Leaving Solid State Equipment on all the Time


Someone told me that: 
  • Leaving your gear on all the time allows all the components to "come up to temperature."  
  • Transistors, resistors and other devices all have specific operating temps that they work best at. Below these temps, they're not performing at peak capability. 
  • Transformers will generally take 2-3 days to settle down and come up to their operating temps. 
  • Capacitors will take anywhere between 3-4 days to settle down. 
  • If you're continuously turning off the gear, you're basically hearing the system as it's first waking up in the morning. After it's been on for a few days, you'll hear that the tonal balance smooths out, that the top end becomes sweeter and purer and that bass has more control, articulation, and becomes more natural. 
Any truth to any of that? 
128x128oldschool1948

Most newer equipment has slow start circuitry that dramatically reduces the on/off cycling damage possibility for high current amps.  So, that really isn't an issue anymore.

Other than that, heat is the enemy.  Running equipment 24/7 will reduce the life expectancy of any equipment.  Auto manufacturers and dealers now tell people that oil of today is substantially better than oil in the past so time between oil changes can be lengthened.  While that may be true.  It is still better to change oil every three thousand miles or when that oil appears dirty.  Why take chances with expensive repairs.

Some manufacturers want return customers.

common sense is a necessity.

Tube equipment and especially tube amps. I'm turning off. Tube life is typically 2000 hours for power tubes and those suckers are expensive.  Unless the amp has some sort of standby circuitry that lengthens tube life.

I learned my lesson so I turn my equipment off after use and turn it on when I come home.

I came home a few years ago to a house smelling of burning circuitry.  My Krell KBX electronics crossover has no on/off switch and is always on.  Well, some circuitry started to fail and burn. 

Well lesson learned.  When I'm gone, the equipment is off.  My system sounds great after 30 to 40 minutes of warm up.

enjoy

I’m with minors.  I think equipment needs to be turned off every now and then to keep from overheating.
I agree that heat is the enemy of electronic equipment.  I also think that if kept cool, you can run your equipment 7/24 with no issues.  Computers are a good example of that.  My desktop computer is liquid cooled, runs 7x24, and I've never had a problem.  My NAS drive runs 7/24 with no issues. Servers in our data centers run 7/24 with no heat related issues.  

All of my amps are in my basement where it is always cool, sometime too cool for my taste, but my wife loves it - go figure.  As I noted in an earlier post, I will try turning my gear on from standby mode to see how long it takes for them to settle down.  Also, saving a few $ on electricity and helping the environment are both good things.