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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
oldschool1948's avatar
oldschool1948
502 posts
 

I leave my TT, network streamer, and power conditioner on 24/7x365.  I will turn them off in an electrical storm (even though I have a whole house surge protector) and when on vacation.  I turn my hybrid preamp, hybrid power amp, DAC and phono pre "off" - they go into standby mode.

harrylavo's avatar
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harrylavo
346 posts
 

In my two systems the transistor gear (one amp, one tuner, one disk player/dac, one separate dac stay on, or at most I may turn off the transistor amp overnight.  The tube gear (amp, preamp, headamp, tuner) goes on a half hour before listening, and gets turned off when done listening.  Optimum life for all, sound enhancement at least 99%+ of being on all the time.  When the equipment is new I hear more change when violating this routine, but with time I can hear no difference.

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o_holter
977 posts
 

My experience - I could leave my solid state amps on, or on standby, with no problems (like the Krell FPB600) over several years of use. My Atma-sphere MA1 tube amps are another matter - I turn them off, after use, to preserve tube life. My Io phono preamp, also using a lot of tubes, is another matter. I fell in love with how good the Io sounds, fully warmed up, so I left it on, all the time. Not a good idea. Not just because it took tube life, but also because some components - including crackelating soldering - did not like it. Also, I used to have my Einstein The tube preamp on, most of the time, and when I sent it to service, recently, several components (capacitors, mainly) had to be replaced.

A main rule becomes clear. Regardless of the cost in tube life. How components react to "always on" depends on time x heat. With more heat, e g restricted air flow above the component, the problems increase over time, the longer you leave it on.

mirolab
208 posts
 

TURN OFF!!!  We're killing the planet enough already... you can wait a stupid 30mins to reach your audio nirvana for the sake of our future.... which of course is screwed no matter what we do now...... but still.....  

peter_s
1,348 posts
 

Regarding turning off devices to save energy… Just be aware, as long as you are hitting your house, you may as well leave these things on. All they are doing is contributing to the heat in the home, and so you are using your furnace less. This is even true for lightbulbs. The only difference is if you have a heat pump system, which is more efficient than other sources of heat.

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