Is it ok to leave the amp on?

The advice Dave Belles gives is identical to advice I received from Mondial designs concerning their Aragon 8008BB 200 W/ch power amplifier: turn it off when not in use, it's better from a reliability standpoint, it's better from a power transient susceptibility (e.g., lightning strike) standpoint, it's better from a cost of energy standpoint, and it warms up quickly after turn on. Now that the amp is well broken in, there is no readily discernible difference in the sound between "just turned on" and "warmed up for several hours". And yes, I do have a high resolution system and reasonably good ears, thanks for asking :-)

The advice varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, for example -w- Naim - leave it it on. If I felt it necessary to power down my SS amplifier in between use, and then wait for it to warm up each time, it would be out of here and replaced with a good tube amp.

Lphunter2's comments deserve careful thought. On the other hand, two amplifier manufacturers I respect --- Bryston and Museatex/Meitner --- both recommend leaving their amplifiers on all the time. Since I use Meitner monoblocks, I figure I'd follow manufacturer's suggestions, so mine are on all the time unless I'm out of town.

Leaving a tube amp on all the time/or my CAT pre w/10 of them glowing suckers wouldn't make much sense; except to the electric co, and the guy who sells me the tubes.Best advice for SS: Get the best timer device you can find,set it to come on a couple of hrs. before you come home.

Avguygeorge....I dunno about that man. I can't imagine running my several hundred dollar power conditioner which is running my several thousand dollar amp which is using mega hundred dollar cables through a AC wall timer. I could be wrong..but I think it would have undesirable sonic affects.