Leave power amp on? (1 Viewer)

[ChrisAG]

He has gone mad

 

[Harley]

Do not turn your equipment off, leave everything on 24/7 including every light bulb every TV, radios, clocks, refrigerators, anything that consumes electricity......Why because I'm in the coal distribution business so please leave your air conditioners or furnaces running 24/7 I need new toys!

Harley

 

[Jeremy Hegna]

Guys,

Solid State today is not what it was yesteryear. Reliability and longevity have been greatly improved from the early days of transistors.

I think I read somewhere that 90%+ of the failures of solid state products will take place in the first 30 days of use. Turning amps on and off does not make the significant difference in length of life some would have you believe. SS products today are built to last many, many years powering them off or not.

Is it a waste of electricity, sure...but I'm not going to debate that, everybody pays their own electric bill and there are a hell of a lot of products in use today that consume many more watts than a HT amplifier. I think that is the end users choice. But I wouldn't concern myself with turning a product on and off stressing out the components inside.


Jeremy

 

[Michael Lee]

Chu and Todd-
I have an equipment rack cut into a closet wall. 95% of my HT equipment and whole-house audio system is rackmounted as can be seen in my HT pics. Unfortunately, the amp would not fit in the rack...I had it originally sitting on the closet floor. Since I had wires running down(from the closet floor) through my basement to the 4 surrounds, subwoofers, and various inwall speakers--it made sense to drop a few wires and hang the amplifier just below the equipment closet. I put another shelf down there for additional equipment which does not to be seen or loaded frequently. It actually works out very well and I do intend to address the trigger someday--it is a low priority right now as I want to get my wireless network going along with other projects.

 

[Tony Lai]

How much would a 1,500w consumption Parasound multichannel use?

I know it isn't the most power saving amp in the world but it gets used every day so I leave it on 24/7.

T.

 

[ling_w]

Tony,

Your amp does not consume 1500w at idle, but has a 1500w max power consumption. To find out how much power it draws, either hook up an ammeter in series with the power connector and measure its steady state power draw, or read your electric meter's rate of usage difference with the power amp on and off.

I don't think Parasound are high bias amplifiers, especially the multichannel ones.

 

[Martice]

I can see the logic on turning the equipment off. However, I think I like the quote by Jeremy best:

Is it a waste of electricity, sure...but I'm not going to debate that, everybody pays their own electric bill and there are a hell of a lot of products in use today that consume many more watts than a HT amplifier. I think that is the end users choice. But I wouldn't concern myself with turning a product on and off stressing out the components inside.

I don't turn them off for the simple fact of it being one less thing that I have to do. That sounds terrible and maybe "typical" American but I assume that the same ones who turn their amps off also drive at or below the speed limit so they don't waste gas. Right? I also would expect that we don't just take drives for the sake of cruising? I guess as you get older you have less places to go maybe? What about 2 or 3 cars in the family? Is it really necessary or is it convenient? Don't want your kids to drive your favorite car so you get them their own?

I will keep my amps on and not in the name of ignorance but because if I'm 'SERIOUS' about saving the planet then I would like to expand my efforts beyond just my HT. I am not into watching my power consumption as it hasn't hurt my wallet enough for me to take notice. I do notice a considerable jump in electric cost when I use my AC so I only use it when it's one of those terrible hot and humid NY days and only in the day time. At night we use a fan.

What about this? If you have something that you want to heat up do you use the micro wave or the oven? Is this a case where you 'pick your poison'? Is this a case of Kilowatts vs Natural Gas? I'm sure some of you do comparisons in regards to that example and I'm not kicking dust on anyone but I will say honestly that I'm not turning on and off my amps in the name of conserving energy if I'm not going to adjust my total thinking to the effort of conserving energy.

In short, I keep my amps on for the convienience factor which is the same reason why we do and use a lot of other things in this country that can be considered a waste resource wise.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Martice,

It doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Just because we don't own a Honda Insight, and don't live in a house with no electricity, doesn't mean that we can't conserve where we can. If a few simple steps can cut your energy consumption by 10-20%, why not do it?
Here's my routine:
1. I turn off equipment (or deep sleep mode for my PC) when not in use. If I'm coming back to it in 10-15 minutes, then it gets left on.
2. I've replaced all of the high-use (>1 hour/day) lights in my home with compact fluorescent, as the old ones burned out.
3. I try to minimize trips to the stores, by stopping on my way home from work (I drive right by the Wal-Mart and supermarket).
4. I've installed a radiant barrier (a layer of aluminum foil below the roof deck) in my attic to reduce heat gain.
5. I use a setback thermostat (although it doesn't get setback much anymore, since my wife and daughter are home all day).
6. I use a timer on our water heater (this has cut $20/mo by itself).

I'm not inconvenienced by any of these things, and yet, I cut my energy use substantially. I think that's the key point- it's literally like something (energy and $$ savings) for nothing.

Todd

 

[Martice]

It doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Just because we don't own a Honda Insight, and don't live in a house with no electricity, doesn't mean that we can't conserve where we can. If a few simple steps can cut your energy consumption by 10-20%, why not do it?

I hear you Todd. It's really not a lot of effort to turn off the amps. As bad as it sounds, if I can turn it on and forget about it that's probably what's going to happen. Once again, I haven't seen that much of a jump in my electrical bill to cause me to notice.

