Class A Amp owners, Whats your power bill?

>>>Any way I figure it draws 800 +/- minus watts at IDLE! how much power you think I am pulling if I run it at a mostly 4 Ohm load when playing reasonably loud?<<<

Hardly any difference.

My Pass XA.5's draw 600 watts from the wall. At my 13 cents per kwh, it costs me less than a dime an hour to run them. Now, if I left them on 24/7 it would add about $70 a month to my elec bill (more in the summer because I would have the AC on more to help with the heat).

One thing that I like about Nelsons newer design is the standby switch. Only draws a few watts and no heat. The caps are kept fully charged so when I do flip them on it only takes about an hour to get up "heat" and they sound pretty nice while doing so. Electric co hates Nelson :-).

Joule Electra VZN-100's put a $30 shelf on my electric bill the month they showed up. I look at it this way, they serve to offset the heating bill for the winter. My basement is never cold and I don't have to turn the heat on down there. I can't use them when it is much past 70 out. I put one of those kill-a-watt things on it, draw was something like 11 amps. I also tried plugging them into powerstrip with my other equipment when diagnosing a ground loop issue. The powerstrip blew almost immediately. They do draw the power.

And remember, if you are making heat with your amp while cooling your house with AC, every penny in electricity that your amp uses will cost you another penny on the AC bill*the inefficiency of your AC.

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Class "A" amps draw the most current at idle, and draw less when playing music. So you are saving money by playing music if it is on.

again... incorrect

The louder you play them the more efficient they get, but the current draw does not decrease. They produce less heat when playing music because some of the power they consume is being transferred to the speaker and not being dissipated as heat in the output devices, but total power consumed does not go down.

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I'm with Onemug. I own Pass XA160.5s. I leave them in standby mode and turn them on about an hour or two before I listen. They are on about 80-100 hours a month and added about $20 to my monthly bill. It is so well worth it. I love these Class A amps. It's a bit tough in the summer, but I don't have to heat my living room in the winter. And the sound is glorious.

In Las Vegas: My power company wants to raise rates because we (their customers) have cut back our usage so much that they can't afford to pay their employees.

Onemug: I attended a demo (Evanston, Ill) where Mr. Pass
was presenting his Aleph amps (mid 90's?).
I asked him about the lack of a standby switch to which he just shrugged
(What? Me worry?).
I guess the EU has got his attention on this matter.