solid state gear- leave on?

The only time i've ever seen or heard of gear catching fire was with tubed gear. The higher voltages found in this gear can tend to arc, igniting other components in the path of the arc. SS gear tends to pull higher levels of continuous current when something goes haywire, which tends to blow the fuses.

If i was going out of town for more than a few days, i would shut down my systems. Same goes for leaving the house with very violent electrical storms on the way. Otherwise, i've got 12 SS amplifiers on at all times, along with the systems that they are connected to. Two amps are very efficient and idle cool as a cucumber. Two other amps are also quite efficient, but idle slightly warmer. The other eight are all high bias designs and idle at high temperature. Two of them are Class A up to 50 wpc, two are Class A up to 30 wpc and the other four are Class A up to appr 10 wpc.

The only system that used to get powered up and shut down regularly was my vintage tubed system. This system is currently "down for the count" as i sold my Marantz 8 a while back and am still contemplating which way i want to go with this system. I think i'm going to end up building my own tube amp, but that will have to wait a bit. Sean
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Well designed electronics are not "stressed" by turnon and turnoff. Fifty years ago my tube power amp had a "soft start" circuit. Actually it was just a wirewound resistor with a bimetalic strip with switch contacts on it. The resistor was in the AC power line, so that initial turnon was at reduced voltages, but when the resistor got hot the contacts on the bimetalic strip closed and shorted out the resistor so that full voltage was applied. Must have cost about 25 cents. Nowadays a "soft start" circuit is probably more sophisticated, but there is no excuse for the designer to completely ignore the turnon requirement.

My digital power amps have a turnon sequence which they execute, and it even includes diagnostic checks in the process.

As a member of the baby boom generation, having been brought up by parents who went through the Great Depression, I guess I have this knee-jerk reaction - I can't leave a room without turning off the lights, unless I'm going to be right back, I close the refrigerator door ASAP, and I can't leave my audio equipment on when it's not in use. I turn off my computer when I'm not using it, too. I'm also very concerned about our natural resources and the environment. I guess I pretend this is saving Mama Earth in some very small way. As I said, it's second nature for me, and I can't escape years of behavior modification; audio nirvana is forced to take a back seat. :-D

El: Obviously, "well designed" has different meanings to different designers / engineers / end users. There are those that feel that the addition of ANY unnecessary parts / circuitry is a poor design. Then again, there are those that think that a unit without every form of circuit protection known to mankind is a poor design. Personally, i prefer that the units be built like tanks with only the bare essentials in terms of circuit protection. To each their own... Sean
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I personally spoke to Pass Labs about this issue. If anyone should know, they should, especially being under the tutelage of Nelson Pass. The answer? Basically a toss-up, as heat ages things, especially capacitors. I think those who believe 24/7 is not stressful are remiss here Capacitors that are kept in a fully charged state most of the time (listening sessions being far shorter than 24/7) only shortens their life span and 'dries' them out sooner.

As others have stated here, well-designed gear has circuitry that prevents an initial unrush of current upon turnon. Such as my Halo amps.