Leave solid state amps on? Or turn off everytime?


Hi,

My system consists of the following:

Slimdevices Transporter -> Bel Canto REF1000 Mono block amps -> Anthony Gallo Ref3.1 Speakers

I was wondering, should I be switching the Bel Canto amps on/off every time I listen to music? Or should I just leave them on permanently and only switch the transporter on/off (which i do anyways)?

Thanks
danyal711

Showing 5 responses by kijanki

As far as I know the only perishable component inside is electrolytic cap. The most influential factor on the life of electrolytic cap is temperature. Every 10deg Celsius increase in temperature means cutting life of capacitor by half. 10 degrees Celsius is about luke warm temperature inside of your cool running Icepower (capacitor also heats up from the ripple current thru its ESR)

I have similar amp and turn it off at night and back on when I am back from work. That way for the time I'm sleeping or are not at home amp is cooler and protected from spikes in power line.
Tvad - Class A amps consumes about 8x rated output power per channel. Leaving on 100W class A amp will waste 1600W of power. I don't even leave on my class D amp because I don't see any good reason for it. It doesn't take long to warm up the amp - maybe 30 min. max and keeping it powered down extends the life of the amp (in my opinion).
Musicnoise - Power-up transients don't do more harm to electrolytic caps than constant ripple current, but increase by merely 10 degrees Celsius of temperature inside will cut capacitors life by half. I addition we won't be able to unplug during thunderstorm when we are not at home.
Danyal711 - Ref 1000 idle power should be in order of 15W. Average power when playing music won't be much higher - usually few percent of peak power (maybe slightly more if you play heavy orchestral pieces)
Chris - I don't know about cycles but heat cuts down life of caps by two every 10 degree Celsius (18 deg F). It might be irrelevant for many people if amplifier lasts 20 or 40 years.