Turn off or leave on?

Interesting thread and am guessing there is no right answer with many dependencies that range from equipment design to how often you listen. I keep mine on unless I know I am not going to be listening for a few days... My approach is based on this excerpt from my Lampizator DAC user manual:

"Power on-off cycle The tube lifetime, almost like the life of a car engine in cold climate – is determined largely by the on-off cycle. The heat expansion coefficient of the glass is so much different than that of the metal, that the air-tight seal of the metal pins can leak oxygen inside the tube and eventually kill it. Even if it is just one molecule per day. So in other words it is better to keep the DAC always on, than to switch it on and off more than necessary. The lampizator DAC with tube rectifier has a slow start feature which brings the high voltage supply gradually up, at the rate of two- to five volts per second. The PSU reaches 250 V DC after 90 seconds. This helps to extend tube life. The DAC is also equipped with voltage down feature (bleeders) which reduce the power voltage upon switch-off at roughly the same rate. On top of that – the tubes are operated always around 25% of full nominal power, which greatly increases their life expectancy. Combining all the factors together, the tube lifetime should be anywhere between 10 and 20 years, assuming the player is switched off only once per day, for the night."

Leave everything on. All the time. Let's hasten the impending demise of the planet.

It seems there is some confusion perhaps to “on/off” on SS amps etc. Stand by, is not powered off. There is still current flowing to the system in standby. At least with everything I’ve ever owned. “Off” is when the master switch is indeed “off”. I only do that if leaving town for an extended period. Still, it’s about an hour give or take till everything is singing to full potential.

My solid state monoblocks draw 420 watts each in standby. Just part of the cost of having large class a Amps. Even so it takes a hour for them to sound decent. The preamplifier is one all the time as well. I never bother turning off to standby. The front end is all tube so it gets turned on and off when I go down to listen. Many times I turn it on then make and eat supper then go back down and everything is super then. On my second system it is a tube system except the Krell cd player it gets left on. Takes it at least a week if shut off before it sounds it's best. Bedroom system is tube based except the cd player which is left on. The integrated amplifier is a tube one and I have it on a timer. I turn the timer on for a half hour and it shuts down after I am asleep. 

makes me wonder if any of you got electronics training ...

1. there is no harmful effect to non-tube equipment to turn it on or off (unless somebody decides to sit and push the power button on/off for 2-3 hours ) thus, to save electricity turn it off.

2. Tube stuff...here comes the pickle...the tubes normally go weak slow losing cathode emission. Emission is the process when electrons are flying out of the heated cathode... now here is the fun part...at turn on the heating element in the tube starts to heat the cathode and it takes 2-5 minutes to get to the correct temperature .during this period electrons slowly start flying off the cathode to anode under voltage potential on anode and greed(s) . while the cathode is not hot enough electrons are not flying out freely but are kinda "ripped" from it. and it creates micro-cracks and the slow destruction of a cathode .that is how over the years tubes go bad most of the time. Now ,if the heater in tubes is always ON and the cathode is always hot , tubes may last 2-3 times longer. in the old days of picture tube TVs, there were enthusiasts who installed a circuit to apply a permanent supply to the heater of a picture tube extending its life. Now, to turn off tube gear or not is your choice ...no advice from me at this point. Good luck my HI-FI enthusiasts