Reliabilty, Keeping Equipment Powered on or off?

A suggestion that I have deemed to worthwhile considering is the contention that amps,,etc  are most at risk for damage when a unit is turned on.   Inrush current.    While undoubtedly there are  electrical components in place to help counter any effects of the surge --It seems to make  a lot of sense to subject units to turn on current as little as possible.     That being said-- I am not leaving my tube amps on nor my s.s. amps on especially my class A amp.  I do leave a Trends amp on as it is quite economical to run.   It is more of a summer amp.     I am leaving my 2 tuners on that are used daily---especially considering they are vintage tuners and dont want to subject them day to day to inrush current .  I listen to my systems on a daily basis.  My Sonic Frontiers Line 1 has a standby and I use that.  If I am going away for overnight or even the entire day I usually shut it off completely.   As long as I am in town  I would not want to be powering it up every day subjecting the tubes to start up current of which it is known to subject tubes to more stress .    Re/power line failures.   I think a good portion  of the high quality equipment made  and even not in the higher price range comes with protection circuits for power failures and surges.    They have to design this into the circuits --it is part and partial of designing a quality power supply.      I recently bought a pair of Emotiva mono's  and am surprised at the lengths this company has gone to in protecting the circuity for a not much money at all considering what I paid for my Pass amp on the used market.  .     I leave the Emotivas  in standby and have been using them primarily in my main system as of late.   This with a  $5k plus (new) Pass amp sitting idle.       

skiroe

I can't speak to all equipment, but I am very familiar with Parasound as I have schematics for the JC1, JC2 and other products such as the 2200ii and P3. Although well designed (as good or better than most), there is no voltage transient protection besides filter capacitors. Transient voltage protection is typically not provided by most manufacturers and is left to sand alone outboard line filter and transient protection devices.

So many with different opinions.
IMHO, i would rather deal it a more scientific way. Generally, if the measured temperature on the chassis (using a temp probe) is less than 35 degree C, it is safe for equipment to remain on 24/7. If you need to be more specific, just open up the chassis and measure the heat of the components inside (i won't be responsible for any damages to your equipment and to your own safety), if the temp of the components is hovering around 40-45 degree C, it is still OK to be on for 24/7, BUT with one caveat , you gotta search for the lowest temp rating of internal capacitors. If it is rated at 70 degree C, then the internal ambient temp and\or components gotta to be less than half of that, i.e. 35 degree C or lesser. Capacitors life span and other electronic is affected by temp and their specification rating would drift faster over time due to heat.

I was told as rule of thumb the components that run hot - not just warm, should be left on at all times along with good line protection. I think this applies to most if not all power amps that operate in class A. Extreme temperature cycling puts a lot of stress on electronic components and can reduce their life expectancy even when they are designed to handle those conditions.

If they (audio equipments) are designed to handle those conditions, then of course , it should be left on without problems. It's those equipments that use poor quality parts that have "borderline" specifications on heat, current, mechanical tolerance (thermal expansion) etc..  that we should take note of irregardless they are running hot during idle or operating in Class A or not.
regards,
-phil