do you leave your car running in the driveway?
never made any sense to me. sometimes mine stays on all day when i intend to use it and never do. depends on your listening schedule. (i do leave my crossovers on 24/7) warm-up is necessary to acheive max performance, but 24/7 is a waste of juice and in the case of tube gear, tubes. just my 2 cents kurt |
I leave my transport and DAC on all the time. The Kora doesn't have an on/off switch on the front and is meant ot be left on and in standby mode.
I only turn my preamp and amp on when I'm getting ready to use them though. Too much heat, energy and tubes to waste when not in use. |
I only turn them on when I use them. I give a few minutes warm up before I play. |
In response to your question, yes, i leave all of my SS gear on at all times. That is, unless there is a horrible storm taking place, i'm doing major work on the system or i'm leaving town. Tube based digital gear ( DAC's ) also remains on but the remainder of the tube gear is turned off and powered up as needed.
Secondly, always make sure that any product that runs hot has adequate airflow. I'm not talking about just during normal use, but at all times. Most amps of higher bias require airflow on ALL sides of them. This means that an amp should be elevated above the platform by an inch or two. If you have the amp directly resting on the platform, you've reduced airflow through the heatsinks. If you have the amp tucked into a rack with solid sides, you've reduced airflow. If you have equipment or shelving in close proximity to the top of the amp, you've reduced airflow. Common sense dictates that the hotter the product runs, the more airflow it needs around, and especially, directly above it.
All of these things are BAD and can cause premature parts failure, erratic operation, reduced performance, etc... While some may say that leaving a hot running product on all the time will cause premature failure, i disagree. If the product is properly designed and the natural convection of heat allowed to occur, my personal thoughts and experience are that more damage is done to this type of gear from massive temperature swings and high levels of in-rush current than any other phenomena. Others may agree / disagree, but i'm putting my money where my mouth is and keeping my gear on. Not only does it sound better ( almost all high bias amps DO improve after achieving full temparature stability ), the gear actually lasts longer. Low bias amps may not be affected in such a noticeable manner, but their sonics and levels of resolution are typically not as good to begin with. Sean
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Yes, I do keep my amps and preamps on all the time. My gear doesn't run that hot. Common sense applies. I turn them off when changing cables, long absences, and stormy weather. |
Sean,
I'd want to add that you've got to make sure that such high-bias amp has plenty enough heatsink area arround transistors. If it's not the case the heat will always accelerate and run to fry not only egg but stake as well.
Some of manufacturers does not realize how to calculate the power dissipated on heat and do not provide enogh of heatsink area. |
I agree 100% with Sean and follow the same procedures, Although I must admit I am lax when it comes to addressing the weather factor other than to have appropriate surge protection. |
I agree with what you have to say Marakanetz. Even with what appears to be a massive amount of "fins", some of these amps are still lacking the proper amount of heatsinking due to the number of output devices and / or bias levels being used. As such, one should NOT take ventilation for granted and that is why i stressed the need for a lot of open area around devices that run hot. It is not uncommon for a high bias design to idle at a temperature between 110* and 150*, give or take. If the amp is running at the edge or above this temperature range, you either need more room above and around it or you should check into methods of low noise assisted cooling.
I've got a "high tech" temperature probe coming and i intend to do some testing with it. I think that the results may be pretty interesting to say the least. Sean
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Yes, I have solid-state and therefore do not have to worry about tube wear. |
Yes. I leave everything on 24/7. The tube pre and ss amp REALLY need it. I suspect the SACD doesn't after break-in BUT , as I've stated here before from my experience working in recording studio's, turning equipment on and off shortens the life of the equipment. The studio's never turn off anything. |
SS amp on 24/7
Preamp (tube-based) on during day/off (standby) at night
CD player on 24/7
Tuner on 24/7
Open ventillation for all components.
The 24/7 on components use about 0.21 kWh (about 40 cents/day). |
I do not leave my stuff on all the time.My amp is high BiAS'd ,but I really do not think it would do harm in shutting it down. I have had it for 12yrs and it has given me great sonics.I do think it does need 20mins to heat up ,but so doies the CDP which I use as a transport now. The CDP gets hotter than my Amp I think.
Having ventilation I do think is important and common sense. Odyssey I think says you should have 2ft. of clearance.I do not believe that stacking is a good thing because of Interference,but I only have 6" of clearance over my amp in order to keep the IC's short between my Passive Pre-Amp.My amp does not use Global Feedback and the shelve above the amp does not get hot so I think it's OK.Any problem with that?
What effect does having amps that have global feedback in their designs state is should be used? I would think that having stuff stacked over amps that use Global feedback would really have a negative effect. What effect does it have if you have something interfering with the field I wonder?
Does anyone have any info on this about Global Feedback designed amp or am I missing something. I do not think I will ever own an amp that uses Global Feedback anyways.All the amps I am intrested in use a DC Servo Loop.
TIA |
I keep 'em on all the time except bad weather or trips, but I run SS with relatively low idle consumption. Almost all SS will have no problem being on 24/7 if you don't mind paying the power bill. Tubes are a different matter altogether; running 24/7 will reach lifespan on most tubes within a year or two. |
I switch the amps and pre to standby when I go to sleep and work. If I leave them on to much heat is generated and I have to run the AC more. |
My electric bill actually went down $6 a month once I started leaving everything on idle 24/7. I'm outta town right now, so the system is down!
I'm running a Bryston 4B-ST now & it only gets hot to the touch, in the 90's when I was a Krell junkie you had to sit naked in your listening room in the summer.
I actually recall talking to a Krell owner who lived in AZ who installed his components in a hall closet w/ long xlr's, then added a window air-conditioner which installed in the closets exterior wall!
Heat does have a whole lot to do with leaving it on!
When I got back into Home Theather in 1999 I picked up a Sony Str-444ES for Dts. The Sony sounded great when it was left on, however once I left it on for 72 hours straight & the A/V rack shelf above smoldered!
The Sony got hotter then any Krell Kst/Ksa of the same wattage! Forget eggs & steaks!!! You could have taken a Video Corespondence Blacksmithing course & use the Sony to bend Horse Shoes!!!
The Sony was dumped for a Denon Avr-4800 w/ a built in fan which served me well for 3 years, on all the time & never an issue.
Does it pay to leave it on 24/7, yes in my case I guess the whole initial firing up pulls a whole lot of juice.
Secondly I enjoy not having to wait to listen, as there is a major sonic difference having SS equipment on 24/7!!!
As long as you components Heat isn't a Fire Hazzard! |
Thanks for the input guys. I'll be leaving mine on from now on unless like Audiobugged, my rack or system heats up so much to cause damage to anything. My CD player has a display on and off switch so I"ll leave the display off when not in use. |
