Stupid question of the day: Should I leave Amp on?

Dweller: What "experts" are you speaking for? While i'm no expert on anything other than running my mouth, in my opinion, Class A or very rich AB amps benefit the most from constant power. This is primarily due to the wide temperature swing and stabilization that takes place when cycling the amp off and on. Lower bias designs with less of a temperature variance tend to show reduced benefits from constant power.

One can find quite a few threads on this subject in the archives. From what i can recall, every single person that has posted a response about this subject has experienced sonic gains by leaving their high bias amps on 24/7. In most instances, the amps reach their plateau after appr 72 hours of being powered up non-stop. Sean
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Dweller: Your post didn't come across as a "funny" to me. Other than that, i wasn't "gouging" on you or what you said, but was asking who / what / where you were drawing your references from and went on to explain why i had the thoughts that i did. Sorry if you took it the wrong way. Sean
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If tube gear doesn't have a stand-by mode, you should turn it completely off. Most SS gear that is properly designed can be left on. As i type this, i have 12 of the 14 SS power amps that i use turned on along with the other support components for each of those systems. The only components that i power up and down as needed are the very old tube based units that i have. Having said that, tubed gear should be allowed to warm up and heat down prior to use or pulling the plug. Trying to stand on the throttle right off the bat or disconnecting power just after throttling the tubes causes pre-mature failure. The tube based DAC's that i have stay on 24/7 as i'm not worried about them due to more advanced parts being used and the extra safety precautions that newer designs have brought with them. Sean
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PS... ALWAYS make sure that units have adequate ventilation and don't leave them resting directly on flammable / easily damaged materials. I've heard stories from one manufacturer where a guy left their high bias power amp turned on sitting on deep pile carpeting. The carpeting got so hot that it melted. I don't think that anybody wants to deal with something like that, so take such things into consideration before finding out the hard way.