[Jakkar]

Hello, I have recently added a pair of Odyssey Mono Extreme SE amps to my system and everything I read tells me they must remain on 24 x 7 to sound their best.  Outside of shorter tube life and potentially heat issues are there any other reasons why I couldn't leave my SWL 9.0se on 24 x 7.

[woodsyi]

It's not just potential.  The heat will kill you preamp faster.  I don't think any tubed audio gear is designed to stay on at all times.  If you must have the amp on, just turn it on 24 hours before a really really serious listening.  Most nights, an hour should be fine.  I don't think the "difference" you hear from continuously powered to 1 hours of warm up time is worth the waste (of power and gear life).

[rpf]

It's not just potential.  The heat will kill you preamp faster.  I don't think any tubed audio gear is designed to stay on at all times.  If you must have the amp on, just turn it on 24 hours before a really really serious listening.  Most nights, an hour should be fine.  I don't think the "difference" you hear from continuously powered to 1 hours of warm up time is worth the waste (of power and gear life).

Agree.

[Jakkar]

Thanks for the advice.  I read all this stuff about the mono extremes only sounding their best after being continuously left on for 20+ days and have to wonder what I might be missing.  They certainly don't sound all that great right now but hopefully they will get better with break in. 

I guess I will just have to crawl behind the racks each night to turn them on and off . 

[rydenfan]

Nobody said you cant leave your amps on all the time, they are solid state. The recommendation was not to leave your pre-amp on.

[woodsyi]

I wouldn't leave amps on without the preamp controlling it.  If you somehow get any kind of "noise" you can ruin your drivers.  Preamp on first, preamp off last is what I have been drilled with.

[Jakkar]

I wouldn't leave amps on without the preamp controlling it.  If you somehow get any kind of "noise" you can ruin your drivers.  Preamp on first, preamp off last is what I have been drilled with.

Yeah that is kind of what I always thought.