Leave solid state amps on? Or turn off everytime?

Musicnoise - Power-up transients don't do more harm to electrolytic caps than constant ripple current, but increase by merely 10 degrees Celsius of temperature inside will cut capacitors life by half. I addition we won't be able to unplug during thunderstorm when we are not at home.

Tvad - In practical terms - it really doesn't matter. You will extend the life by leaving the system on, but, as with most questions that come up on this site - it is likely a meaningless difference. Well designed solid state equipment lasts a long time. As to your example - you may only get 40 years out of an amp that you turn on and off everyday - but get a whole 41 years out of the equipment if you leave it on all the time. What is most likely to wear out will be electromechanical components - for eg. a power on relay. Transformers, transistors, resistors and, despite everyones obsession - caps both electrolytic and otherwise, will outlast the em components. I too have seen an awful lot of equipment that was around unrepaired and unmodified for decades.

Musicnoise- that's very useful information. Thanks.

Hm... this is all very interesting. In regards to power usage, if you leave a SS amp on, isn't it not using very much power if it is just sitting idle vs. actually playing music? I would think that if it isn't playing music it shouldnt be using very much power... I have a kill-a-watt meter and I will see what my Bel Canto 1000W uses at idle and let you all know.

Also, re: power ripple / surges etc. Is it worth getting some kind of power regular to regulate this?