Well, the railroad cars did make a lot of noise coming down the hill and hitting those braking bars. That summer was my only exposure to the railroad. Some pretty interesting old technology from their bygone days. My system costs me $0.06/hour to operate; but in the summer I figure double that because I have to pump the heat out of the house. In the winter, I might leave the stereo on all weekend, but I just can't seem to leave it on as background music. The stereo sucks me in. I can't walk by without sitting down and turning up the volume and pretty soon a few hours have gone by and I haven't gotten anything done. I don't know what I will do when I go online with my music one day- especially HD Audio. That is what I am looking forward to next.
I'm sure, if they used some nice NOS tubes in those 2 long banks of vacuum tubes on that braking system computer, the sound of the railroad cars braking would sound warmer, more organic, more full bodied and with just a touch of bloom.
The current solid state braking systems sound just a little too neutral, accurate and sterile for my tastes. Weird but true.
I worked out at the railroad yards my first summer starting college in 1976. I walked into a radar shack one day. This building had a radar that read the speed of the railroad cars and applied braking to control their speed. The whole thing was done with an analog computer. This analog computer was two long banks of cabinets full of vacuum tubes. There had to be a thousand tubes in all in those cabinets. An operator sat at a desk at one end and there was a small meter at the other end by a window showing speed in miles/hour. This was some cool 1950s technology. A large bank of wet cells was sitting in an adjacent room. I asked this guy if he was kept busy changing tubes all the time. He told me he hadn't changed a single tube in 15 years because it was never shut down. That impressed me. Still, I don't leave my stereo on all of the time or I wouldn't get anything else done around the house.
I can attest to Oldtex's statement about tube life being negatively affected by heating and cooling the tubes' elements every time you turn your unit on or off. I use a tubed preamp with fairly good NOS (new old stock) Mullard tubes. I have left my preamp on 24/7 since I bought them. I just replaced the tubes with a new group of 4 tubes. The orginal tubes lasted 6 years. I think this proves that leaving tubes on 24/7 can extend tube life in atleast 1 selective case. I would say that leaving tubes on will not negatively affect tube life in my setup.
I'm going to continue leaving my preamp, and class d amp, on mainly because it sounds good immediately instead of after a 1-2 hour warmup. The class d amp requires zero warmup but I leave it continually on due to convenience and the fact it uses so little juice. Of course, YMMV.
There was an article and following discussion about leaving audio gear on all the time at Audiophile Review recently (under Tubes). The premise of the article was that tube life is negatively affected by heating and cooling the elements every time you turn your unit on and off. The fire hazard of a failed tube was also discussed, along with other factors that tend to be political.
I got the Goldcard from them and when I visit them, I always get serviced by 3L (Long Legged Linda) the Hot Rod among their secretaries. I love Class A units.
All I know, is compared to similar homes in my area, my bill is way higher. For me it's part of the price of being an audiophiile and lover of music. Maybe $100 per month.
I would think that every dime we save on stuff like electricity we can send on equipment or software. I really like to spend money but I dislike wasting even more. Unless of course you are in the 1% bracket.
Timely thread. For the past week I've been letting my system play throughout the day at above-moderate volume while I've been at work (long workdays since my children are away on vacation), breaking in a pair of new speakers. This thread prompted me to compute the expected damage to my own electric bill.
Assuming the worst, my expected increase is less than $20/week, due to my particular medium-power, Class AB, SS stereo amp--not too bad!
I'll keep this thread in mind in case I ever start thinking about purchasing a pair of high-power, Class A, tube-based mono amps!
why not you can consider the electric bill and turn off your equipment when you're not listening. it's only half-hour the most of worm-up time that you can actually listen to background music and worm-up components even faster. becides running on all the time tube phonostage is not wise at all, because the worm-up time is in 5...10min. if your computer is on all the time and connected to internet, you may catch the unwanted automatic updates or even malware. also the processor time is finite and usually it blows when processor fan stops... you can consider electric bill, you can consider the safety of your equipment and take few seconds to turn your components off.
Ever since I invested in one of those electricity generating treadmills at BestBuy, my electricity bill is now $0. However, after reading the manual, it became clear that someone had to be continually walking on the treadmill for it to work properly.
So, I did what any of you would probably do under similar circumstances; I bought 2 slave/walkers on EBay to power this thing. I have them both on 12 hour shifts and it's been working out well so far.
I must give a warning, however, to anyone contemplating the implementation of my solution. While your electricity costs will dissappear, your grocery bill will definitely increase if you are cursed with being humane as I am. Walking for 12 hours a day/7 days a week gives you a big appetite.
Sure, both of these guys have lost about 50 pounds each since I bought them, but they are in excellent shape. So, I look at this as a win-win scenario.
But, there is one issue that's been bugging me that could throw a monkey wrench in the economic viability of my solution: Am I obligated to purchase health insurance for these guys?
Also, I can't understand a word of whatever language these guys are speaking. They seem to be getting increasigly aggravated over the past few months. I can't say I blame them. When they are not walking in my basement, they are eating or sleeping. I don't feed them the most delicious food but it's all they can eat for every meal. My foremen may need to apply the occasional taste of the whip to keep up their pace. They also need to make sure the chains and leather hoods are secure.
As you all can clearly see, they should have no complaints. My basement may be dinghy but they're living in climate controlled conditions breathing Hepa-filtered air for heaven;s sake. Yes, they are in chains, whipped once in a while and are paid nothing for their labor. But, on the positive side, they're living rent free in a nice house in the suburbs with a pool they're forbidden to enter.
I know what you readers are thinking: "these slaves should be grateful they're being held against their will by such a benevolent owner." And you're right.
But, even though I don't understand a word they're saying, I swear these ingrates are planning some kind of revolt or escape.
My suggestion, if you're thinking of lowering your electric costs, go with the BestBuy treadmill gizmo but pay the premium and go with the upgraded modded slave/walkers on EBay with the submissive personalities.
I have no idea! I open the bill and What the...? How did...? Whyzit? Damnit! and I pay them online. Happens every month! Kind of a ritual around here. :-)
I leave my amps & phono stage on all the time. The amps are suppose to only burn 30 watts each, times 4 when not playing music. I also have a NAS and an external Raid Box at 400 watts each besides my 850 watt power supply in the main computer. They run all the time for music and movie access. All else is in stand by. I may put the center & rear speaker amps on a trigger as I listen to 2 Channel 80% of the time. I have been thinking about solar but have no pulled the trigger.
That's about 40kW daily for audio only and so 1.2MW monthly. Enough to juice up the band in the 1000 seats venue. Your room is a-bit smaller. Do you keep all of your amps on all the time? Anyways, you are the champ so far... I'm somewhere between $7...15 monthly out of $80 bill that most goes onto climate control and home appliances.
I have been debating if I should just keep my system on all the time or turn it off when not in use. The problem is that I think my system sounds better when left on (though this could be entirely my imagination). It draws about 105W in stand by as well as in use so it costs about $30-$40 of my $180 bill.
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