and math are not political. What you wrote is against the accepted science, which was pretty much settled 20 years ago. The manner of your dogmatic assertion is political, and the antithesis of science.
Again, please leave your politics at home.
For the record, both of my advanced degrees are in math and science. It's Dr. if you like.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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