As far as the other wonderful ways that you've been able to save money and conserve energy in your home I'm sure that when I do get a home and I no longer live in a apartment, I will be Mr.Conservative and watch my energy consumption as much as some of you do. With home ownership I guess the usage of power and resources is more in your face then if you lived in an apartment like me.

Todd you make a good case and I will say that I am starting to think about this more seriously.

I think I just had a moment.

 

[Mark Romero]

Off.

 

[Alex F.]

All components in all rooms treated the same, whether tube or solid-state: power is on when in use, power is off when not in use. Same applies to other power and resource consuming items that are used intermittently, such as televisions, radios, lights, the blender, the kitchen stove, and my car, too. Seems logical to me.

 

[Marc H]

The amp in my audio system stays on 24/7 (except for power failures which are common out in the boonies where I live). I hate the sound of it from a cold start and takes ages to sound proper again. I did notice a jump of $18.00CAN per month in my hydro bill since I got it but it's worth it. Helps keep the living room warm too
The HT system in the basement goes off when not in use though. I'm not looking for the same thing sonically out of it as the audio system; just want some wam-bam, impressive, knock your socks off type of sound out of the HT system.

 

[Lewis Besze]

My set up is on most of the time,when I'm home,'cause music is on most of the time.Also when I step out for a shrt time,or taking a nap I won't power it down.I only do it when I'm gone for most of the day.
I've been doing this the last 8 months and I can say that the bill maybe higher only a few bucks a month.

Electricity must be really cheapo in the US

Yeah Oliver,it's good to be living here

 

[Mifr44]

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, but what about the standby modes for audio/video components? I am sure some people believe that when their components are off that they are totally off. This is not true in many cases. Leaving a component in standby mode keeps it "warm" without the expenditure of the electricity needed to keep a component totally on. I also understand this is suppose to alleviate the possible power-on surge problem that can occur from a "cold" start.

Michael

 

[Richard_M]

I use one of these to turn my Rotel amp on/off, it works well with my Marantz 5000i remote control as well.
Remote Switch
Regards
Richard

 

[Jim Thompson]

I know the main topic is about whether to leave amps on or off,but what about CRT based projection systems,both FPTVs and RPTVs?I shut all my equipment off when not in use.It is a simple matter with one button to push on my Pronto.I will leave it on if I'm leaving it for just a little while.Not because of the amp though,but because of the Pioneer 610.If I'll be gone for an hour or more it gets shut off though.

I will say that I am having to turn my new Krell off manually because my Yam 2095 lacks a 12v trigger.I'm planning to get a small trasforme and power it by one of the 2095's switched outlets.Which leads me to ask a question.I am going to wire this up,is the 12 vdc jack a simple mono 1/8" jack?I just need to know before I head to the Rat Shack.I was under the understanding that it is.

I believe we are all called to be good stewards with what we are given ,that includes our natural resources.However,while Mark A.may be off on a couple of facts,the idea of Global warming and such environmental issues are things that are disputed.There are many facts that don't agree.Like the eruption of one big volcano spews more CO,CO2 and other polutants than man has created in our whole industrial age.These issues are highly political in nature,and Mark wasn't the one who brought up these issues.I thought the real question was what was the best for the amplfier.It could even be stretched to cover things like added expense,which is a reasonable concern.I do think though if it is going to go into a topic of whether you're destroying our environment by leaving an amplifier on,that this should probably be discussed somewhere else,due to the political nature.

 

[SteveSpoon]

My Yamaha M-80 gobbles 600 watts.....I turn it off if I figure I won't be using it for the rest of the day. I'm not sure what electricity goes for anymore per kilowatt hour, but does 15 cents per kilowatt sound right?? So, 8 cents per hour hour to run the amp sound about right?

I just don't like it on all the time.

Although, I have had it repaired once. Solder joint went bad. Heating and cooling of the solder joints my tech said will break them down eventually.

Steve

 

[ling_w]

Spoon,

How could teh Yamaha consume 600w at idle? I thought it was Class A to 25 watts, so giving its 25% efficiency, it should consume 200 watts for 2 channels.

 

[Craig Woodhall]

I don't think it is a question of your monthly electricity bill, more of a consumption of resources.. I am the farthest thing from a tree hugger but I just don't see the point of leaving something on that Im not using. My Cinepro amps within a couple seconds of turning them on, sound great! Just think, if everyone, everywhere in the world just left all their sh*t on, how much more of our natural resources we would have to dig up outta the ground, etc.. I think its pretty bad if someone is just too lazy to turn their shit off, but I guess that is the point we are at in this throw-away society.. Oh well, that's my rant!

Craig

 

[Martice]

Just think, if everyone, everywhere in the world just left all their sh*t on, how much more of our natural resources we would have to dig up outta the ground, etc..

For the record, I listen to my system in the dark.
What if everyone in the world was only allowed to have a car out of necessity as opposed to the convenience of having as many as you see fit? Multiple cars are a no no and for the record, I don't have one. Are all of you who are turning off your amps in the name of saving the planet using candles when electric light is not needed? How many of you who turn off your amps in the name of saving the planet are prepared to give up your AC's for a house full of fans or does saving the planet only apply to the level of comfort and convenience that you're willing to give up? If you use anything that consumes natural resources a little or all out, you're contributing to the decline of the planets natural resources in the name of convenience and comfort. What level of comfort one is willing to give up is the question and I'm sure it would vary greatly if we took a poll.
*** To get back to the thread's original theme, if you have a quality built amplifier leaving your amps on shouldn't hurt them. If you want to save the planet then start this discussion in the 'After Hours' room.