Do you power your Class D amp on and off?

My ARC 150.2 stays on 24/7, unless I'm away on vacation. ARC recommends leaving the amp on, and various reviewers have commented that sound quality improves up to the point where the amp has been on continuously for several days.

I'm guessing you power it down as otherwise the speakers would be playing while you are listening to headphones? If that is the case it is probably not detrimental to the amp to be turned on/off occasionally. Though with the power switch on the back, it may be a pain to reach around.

Spectron also recommends leaving their amps on.

The reason is that class D amps take much longer to run-in with their IECs and turning them off is akin to turning back the clock on the run-in period where the amp will need on/'run time to sound its best again.

The only time I turn mine off is during bad storms and if I am going to be away for more than a week during thunderstorm season. I do use a Hydra on mine in any event.

PS Audio is correct. Not only well broken in class D amps can be left on all the time, but they sound a lot better if they are left on. If a class D amp is left off for a spell, it may take many hours for it to reach peak performance once you turn it back on.

Timrhu's right: I turn the amp off for late-night listening. My pattern is to power it down, and then back up in the a.m. It's clear some think that's a bad idea, performance-wise. I can't say that I notice much of a difference, but it's usually been on for an hour or two before I do any listening.

I could turn it off only when using headphones, but figured that since I'm turning it off, I might as well leave it off for the night.