Leave your amp on all the time?

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JoelSim

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Sounds like I have something to look forward to when I move house and untangle the plethora of wires behind my rack then

ÿ
 
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Anonymous

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letsannoytheneighbours:
The only amp I ever left on all night was an old mono valve amp I had when I was 16, there was no heating in my bedroom and it kept me warm
emotion-1.gif


Luxury!
 

a.g.

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Will Harris:What kind of message does that send out to everyone trying to cut the planet's carbon emissions.

ITYM humans' carbon emissions.

Will Harris:Most of you are reasonably technologically inclined, which suggests to me that you should be able to rationalise the cummulative damage we're doing to the planet. In simple terms, in 100 years we've burnt 100million years of photosynthetic production (which became oil) this is too rapid for the planet to adjust too. Hence we're poisoning it. Quite quickly. Any audiophile who prefers his warm amp (while he's no-where near it) to a habitable planet, probably needs to re-adjust his priorities a bit. In my honest opinion.

Well said!!!
 

a.g.

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zzgavin:chebby:
Maybe we need the hifi magazines (and WHF especially as the one with the most 'reach') to take a lead on the energy issue and award 'green' points (5 leaf award?) to reviewed items based on energy consumption.

Great idea

A simple badge for sub 1W on standby would be enough and simple to decide upon.

Many devices are aiming for this as a baseline

It is a good idea, yes, and manufacturers are doing it because there is a EU directive forcing them to do it IIRC, not because they want to. Why they need a standby mode in the first place I don't know.
 

a.g.

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hi fi newbie:Purely in power consumption terms, more energy is used by powering off and on than anything else

Where did you get this nonsense from?
 

a.g.

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MENISCUS:After all light bulbs usually blow when they are switched on, enough said.......

Terrible analogy. The heat range between off and on states in an incandescent lightbulb is far higher than that of a solid state amplifier. After all, the reason incandescent lightbulbs light up is because the tungsten wire in them is glowing red hot, and would break if it were not for the argon in the bulb (this is basic GCSE physics stuff). Plus an amp has a heatsink meaning it heats up and cools down a lot slower.
 
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Anonymous

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a.g.:MENISCUS:After all light bulbs usually blow when they are switched on, enough said.......

Terrible analogy. The heat range between off and on states in an incandescent lightbulb is far higher than that of a solid state amplifier. After all, the reason incandescent lightbulbs light up is because the tungsten wire in them is glowing red hot, and would break if it were not for the argon in the bulb (this is basic GCSE physics stuff). Plus an amp has a heatsink meaning it heats up and cools down a lot slower.

This is a great forum,

why ?, because we have experts who know everything about audio, obviously much more experience than the designers and manufacturers of quality audio products.

Time to throw away the manuals..............
 

Kevin Stephens

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lightbulbs wear out because tunsten slowly evaporates from the hot filament surface, this weakens the filament until it is not strong enough to withsand the themal shock of switching the lamp on. There is no increase in wattage at switch on

Standby power is nowhere near as significant as folk think. Do all your washing at 30 deg C and leave your amp on
 

a.g.

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Standby power is often a significant amount of the power used when it is switched on.

For instance, my old Denon tuner consumed 4.5W in standby, and 5.5W when on.
 

idc

Well-known member
a.g.: Why they need a standby mode in the first place I don't know.

My Arcam CDP had a standby mode that in the instructions it was claimed it was for better sonic performance. I think it was so that it could be switched on with the remote control. Sorry if it was a retorical question, but standby is purely so that TVs etc can be worked straight away by the remote.
 
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Anonymous

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SO why is it the longer i leave my equipment on the better it sounds.

More detail, space between the instruments,a cleaner sound, a firmer bass ? :)

48 hrs plus and my amp just sounds so at ease as if its not working so hard.
 

tino

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Sep 29, 2011
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FATS 2828 said:
SO why is it the longer i leave my equipment on the better it sounds.

More detail, space between the instruments,a cleaner sound, a firmer bass ? :)

48 hrs plus and my amp just sounds so at ease as if its not working so hard.

Maybe it's you and not the equipment.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
FATS 2828 said:
SO why is it the longer i leave my equipment on the better it sounds.

More detail, space between the instruments,a cleaner sound, a firmer bass ? :)

48 hrs plus and my amp just sounds so at ease as if its not working so hard.

Maybe it's you and not the equipment.

[/quote] :wall:
 

proffski

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I have repaired too many amplifiers and subwoofers that have ben left on all the time...

Cooked resistors with damaged PCBs, dried out electrolytics and worse.

Depends on the design, I switch mine on an hour or so before serious listening.
 
T

the record spot

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I switch the amp and CDP off at night-time at the plug. The TV remains on standby however.
 
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Anonymous

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Surely it depends on the amp...When I had my MF X-A200s as the main amps, I left them switched on since the power consumption when idle wasn't that much. Now my MUSE 300 mono blocks get very hot so I guess they must consume alot more energy when idle. I switch them on when I want to listen and will keep them on during the day if I go out, then turn them off at night. Its about getting the right balance - I dont want to be turning them on/off multiple times a day.

The Wadia only has an "off" switch on the back, its not designed to be turned off and consume ****** all power, so I leave it on. So does this debate also apply to source equipment...it should?!
 

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