Power Consumption idle


Is this right? I have a Sim Audio Titan 7ch solid state amp and the specs say the amp uses 75 watts at idle. I am just trying to figure out why my electric bill is so high.

I know having the gear on always, but this aside, can 75 watts keep a 19x12x27 120lbs piece of metal good and warm to the touch? Or could the specs be very misleading.

Thanks
Marty
marty9876
While Timo's point is valid, i would hope that the Sim ( or any other amp ) offers a little more area as a heatsink than that of what the glass of a light bulb offers.

I would suggest picking up a device from Rat Shack as i've found it to come in very handy. It is called a "Kill A Watt" and is a device that can measure the line voltage, amperage, total wattage, what frequency the AC is cycling at, the Kilowatt hours used averaged over a period of time, etc... It does all of this with a digital display for ease of use. You push a button and select what reading you want and it does all of the work. I bought it when it first came out and it was about $30 if i remember correctly. I think that they run either $40 or $50 now though as they had an introductory sale when i purchased mine.

As a side note, folks with monoblocks or identical amps might be pretty surprised to find out just how out of balance their amps really are from one another. While i knew about this before, this device really makes it easy to see just how much "production tolerance" comes into play from one identical unit to another. Sean
>
Assume:
* amp uses 75W at idle
* amp is idling 24/7
* cost of electricity is $0.14 / kWh (on the high side)

So, per day the amp uses 75W * 24h = 1.8 kWh
On a monthly basis, the cost would be (1.8 kWh / day)(30 days/month)($0.14 / kWh) = $7.56

Of course, if you actually USE the amp and it draws more power, then you will need to factor that in, too.

Michael
Thanks for the answers, I thought the real answer would lie in the "Kill a Watt", I'm just a major cheapo. I guess I don't really want to know how much my large salt water fish tank is using, anybody want to buy a large tank?

My rate is .0814 average, and every month I end up with a $250.00 electric bill. For a single guy this just seems high. I won't bore you all with my bills here.....

Thanks
Marty