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Turn off or leave on?

I am curious to know what others are doing with respect to powering on/off their hifi systems. My system like most is a mix of tube and SS components: tube gear (mono amps, preamp, and phono). SS gear consists of (SACD/CD player, DAC, server, and external clock) and I have a conventional DC powered motor for my LP player.  On days when I know I will listen to music, I turn it all on and leave it on until I go to bed at which time I turn it all off. I have read that it is better to leave SS components on (limit the number of temperature swings associated with powering up) and only power down tube gear (extend tube life).  Many of the components have power saving features so they shutdown after an inactive period but that is more of a sleep mode as I understand it and not the same as a true power down.  Not to complicate the question further, all the amps are hybrid so they have in effect both tubes and transistors  My SS gear is a dCS Vivaldi One plus external Vivaldi clock, server is Taiko Extreme, and my amps are all from Tenor Audio. LP player is AMG 12 that uses a typical external DC motor always left on and powered up.

besonic
phishhhhh4's avatar
phishhhhh4
113 posts
 

Everything on...cept for my amp which has tubes...I put that in standby when not listening 

ghdprentice
7,047 posts
 

Definitely turn off tube equipment.

 

Some of my tube equipment specifically warnings against leaving the unit on or for an extended time or unattended. Most of my high end pieces have automatic shutoff after two hours with meters to track tube time.

 

There are some tubed preamps that I think are not using tubes in the power supply and generate little heat… these are probably ok to leave on.

While my understanding is that tubes that are just idling do not age as fast as being driven… it is still tube time.

 

Most of the thirty tubes in my system have a expected tube life of 3,000 hours… or 125 days… less than six months if left on. My high end tube stuff has a function to slowly bring up tubes to full power in order to avoid abrupt turn ons thus improving tube life.

Solid state… leave it on unless it has a standby mode like most Pass equipment.

ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,490 posts
 

In my mind, leaving components on 24/7 is probably the best for sonic performance at least when initially playing the system.

But, since I have 18 tubes in my system and I am somewhat energy conscience (if only to conserve $$$ from the Electric company), I turn the equipment on when I use it and off when done.

ozzy

audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 

Everything off when not using, especially when not listening for an extended period of time, due to work etc..in fact, I shut down all power conditioners and even shut off the breaker. The only detriment is a long Warm up period, especially with my tube gear and class A Amp. It will usually take up to 90 minutes for it to sound its best. With the supposed shortage of tubes, probably a good thing to shut down. I would not know of the shortage, as I’m set for tubes, as I bought them years ago, mostly just small preamp type tubes.

erik_squires
16,128 posts
 

I leave my DAC on almost all the time, but it's power consumption is minimal unless playing high resolution music.  My SS integrated is AB and I leave it on a lot because I rarely get to sit and just listen for an extended period of time, but it does really well even when first powered on.

OTOH, I have some Class D amplifiers that do really poorly for music until powered on for 3-4 days.  They are very cool running though, with minimal power consumption when not playing music.

Your mileage may vary. :)

I do want to point out we are not always aware of or home when power surges hit. I'm obsessive over surge protection in this home but if I know a storm is coming over night I still turn everything off I can, including the surge protectors.

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