What do you leave on..?

Gyp

Wammer
Wammer
May 7, 2013
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Gloucestershire
Not when you go to bed or to Tesco for a midnight shop, but your HiFi?

I used to leave everything on, but more recently everything bar the DAC goes off when not in use, and recently that too.

So, does anyone leave their kit on 24x7? Does it really make the kit sound better? Does it really make the kit last longer?

The biggest advantage of leaving my Michi power amp on was that I always had somewhere to warm my hands after riding my motorbike in winter.

 
S

stereo70

Guest
I think the belief that leaving your equipment on will prolong its life and make it sound better is a bit silly.

 

meridian man

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Mar 9, 2009
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Robert
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Everything bar phono stage as plug top traffo gets very hot.

When I walk into the room and its dark I go, shit I really must turn off that stuff as its like the starship enterprise.

Powerwise it uses a tiny amount of power in standby, tiny.

 

SergeAuckland

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May 6, 2008
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Serge
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I switch off everything that has a reachable physical mains switch. The SBT and Meridian pre-amp, tuner and CD player are on standby except when I'm away for more than a couple of days.

S

 

Clubsport911

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Jan 19, 2013
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Steve
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
All off - except the Projector (on standby) and that's because I cannot be asked to reach up to the plug socket - 0.25w.

However, in the past, I left my (old) power amps on all the time only to return home one day to find the emiter resitors on one of them had failed causing a massive instability and they went "phut" in a most expensive fashion.

House full of smoke - like a liquid pool of haze - to waist height as the o/p transitors drew more and more current from the 100,000 uf 600va mono-block power supply I had built without a fuse.

:doh:

 

struth

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Feb 14, 2013
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Apart from my Puccni amp, which is left on standby as per manufacturers instructions (to prelong life apparently), nothing is left on.....apart from the waste of energy, it is a fire hazard....I even take the kettle off its base when not in use. :doh:

 

The Strat

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Aug 17, 2005
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Lindsay
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  1. No
Hi Gyp - I leave all mine switched on because the manufacturers recommend it - not only Naim but the Roksan PSU as well where the on/off switch is tucked away underneath. The consensus view around here is that Naim have got this wrong.

 
S

stereo70

Guest
Perhaps Naim think its good subliminal advertising? The name does light up when its on doesnt it?

Do they give a reason more specific than simply stating it will last longer?

 

uncl_nigel

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Jun 23, 2008
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SE France
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Nigel
I used to leave quite a lot of stuff on 24/7.

These days only the DVD player (switch at back) Bluray player (no visible power switch) and projector(switch too near the ceiling) stay in standby when not in use - all the rest gets properly switched off even if it takes about 30 minutes for the hi-fi to really warm up and do its thing.

 

Radioham

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Mar 8, 2010
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Alan Ralph
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
All my modern Kit has a standby feature so TV, Cable Box, Amplifier, DVD Player, Music Streamer all left in standby. CD Recorder and Cassette player turned Off. As said many times before on the Wam good well made equipment designed for say professional/studio use can be left on all the time. Domestic equipment can be a bit iffy if voltage and wattage ratings are near maximum including temperature.

When I used to work in telecoms we used to source a CD player designed to be on for 24/7 to play music on hold. The only difference was an uprated PSU compared to the domestic hifi product from the same company.

Turning equipment off/on etc can stress components due to voltage/current surges, but equally so can extended usage shorted its life. Take your pick ?

A cheap supermarket DVD player will only live for about a year as they use 12volt capacitors on a 12 volt supply so its 100% stress all the time. When I worked in the Avionics industry we would only stress the parts at about 10% of their ratings, as a failure on an aircraft computer can cause issues although most systems use three or four backup computers. The only issue arises when you are left with 2 computers and they both say different things. Which one is correct ?

We would also thermal image the equipment looking for hot spots and make changes.

If you take a look inside a famous UK power amplifier you will see there are two resistors each side of the chassis which run hot and burn the board. The more you use it, the more it burns the board until it takes out the PCB track. The repair is to replace the resistors with a higher wattage one, stand it clear of the PCB and replace the burn tracks with wire links. Leaving it on makes it fail quicker and harder to repair.

Alan

 

RobHolt

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Aug 28, 2006
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Nothing left on.

The biggest factor in shortening the life of components most prone to ageing and deterioration in audio kit, electrolytic capacitors, is heat and ripple on raw dc lines. Neither are present when switched off :)

 

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