[dgarratt]

Hi Guys,

Does anyone here leave your amps on 24/7. Apart from the extra power consumption are there any disadvantages? Does it affect the life of the product in a good way or a bad way.

I'd be interested to get others thoughts. How long does it take to really get the best out of your amps from cold?

[G Georgopoulos]

warm up time ,burn in, call it what you want i dont believe in it, for sure if you use tubes or solid state expect life expectancy shorted by time active,that's something that tells you not to leave on equipment on when not used...

I can give you some approximate figures for life expectancy

solid state 50,000 hours
tube 20,000 hours

cheers

[G Georgopoulos]

Hi Guys,

How long does it take to really get the best out of your amps from cold?

there is no such thing as COLD..

[Guy 13]

there is no such thing as COLD..

Hi Georgopoulos.

Please explain.

Guy 13

[G Georgopoulos]

Hi Georgopoulos.

Please explain.

Guy 13

Hi Guy 13.i'll explain because i like your STYLE
first of all the junction temperature of solid state is rapidly set by current and voltage,the same happens with tube,if you leave it longer on this temperature spreads to heatsing etc
the temperature is not set by heatsink but by current and voltage..

cheers

[dgarratt]

there is no such thing as COLD..

Just to explain myself..when I said 'on from cold' in my opening post I meant from when the amp is powered on after being off for a significant amount of time. My dealer seems to think it takes 3 hours of warm up time to get the best out of Bryston amps.

[James Romeyn]

Electrolytic capacitors are employed in the power supply and often at other locations.  Such caps have two "shelf life" specs, one is "dry" (caps not powered up) the other is "wet" (caps powered up).  The latter is about 30% longer than the former.  IOW, caps powered up last longer than caps not powered up.  Just the nature of the beast.  Generally, replacing these caps is the first service requirement of major cost. 

   

[MtnHam]

SS amps run 24/7 are ready to deliver peak performance immediately when I want music, which can be at any time throughout the day and evening. My Ayre MXR's consume 120 watts ($0.28/day @$0.10/Kwh) in operating mode with no signal, so the cost of power is minor, well worth it considering the benefit. I strongly doubt it shortens their life.

"I can give you some approximate figures for life expectancy-solid state 50,000 hours"
(Approximately 4 years)

If this was true, mine should have been toast quite some time ago!

[srb]

I can give you some approximate figures for life expectancy
solid state 50,000 hours

(Approximately 4 years)

Approximately 6 years (5.7 years)

[spinner]

Some time back James posted about some studio he knew that has had their amps on for 16 or 18 years . James do you recall that post?

[Guy 13]

Hi Guy 13.i'll explain because i like your STYLE
first of all the junction temperature of solid state is rapidly set by current and voltage,the same happens with tube,if you leave it longer on this temperature spreads to heatsing etc
the temperature is not set by heatsink but by current and voltage..

cheers

Hi Georgopoulos.
So, you will explain because you like my style.
What about if you did not liked my style?
Would you still explain ? ? ? 
Of course temperature is not generated by the heatsink.
Heatsink by themselve are inert, dead, cold or should I say
at room temperature, until they are heat up by a transistor
or what ever they have to dissipate the heat from
and what they are in contact with.
No voltage - no current, no heat.
When current start to flow, you have resistance
and friction, then heat.
Does that make sense to you ?
Are we saying the same thing ?

Guy 13

[Guy 13]

Electrolytic capacitors are employed in the power supply and often at other locations.  Such caps have two "shelf life" specs, one is "dry" (caps not powered up) the other is "wet" (caps powered up).  The latter is about 30% longer than the former.  IOW, caps powered up last longer than caps not powered up.  Just the nature of the beast.  Generally, replacing these caps is the first service requirement of major cost. 

   

Hi James.
First, I must say that it's not because I have a diploma in electronics
and that's have been working with capacitors for more than 25 years
that what I will say is word of God, but I’ve been selling
and repairing professional photographic flashes with built-in storage capacitors
varying from 100uF to 3600uf. Don't seem to be much,
but in each unit there are 4 to 8 of them.
What I've been told by the manufacturer is that a capacitor must be cycle every three months to re-form the inside; otherwise it will be distortionned, however;
I had capacitors in storage for 6 to 12 months and some times up to a year
and when they were installed, I did not have any problem.
Now, what I know about electronics, is, if you leave it on 24/24 if it’s well designed and well ventilated, the temperature will stabilized and there will be less stress on all the components.
Cold – hot – cold, does expand and contract the components,
which is not too good for the components?
Now tubes units have a much shorter life than transistor, therefore,
I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave it on 24/24 plus safety concern if it failed.
For my tubes units I think 15 minutes warm up is more than enough and solid state units I would say the same.
Each unit is different; therefore the owner should start using it right away to find out by himself if the sound gets better as the unit warm up.   
The Montreal local TV station had a dozen ss amplifiers on 24/24 for almost 20 years with no problems whatsoever, I am not saying that the performances where the same as when the units were new, but…
Just my humble opinion based on my experience with my products.

Guy 13

[dgarratt]

Some time back James posted about some studio he knew that has had their amps on for 16 or 18 years . James do you recall that post?

Wow, that's incredible! I work in the IT field and there was a Novell server that had been up for 17 years straight the only reason it had to be rebooted was to update it for the Y2K bug...it's still going today apparently! I guess the saying goes 'if it ain't broke why fix it'.

