Will leaving an amp powered-up all the time...

Thanks Audphile1.I will try it out.I never thought that a signal must pass thru in order for the amp to sound best.I thought the small voltage is passing thru from the preamp to the speakers anyway.

I tried the " leave it on" for a day or two but all the amps I have from Krell 400xi, Parasound Hca 1000a, Bryston 4bsst seems sounds softer, warmer, more open but lacking of " edge" or sharp details and I really miss that . In my set up, I find it is best to have 30 to 60 mimutes warm up before playing any sources.

After many years in this hobby I don't see that leaving an amp on all the time provides any benefit vs. turning off if not listened to for extended periods. My solution is to turn on and off during the week if I listen in the evenings only and leave on during the weekend when I will spend more time listening. Also, I have never had an amp or other components go bad because of cycling off and on; I think the fear of premature wear, is highly overrated and unsubstantiated.

I'm with Stevecham. Also if a amp manufacture is stating to keep a amp on all the time to sound their best, then it's a crutch and design flaw IMHO, I'd stay away. There are plenty of amps that sound great upon turn on.

If you have very revealing speakers and a quality ss power amp, letting it warm for at least an hour definately makes an audible difference. I can understand Kkm's thoughts that this may be a design flaw but have come up with my own theories on this. For example the Odyssey Stratos has a power switch on the rear obviously because the amp should be left on at all times to sound its best. I feel that the overkill on the Stratos's heatsinking delays the output devices from reaching a desirable operating temperature that would in turn keep them from sounding their best at least for awhile. So I would not view this as a design flaw but rather a careful design that allows the Stratos to operate at cooler temeratures even after warmup thus giving the amp longevity.

In Contrast the McCormack amp does not nearly have as much heatsinking as the Odyssey and it takes a shorter period of time to reach its optimum operating temperature for best sound but it does run much warmer than the Stratos even though both amps are biased up a bit.

There are some cases I have found that some amps actually do sound brighter if left on continously but some would say that the amp is not brighter but just more revealing & transparent. On the other hand there are some amps that just start sounding warmer when left on all the time. I suppose that is why we have an amp game.