03-05-11: Tmsorosk
As far as being ecologically bad , the higher brake down rate caused by thermal switching would have other ecological affects that may be more consequential than the extra power used .
it's all fine and well that you want to leave your equipment on 24/7 as a matter of preference but this "thermal switching" ratinale is total bs. think about it; you can go to best buy and buy a "mid range" sony audio component and switching that component on and off with no problem, but then you buy a "high end" component (that is an order of magnitude higher in price) and suddenly switching it on and off because a potential cause of component failure. you may reason that you want to leave your stuff on 24/7 because you can afford it and nobody can make you turn it off: but it is massive waste, what you think of that waste is a matter of what your own sense of ecological ethics are...
you see comments from people who claim that they can "hear" the difference when equipment is left on for days on end; but then there are people who will pay $15,000 for interconnect cable who likewise claim that they can "hear" the difference. you can pretty much convince yourself of anything...
in theory, electron mobility is a function of junction temperature. so, as a result, the electrical characteristics of electronic components can vary with varying junction temperature (for example, current through a transistor tends to increase with increasing temperature). so there is, in theory, some value in giving components some warmup time; but you probably aren't going to find much measureable difference after the component has been operating for 15 minutes or so because the junction temperature starts to stabilize.
to give you an example of the temperature rnage that is commonly used for measurement purposes, semiconductor characteristics are commonly measured at -55 C, 25 C and 125 C (a wider temperature range than you are likely to encounter in the real world).
some makers promote this notion that you need to leave equipment on 24/7. but not all makers agree with that perspective. here is the position of rega (as stated in the rega ios phono stage manual):
This Rega amplifier circuit has been carefully designed to work with a minimal warm up period. Some manufacturers and retailers may recommend leaving amplifiers permanently switched on, Rega cannot condone such practise in these environmentally sensitive times.
