Leave my amp on?

[Anonymous]

EvilWolf:
Seeing that you're a scientist, maybe you can do us a huge favour and substantiate your views with the relevant scientific evidence.

I don't have an opinion on climate change, simply because there are very intelligent people focusing their entire careers on it who are still unclear - so my opinion would be meaningless.

Currently my view is to try and follow a good number of the recommendations for reducing carbon footprint because - if it's all bo**ocks it's a minor inconvenience - if not then it may be the only chance to avoid being scre**d. That's simply a risk management approach when you don't have the facts. It's ridiculous a lay-person saying they just "don't believe" in it...they're not in a position to form a conclusion.

The bit I quoted above is a bit silly. Unless you've been living under a rock the last decade you'll know he'd struggle to consolidate the scientific research into a forum post ;-)

 

[floyd droid]

Rob_manchester:EvilWolf:
Seeing that you're a scientist, maybe you can do us a huge favour and substantiate your views with the relevant scientific evidence.

I don't have an opinion on climate change, simply because there are very intelligent people focusing their entire careers on it who are still unclear - so my opinion would be meaningless.

Currently my view is to try and follow a good number of the recommendations for reducing carbon footprint because - if it's all bo**ocks it's a minor inconvenience - if not then it may be the only chance to avoid being scre**d. That's simply a risk management approach when you don't have the facts. It's ridiculous a lay-person saying they just "don't believe" in it...they're not in a position to form a conclusion.

The bit I quoted above is a bit silly. Unless you've been living under a rock the last decade you'll know he'd struggle to consolidate the scientific research into a forum post ;-)

Yes, great, super ,lovely. But, disregarding the op's lecky bill. Will his ruddy amp benefit from staying powered up all the time. Jeez ,is it me.

 

[Anonymous]

You must be new to internet forums ;-)

Going back to the OP though. To be honest I don't understand these questions if you're coming at it from a sound quality perspective. Just try it. If you can't hear any difference then don't worry about other people's opinions on t'internet and save on your electric. If it sound like my car starting for the first few tracks then you have your answer...

Apologies if your concern is the longevity of the electrical components (although I had my Naim amps going on and off for 14 years without a hitch), but if it's sound quality....trust your ears not other peoples opinions.

 

[Anonymous]

Rob_manchester:Going back to the OP though. To be honest I don't understand these questions if you're coming at it from a sound quality perspective. Just try it. If you can't hear any difference then don't worry about other people's opinions on t'internet and save on your electric. If it sound like my car starting for the first few tracks then you have your answer...thats fine but am i the only one who turns the thing on listen to the music then turns it off when im finished

i dont listen analytically for differences in sound quality at all

 

[JamesOK]

Rob_manchester:
You must be new to internet forums ;-)

Going back to the OP though. To be honest I don't understand these questions if you're coming at it from a sound quality perspective. Just try it. If you can't hear any difference then don't worry about other people's opinions on t'internet and save on your electric. If it sound like my car starting for the first few tracks then you have your answer...

Apologies if your concern is the longevity of the electrical components (although I had my Naim amps going on and off for 14 years without a hitch), but if it's sound quality....trust your ears not other peoples opinions.

Cant say fairer than that. Trust your ears. Enough said. I guess the same goes with cables, mains cables etc. I bought one of those Tacima mains conditioners the other week and was severly dissapointed. Especially considering how people rave about it on here.

 

[Anonymous]

JamesOK:
Cant say fairer than that. Trust your ears. Enough said. I guess the same goes with cables, mains cables etc. I bought one of those Tacima mains conditioners the other week and was severly dissapointed. Especially considering how people rave about it on here.

Funny you should say that (& apologies for the tangent) but I bought one on Wednesday. I'd headed into Maplin looking for a six way extension in black and it was that or another for half the price without all the funky sales blurb. I was feeling rich/naive/gullible so thought I'd pick one up. My expectation was that it would make no difference whatsoever. Have had it fitted today and I can't tell if it's made a difference when music's playing but there's less of a noise from the speakers when no music is playing.

With something like that I guess it's very much down to your individual circuits - what's on the same spur etc - so reviews/opinions becomes less meaningful....bit like other people's ears!

Can't imagine spending over £40 on a mains bar, unless I had a genuine issue with the circuit and then I'd probably be getting someone in to look at that/fitting a dedicated spur.

