To all the Class A amp owners

[Cherian]

Do you keep your amp / amps on all the time? I took some current readings and each on the Monarchy mono-blocks burn up 160 watts each (160 x 2 = 320watts) when not in use. This to me is a waste of energy. I am also worried about stress on components. So my question is should I turn off the amps when not in use or is it better for the amp to be on all the time?

 

[TomDac]

I shut mine off - no sense in wasting electricity if you're not using it. My X250 takes about an hour to get fully warmed up, so I'll turn it on and do stuff around the house before I do any critical listening.

 

[twich54]

Cherian, good morning, Those of use with the Plinius SA-102's have the 'bias' switch on the front panel , so keeping them on is not a big issue, and it's what I do unless I'm away or weather threatens.

as for your new toys I'm not familiar ....are they biased class "A" all the time ?? If so and there is no signal sensing circuitry built in, then at idle they are producing their greatest heat (ineffecientcy). For when driving your Speakers is a way of disipating energy / heat. So if that's the case I'd recomend NOT leaving them running and as Tom says allow a warm up time before any critical listening.

 

[Kenscollick]

My Krell has a standby that uses 80 watts

 

[Joey_V]

Dave,

I think Cherian's amps are biased at A all the time.

Cherian,

As you know, the Plinius has the bias switch, so I keep mine at A/B most of the time. If it were A only, I'd turn it off.... too hot man.

 

[Audioseduction]

I keep my Pass Labs x350.5 on 24/7 so it’s ready to rock -n- roll at a moments notice. It idles at 550 watts. Also turning electronic equipment on and off puts more stress on the circuits then when it’s idled which will extend the life of the equipment.

 

[Cherian]

500 watts at a rate of $0.33 per kW hour adds up to $0.165 x 24(hours in a day) x 30(day a month) = $118.00 to your electric bill a month. WOW, I am going to turn my amp off when not in use.

 

[twich54]

I keep my Pass Labs x350.5 on 24/7 so it’s ready to rock -n- roll at a moments notice. It idles at 550 watts.

George, Are you sure about that idle figure ??? 550 watts seems more like the amount that it would be at in actual operation ??

 

[lugano]

Greetings from Class D territory :devil:

less than 40 W, turned on but no music playing... how about that ?

It goes without saying that it's on all the time, and always warm and ready for me :banana:

 

[Audioseduction]

George, Are you sure about that idle figure ??? 550 watts seems more like the amount that it would be at in actual operation ??

Quote from the x350.5 owner's manual... I still say Class A is the way to go for perfection! :music:

"You can position this amplifier most anywhere you wish, but it requires
adequate ventilation. We do not recommend placing it in enclosed cabinets or small closets without means for air to circulate freely. Stacking these power amplifiers directly upon each other is not recommended for the same reason. This amplifier idles at about 550 watts, most of which dissipates as heat across the heatsinks. As a point of reference, these heatsinks should never become too hot to touch for several seconds."

 

[paulo m]

Do you keep your amp / amps on all the time? I took some current readings and each on the Monarchy mono-blocks burn up 160 watts each (160 x 2 = 320watts) when not in use. This to me is a waste of energy. I am also worried about stress on components. So my question is should I turn off the amps when not in use or is it better for the amp to be on all the time?

Given that mine is a hybrid, I turn it off so that the tubes don't wear out. If it was pure SS I would probably leave it always on, unless the idle consumption was prohibitively high.

 

[amey01]

This is one of those areas of audio where nobody really knows. Does it stress the components, or does it stress them more turning on and off? Who knows.

How long does it take to warm up? I'd leave it off when going out or not listening for extended periods, but turn it on well before any serious listening.

That is what I do with mine. For instance, on the weekend I'll leave it on all weekend because I know there may be certain times where I can snatch a 1/2 hour critical listen. But I'll turn it off on Sunday night. If I happen to listen during the week I'll turn it on about 20 minutes prior to critical listening - I tend to get good stable sound after about 20 minutes from my Classé, am I lucky?

 

[Craig]

My class A amp is a tube amp and I turn it off when not in use. Tube amps typically don't benefit from a warm-up longer than 30 minutes max and tubes have a limited life-span. With thunderstorm season approaching in Florida I unplug all my gear before leaving the house. I'm considering a SA-250 Plinius (beheamoth) amp and if I buy it I won't leave it on when not in use especially during the Florida summer for 2 reasons. 1. The threat of lightning strikes and 2. The electric bill costs don't outweigh any long term longevity benefits.

 

[Zero]

A few notes here;

Yes, heat does in fact stress components - even designs built to run at high operating temperatures. It is one of the many downsides to a full class A design (which by the way, those Monarchy's are NOT).

Turning your average piece of well built gear on/off will only cause damage if done so irresponsibly. Practice common sense. If you sit there flicking the switch on and off because you're bored or stoned - expect a much shorter lifespan of your electronics.

Full class A designs are one of, if not the single least efficient design in all of home audio. It's analogous to cutting down a tree to make a few baseball bats (made that one up on the fly). Leaving such a piece on all the time is not only wasting a resource, but its a waste on your pocketbook as well. Even with that aside, I refer back to my very first comments about the stress caused by heat. I'm sure you can figure out where I'm going with this.

In all; Turn your amp off after you are done listening for the day/night. If you wont be back home to enjoy the tunes for more than a few hours - it doesn't need to be on. You'll be happier, in the end.

 

[MotorToad]

550 Watts? Don't count that once, either... You're pumping out the house again with the air conditioner. Maybe run it in the winter?

 

[Tube60]

As a tube enthusiast, and from my own POV in particular, I take a dim view of leaving even preamps running all the time. Most tubes take eleven seconds to warm up and play, and generally are ready to work well after only a few minutes. Beyond that time period, IMO you're just wearing out the tubes. My present system I turn on and start playing music about fifteen minutes after I turn the system on. I do find it a little ironic that my CD player/recorder sounds much better after about 1/2 hour after turn-on however, and it's solid state!

 

[Audioseduction]

500 watts at a rate of $0.33 per kW hour adds up to $0.165 x 24(hours in a day) x 30(day a month) = $118.00 to your electric bill a month. WOW, I am going to turn my amp off when not in use.

After Cherian revealed the cost of keeping my Class A amp on 24/7 I decided to turn it off when not in use. I'll just turn it on as soon as I get home from work to listen to it in the evening and turn it back off when done. On the weekends I'll turn it back on on Friday evening and not turn it off untill late Sunday night. How's that plan?

 

[twich54]

George, keep in mind Cherian lives in Chgo......Translation....... Exspensive gasoline, over $4 a gallon !! and exspensive electricity !!

For comparison purpose my last electric bill showed a total of 615 kWh used, the total bill incl all taxes, fees, etc was $96.20, that equates to .156 per kWh.

 

[Cherian]

Yes, in Chicago we pay about $0.33 a kWh. Our electric bill as of Jan 1 2007 has doubled. This is due to the fact that Illinois had a 10-year rate freeze on electricity. As soon as the rate freeze ended (Jan 1 7007) the electric company doubled and in some places quadrupled rates.

 

[David Prall]

Ouch!