Amp — Leave on or turn off

This is the language in the manual for my Creek amp:

"It is appreciated by Hi-Fi enthusiasts that leaving equipment powered up continuously can Improve the performance. However, this small improvement in sound quality comes at the Expense of continuous power consumption from the mains, which will increase your electricity bill and also reduced working life of the product. The 100A draws approximately 20 Watts Of power when switched on and not producing a signal.

We recommend switching the 100A off at the front panel if it’s not going to be used for a Prolonged period of time. Normal performance is achieved in a very short period of time due To the advanced circuitry in the 100A amplifier."

I just leave it on 24/7. 

I usually leave the amps on most of the day, but I do turn them off late in the evening. With the high price of energy these days I need to be aware.

ozzy

I like my Hegel 390 to be on for about 1 hour before listening.  I don’t like the idea of on 24/7. But I also feel like excessive on and off isn’t good either. So I have it set to go into standby after an hour if no signal. 

A local dealer leaves their amps powered on 24/6. they shut down on sat nights. on monday AM opening the store the sound is noticeably off compsred to days after they were left on. the main rep says it takes two days for some of them to sound their best!

My incidences tell me they sound best after 45 minutes or so

I am not leaving my amps on 24 /7.  I have a 40 year old pioneer receiver that still sounds great.  i doubt it would be in the same condition being left on for 40 years.  

I'm an electrical engineer who designs amplifiers, among many other circuits.  Contrary to some other comments about power cycling, that's not the main issue with solid-state amps.  The primary failure mode are the power supply electrolytics desiccating.  When the amplifier is on, these capacitors must charge and discharge 432,000 times per hour.  In high-bias amplifiers these capacitors have an exceedingly tough life and only last around 2000 hours.  I've seen some Class A amps with them failed at 1200 hours.  The best quality caps rarely last more than 5000 hours regardless.  So I generally do not leave my amps on when I'm not listening to them.  If I know I will be having a listening session on a Saturday morning, I will sometimes leave it on Friday night, but that's about it.