 

[Frank Harvey]

When an amplifier is switched on, the output capacitors need to charge up. Until they're fully charged, the amplifier can't deliver it's full current capability. And if music is played though the amp straight away after turning it on, the output caps never do fully charge up (if they do, it takes far longer). So it's always best to turn an amp on about half an hour to an hour before listening - partly for it to reach a normal operating temperature, and also so that the output caps can charge up. In the case of the Naims, naim claim that it can take days for some of their amps to settle properly. From cold, amps like Naim and Cyrus (and Rotel) don't sound much different to anything else - but once warmed up properly, that's when you notice a big difference between them all.

 

[floyd droid]

Hurrah and well done David , obviously you will get called nasty names now for getting the thread back on track

.

Personaly,i go about it as in your post ,otherwise i would end up bankrupt. But i leave my phono on all the time as ive found it sounds brittle for 2 or 3 days if its been turned off.

 

[JamesOK]

JamesOK:

I dont even necessarily believe the "it has to warm up to sound good" thing.

I retract this comment! Turned my stereo on about 2 hours ago and immediately listened to something. Sounded a bit flat. I have come back 2 hours later and it sounds a lot more musical and warmer.

 

[JamesOK]

FrankHarveyHiFi:
From cold, amps like Naim and Cyrus (and Rotel) don't sound much different to anything else - but once warmed up properly, that's when you notice a big difference between them all.

Ah! Just read this after I posted above. I am certainly now convinced on the warm up thing...

 

[Anonymous]

ok turned my amp on and listened to blonde on blonde on sacd

you can almost feel the fingers strumming the chords on the acoustic guitar while the electric sounds like its in the room

piano slightly recessed but i think thats the production great clarity even so drums have that real thump although given i have the small speakers on at the moment bass isnt super deep

bobs voice nasal but not thin

will report back in 2 hours or so

 

[Anonymous]

FrankHarveyHiFi:I said "you know where I work" because it's usually the case that most people who insult people and their thinking are usually the sort who only ever see the outside world when their mother lets them, and talk the talk safe in the knowledge that no one knows who they are.Alright tiger. If you wish to see me, you're welcome to come and visit me at UCL (that's were I
work). I prefer not to go to Coventry over an argument about climate
and its scientific context with an audio engineer. You might be
brilliant when it comes down to pairing up £10k worth of audio
equipment, but this is outside your metier.

If you really think that turning a couple of amps off can save the world then I'm all ears for your proof. Has it never occurred to you that global warming (if it exists) may actually be a natural process that no one can do anything about? I bet the dinosaurs were really ****** when they realised they'd have survived if they'd have turned off their Brystons. Mind you, they couldn't could they - they didn't have fingersYou clearly must have studied meteorology and archeology. Have ever read anything about the influence of green house gases? Wait ... no need for reading, watching 'Home' or 'Age of Stupid' would have been enough to know better.

And yes, I believe that even turning off a single amplifier will make a difference.

Personally, I think there will be World War III before the possibility of us being wiped out because it's too warm.Well that's great. Let's all just hope we'll all die in a nuclear winter, once war rages because all but a few oil fields are bone-dry. Exactly, that's the other side of the coin.

edit: yes, yes, sorry one off. Call me childish, but bigotry and ignoring social responsiblities pushes my buttons. As corny as it sounds, a lot of people are working hard to make this planet a better place. Many sacrifises are made and along comes David from Frank Harvey Hifi in Coventry and proclaims that we'll all die in WWIII anyway, so what's all the fuss about? My criticism is not limited to him. In my oppinion you should all switch off your amplifiers when you're not listening to music. If you must, give it that half hour warm-up, but don't mock everyone else with a 'it's my electricy bill, what do you care' attitude.

 

[Anonymous]

cistron even though i agree with where your coming from i have to say coming across as an arrogant **** isnt helping getting the message across

david is entitled to his view and you are entitled to argue with it but not at this level please all your doing is putting people off those things you apparently hold dear

 

[idc]

I switch my hibrid amp off when it is not in use. I like its 'cold' sound which has an edge to it that goes once it has warmed up. Once it is out of warranty I intend to drill a couple of holes in the case above where the valves are to increase ventilation to try and retain that 'cold' sound.

AFAIK the massive servers used to run the interweb and so keep this forum going generate hugh amounts of waste through heat. If you really want to make a difference then switch off your amp and log off and shut down now!

 

[chebby]

I work from home so we only need one car.

So I am not having to join the rest of humanity in it's daily commute. Less petrol used. One less concrete car parking space required (more grass and trees instead) and one less office space needed to be air conditioned and serviced by (even more) people who have to travel to maintain it.

