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Effects of Power Outages Where You Live

More and more, power outages seem to be an issue for me and I believe for audiophiles in general. We have had two wind storms like never before in the last 5 months that wiped out the power in my area of Ohio. Major work by the electric company has to be done to restore the power when these storms occur. Power was lost at my home once for 7 days back in September because of an extreme wind storm. The one that just happened caused only about 24 hours with lost power. How long do you think it takes your audio system's performance to restore to normal after you have unplugged it and it sits for 24 hours? Additionally, when the electric company is rebuilding damaged equipment, adding new transformers etc. what affect do you think this has or has had to the power in your area? What affect(s) has this had on the performance of your audio system?
foster_9
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foster_9 OP
1,638 posts
 
Years ago I read about not turning off digital gear and the affects here:

http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Digital.html

At the time I deferred to Mr Salvatore's experience.

Maybe I overstated when I said "seems to be the common wisdom." That fellow gets criticized plenty in many quarters, but he knows an awful lot about high end audio performance.

I've read of quite a few audiophiles who believe you don't turn off digital gear. How long it takes to bring it back to optimal performance has not been debated as much. A member here (Raquel), whose audio knowledge I respect posted that digital gear should be left on 24/7.

Member Post On Turning Off Digital

This member doesn't put a time frame on a return to optimal performance if digital gear is turned off however.

But because you brought it up Tvad and I respect your knowledge of high end audio, I may try turning off my digital gear too. Another member I respect who has one of the same players as I turns it off after every listening session.
sns
3,371 posts
 
My experience mirrors Foster, everytime my PC shuts down my system takes at least a day to sound right. My digital runs 24/7, my preamp standby, and PC transformer wiring drawing current. Think about a hard shutoff, I can imagine a lot of parts are being highly stressed, I would think they need some time to recover. Changes to the power grid may be affecting things as well, they have been highly stressed as well. Think about all the new parts, their burn in times, difference in design, you may have an entirely different sounding grid after all these changes.

I don't know about 48 hours for digital, but I do know it takes longer than my other equipment to sound it's best. I leave my digital on 24/7.

I don't think we're talking about soft shutoffs here.
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