[James Tanner]

Some time back James posted about some studio he knew that has had their amps on for 16 or 18 years . James do you recall that post?

Hi

Yes I was doing a recording sessions with Telarc Records at Eastern Sound Studios in Toronto with Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown.  We were in studio A and the owner of the studio asked if I was James from Bryston - I said yes - and he asked me to follow him.  Crap I thought I going to get a talking too I assumed!!!!  He took me into one of the other studios and behind a glass case were 6 Bryston amplifiers with their green LEDs shinning through.  He said to me "James guess how long those amps have been on?  I could tell they were older so I guessed 10 years - he said nope - 18 years!!!!

james

[GT Audio Works]

I will leave my entire system on, sometimes for days, when I am evaluating a change I made in my speakers or doing a demo.
But for casual listening I try to put it on a few hours before I sit down. I find it opens up and starts to sound its best at around the 5-6 hour mark.   Greg

[James Romeyn]

Power up audio components 24/7.

Rare exceptions:

• Tube gear for obvious reasons of heat, tube replacement cost, etc.  Even then, use your  judgement.  If component heat is low to moderate, if tube complement is low-moderate number of low-moderate cost tubes, and depending on ambient temperature and cost/noise associated with cooling, consider power up 24/7.
• If it's a true "Class A" power amp and if it does not have a bias switch and/or standby switch to decrease bias current (Plinius "Class A" has such switching), power down.
• My system is dual use mixed 2-ch/5.1 Phantom Center, Retractable Perforated 92" Screen (no compromise in either format, L/R Front Speakers employ Late Ceiling Splash radiation pattern with center image rivaling LCR array and spatial effects exceeding LCR array).  Even though powered-on Blu-ray WiFi player has no audible effect on 2-ch playback, I turn it off just on principal...also low replacement cost, estimate $100.

I wish I could remember who made the mixing board at The Record Plant in Sausalito, but I can't.  We never turned off anything in the control room (Crown 150 power amps for JBL monitors were in remote room but also always powered up). One morning we came in and some of the push buttons on the board had deformed from excessive heat. 

Still miss the in-house mellotron and EMT plate reverb.  Off to the left was that strange room with ceiling and all walls covered with 12"x12" mirrors, for reverb/echo effects, but so small that it was rarely if ever used because the delay times were too short.  Would have been used more with diffusion panels instead of mirrors (alas, no diffusion technology in the 70s).     

[avahifi]

I am a bit concerned about one issue of leaving equipment on all the time.

If a minor fault occurs while you are listening to your system, you will notice it and take appropriate action.

If this fault occurs while you are not around, it is possible for it to cook itself into a major catastrophe and a much more expensive repair.

We have seen heat sinks on old Dynaco equipment cooked pink due to a bias circuit failure that also cooked all the associated transistors into oblivion because the issue occurred in the middle of the night.

Frank Van Alstine

[Mike Nomad]

Depending on when you are talking about, I believe there were API, Neve, and SSL. I didn't work there, that's just the kind of gear dork I am...

I wish I could remember who made the mixing board at The Record Plant in Sausalito, but I can't.  We never turned off anything in the control room (Crown 150 power amps for JBL monitors were in remote room but also always powered up). One morning we came in and some of the push buttons on the board had deformed from excessive heat. 

Still miss the in-house mellotron and EMT plate reverb.  Off to the left was that strange room with ceiling and all walls covered with 12"x12" mirrors, for reverb/echo effects, but so small that it was rarely if ever used because the delay times were too short.  Would have been used more with diffusion panels instead of mirrors (alas, no diffusion technology in the 70s).   

[redbook]

Hi

Yes I was doing a recording sessions with Telarc Records at Eastern Sound Studios in Toronto with Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown.  We were in studio A and the owner of the studio asked if I was James from Bryston - I said yes - and he asked me to follow him.  Crap I thought I going to get a talking too I assumed!!!!  He took me into one of the other studios and behind a glass case were 6 Bryston amplifiers with their green LEDs shinning through.  He said to me "James guess how long those amps have been on?  I could tell they were older so I guessed 10 years - he said nope - 18 years!!!!

james   Oh yeah I recall that too .there you go  a good case for longevity.

[RDavidson]

I am a bit concerned about one issue of leaving equipment on all the time.

If a minor fault occurs while you are listening to your system, you will notice it and take appropriate action.

If this fault occurs while you are not around, it is possible for it to cook itself into a major catastrophe and a much more expensive repair.

We have seen heat sinks on old Dynaco equipment cooked pink due to a bias circuit failure that also cooked all the associated transistors into oblivion because the issue occurred in the middle of the night.

Frank Van Alstine

Aside from what has already been said in regards to leaving amps on (ie shortened life of tube and class A amps), I tend to agree with Frank in regards to all other amp types (perhaps excluding class D). If you're not going to be home, when leaving your gear on, proceed with caution. Accidents happen regardless of how well a piece of gear is made. The last thing you want to find out is that your house burned down because you left your amps on while on vacation or while at work for the day. As long as you use your gear pretty regularly (or even just turn them on for awhile to cycle power through them) then there's no worry of caps drying out prematurely. If you're concerned with the effects of turning gear on and off once or twice daily shortening the life of your gear (due to power inrush), I've read that detrimental effects of leaving gear on 24/7 are roughly the same. I don't know if this is true to all amps, but it makes sense.