If everyone who desired (where appropriate and possible of course) were assisted by companies (and governments) to work from home, then the roads would be a bit emptier at peak-times for those who have to drive, and far less people would start work stressed by traffic or arrive at home stressed too.

More people could spend more time with their families instead of on motorways/trains/buses etc.

Just a thought.

(Oh yeah, make our cities much nicer places to be so that it becomes attractive to both work and live in them again. Cities are far more energy efficient than thousands of far-flung 'dormitory' towns.)

 

[floyd droid]

idc:

AFAIK the massive servers used to run the interweb and so keep this forum going generate hugh amounts of waste through heat. If you really want to make a difference then switch off your amp and log off and shut down now!

Thats pretty much what i said on page 7 of the god thread in off topic. Wait for the a**e covering defensive posts that follow.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:

AFAIK the massive servers used to run the interweb and so keep this forum going generate hugh amounts of waste through heat. If you really want to make a difference then switch off your amp and log off and shut down now!

A lot of them do, especially machines more than a few years old. I was recently in one of Amazon's server farms for their web services cloud - much much cooler than anything I've seen before, there's just a lot of older kit out there.

Interesting fact for the day - did you know Amazon takes more money from it's cloud hosting services than it does from selling products, e.g. cds, dvds etc...

 

[idc]

Rob_manchester:Interesting fact for the day - did you know Amazon takes more money from it's cloud hosting services ...

Cloud hosting sounds very environmentally friendly, but I suspect it isn't.

 

[Anonymous]

nearly three hours later and i have to report theres not a world of difference

perhaps theres a touch more definition in the highs and a touch more space between the instruments but that could be my imagination

its certainly not if i can use the worst cliche in hifi night and day stuff

 

[Anonymous]

idc:
Rob_manchester:Interesting fact for the day - did you know Amazon takes more money from it's cloud hosting services ...

Cloud hosting sounds very environmentally friendly, but I suspect it isn't.

I wasn't proposing it an the 'environmentally friendly option' just as an aside. I've worked nearly 15 years for one of the biggest IT consultancies so I've probably had more varied exposure than most on the approach, across a decent range of countries. I'd love it to live up to the hype but there's a world's worth of distance to go.

They do tend to be more environmentally friendly though - not on the efficiency benefits (which haven't been fully realised yet) but simply because they tend to have newer kit than that in your average SME machine room.

Not sure what your 'expect it isn't' comment was based on/referring to?

Rob

 

[Anonymous]

one off:

nearly three hours later and i have to report theres not a world of difference

perhaps theres a touch more definition in the highs and a touch more space between the instruments but that could be my imagination

its certainly not if i can use the worst cliche in hifi night and day stuff

HUGE difference in sound on my amp when the amp is cold vs warm ... takes approx 20 min to 1/2 an hour before my amp is warmed up

 

[Anonymous]

dim_span:HUGE difference in sound on my amp when the amp is cold vs warm ... takes approx 20 min to 1/2 an hour before my amp is warmed up
How on earth can you know? Do you own a time machine?

 

[Anonymous]

Fahnsen:dim_span:HUGE difference in sound on my amp when the amp is cold vs warm ... takes approx 20 min to 1/2 an hour before my amp is warmed up

How on earth can you know? Do you own a time machine?

Hmmmm ... suppose every circus has at least 1 clown

 

[the record spot]

Amp sounds fine straight off, but then at over 30 years old so it should!

As for the whole global warming thing...well, it depends on who you believe. There are some valid points of both sides of the debate and I'm not qualified enough to call it either way.

What I would say is that short of coming up with a really viable and more importantly workable alternative to fossil fuels suggests to me, at least, we should probably take care of how much of the stuff we use up. Once it's gone, it's really gone and there's not a whole lot of anything to take its' place.

On the other hand, do I leave my little Sansui AU-217 on all day? When I'm in, yes, when we go out, it goes off. And then again, it uses little in terms of drawing power...compared to a flatscreen TV or a home computer, it's a non-starter, so while I sympathise with the earlier poster who let rip, unless he's offsetting on a grand scale, he's in the same boat as the rest of us. Sad but true alas...

 

[Anonymous]

don't want to be drawn into the global warming debate, but from what I hve read it's all ** n bull ... just a reason to tax the gullable

mars, the moon and other planets also experience global warming and no-one lives there (or so NASA says)