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Warm Up Time/Cost of Operation

When I have solid state gear I will leave it on 24/7. For amplifiers this was no big deal and with certain amps previously I could hear the differences between a cold start up and 3 days of power up. 

A year ago I bought a pair of Classe Omega monoblocks. A bit ago the wife was commenting on our electrical bill. I could not find online specs for power consumption but this morning I located the manual.

Consumption is listed at 706 watts. I assume this is per amp and hourly consumption. Electricity here is 12.6 cents per KWH. A calculator shows the cost of 24/7 on ad being $126 a month. 

It's a bit wasteful to idle like that so I am planning on switching off moving forward. But I am wondering what should my plan be moving forward.

 Thinking I will turn them on when listening in the morning casually, shut them off while at work, turn them on when I get back, and shut off when I go to bed. 

Anyone have experiences running big amps like mine in this manner? Thoughts and experiences are greatly appreciated. 

neonknight
bipod72
134 posts
 

Don't most of the new components these days have a standby option? My Marantz unit uses 0.03w/hr in standby mode as does my CA streamer per the apps. I don't let my gear stay on all day and night. If it stays on overnight it's by accident. If it's on all day it's because I'm actively listening to music. My speakers get warmed up by playing music, vs just letting them sit there "warming up" with nothing being played. 

If I found my gear was consuming $150+ of electricity a month just in idle mode, I'd be replacing them with equipment that had a standby mode or just turn the gear on a little while before listenings. But then again...I don't have such exotic gear to tend to. 

gumbedamit
109 posts
 

@bipod72 . I was going to post the same thing. I have 2 sets of amps, the grand daddy to your Omega’s

The CAM350’S, Oddly enough they don’t consume as much as my Acoustat TNT200’s

I don’t have the idle consumption for the Classe’s, but the TNT200’s consume 100 watts each, Even at 8 cents a KWH for me, leaving them on 24/7 seems wasteful. I don’t listen every day. Usually I know when I’m in that mood to listen for hours, I power the amps up a day before, which keeps the heat and the energy bill down. The funny thing is, I can look at hourly consumption from my provider and know exactly when I have my music marathons....One other note, my TNT200’s drive my Acoustat Spectra 33’s, (Electrostats)which I do leave plugged in 24/7

Enjoy the Music

Ag insider logo xs@2x
iflyhd
6 posts
 

If you really want to monitor your usage, several electrical manufacturers have monitoring systems. I use on of the major manufacturers setups, not to get to geeked out but ct’s added to your main panel and multiple monitoring at the output source and I get a total view of usage and monitor (as granular as per device).

This has become, more widely use in the green (solar markets) but I found for a few hundred dollars I get a complete picture of usage. Just for complete disclosure I do work in the industry that sells these type of products, but that is why I don’t specify any manufacturer.

 

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