-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Leaving a amplifier on..
- Thread starter rman9
- Start date
I turn mine off. Amps stabilize quickly so no need to keep them warm. Yes, transient response can be damaging but so is heat generated from leaving the thing on. Also, if there is a surge outside, it would be better to have the amp off.
MakeMineVinyl
Major Contributor
There is no need to leave an amplifier ON all the time. Doing so accomplishes nothing except for making the power company richer and the environment dirtier.
Especially with a class A/B amplifier which stabilizes rapidly, there's just no need.
Back in the early days of vacuum tubes, places like radio stations left their gear on all the time which generally yielded longer life from the components. That's not true anymore.
Especially with a class A/B amplifier which stabilizes rapidly, there's just no need.
Back in the early days of vacuum tubes, places like radio stations left their gear on all the time which generally yielded longer life from the components. That's not true anymore.
MakeMineVinyl
Major Contributor
That's not hard to imagine. If bias current is loosely regulated in an amplifier which has little or no global negative feedback, the amplifier will only stabilize after the heatsinks reach a stable temperature, and the larger the heatsinks, the longer they take to heat up to achieve this.
- Thread Starter
- #8
Thank you so much.. I wanted to justify my turning off the Amps, after each use.. It feels right to do that..
Zek
Major Contributor
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2018
- Messages
- 1,614
- Likes
- 2,177
FirstWat F8 is A-class amp, not AB class.
DSJR
Major Contributor
There is a certain UK amp brand which all but took over for a while (Naim) which reviewers egged on by the maker, used to be recommended to be left on 24/7. Some eejits used to say that these amps took WEEKS to fully 'warm up' after a period switched off. Downside was these 24/7 amps drifted off internally (offsets and so on) after a while and the sound went off together with thermal changes under use as distortion rose and rose until they were re-set inside and certain parts replaced, generating a second income stream as basically all the models up to the 2000 cosmetic change needed it and probably still do twenty odd years later. I could say a hell of a lot more, knowing what I do now about the circuit used, but best let sleeping (backwards) capacitors lie I think - current production seems different and more stable but not sure how different the circuit and components used are. In practice, these amps only needed 3/4 hour to 'sound' best when new and I could never detect a change after this time (uber-fans would say my ears or system weren't resolving enough!).
Back in the late 60's to early 70's, a mag contributor tested a Quad 33/303 (remember those) and found it took them fifteen minutes to fully settle. My HH pro MOS-FET amp needs around the same and you can measure the offsets and bias voltages slowly change and then more or less settle to a nominal figure as the amp's heat-sinks warm up and stabilise.
So - My suggestion is that if you come home from work and want to have a listening session with some favourite music, turn the gear on maybe playing the radio or something quietly and then go and change, have a shower or whatever, or cook some food and then come to the system half an hour or so later, by which time you and the gear should have reached a nice mutual equilibrium ready for the music to do its thing
Back in the late 60's to early 70's, a mag contributor tested a Quad 33/303 (remember those) and found it took them fifteen minutes to fully settle. My HH pro MOS-FET amp needs around the same and you can measure the offsets and bias voltages slowly change and then more or less settle to a nominal figure as the amp's heat-sinks warm up and stabilise.
So - My suggestion is that if you come home from work and want to have a listening session with some favourite music, turn the gear on maybe playing the radio or something quietly and then go and change, have a shower or whatever, or cook some food and then come to the system half an hour or so later, by which time you and the gear should have reached a nice mutual equilibrium ready for the music to do its thing
Freeway
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2021
- Messages
- 325
- Likes
- 380
No Warm-Up Required
Unlike most power amplifiers, the AHB2 reaches its full rated performance very quickly. Full rated performance is reached in less than one minute. For this reason, there is absolutely no reason to keep the AHB2 powered on when not in use. The feed-forward error correction circuits in the AHB2 keep it very stable over a wide range of operating temperatures.
From Benchmark AHB2 manual.
Unlike most power amplifiers, the AHB2 reaches its full rated performance very quickly. Full rated performance is reached in less than one minute. For this reason, there is absolutely no reason to keep the AHB2 powered on when not in use. The feed-forward error correction circuits in the AHB2 keep it very stable over a wide range of operating temperatures.
From Benchmark AHB2 manual.
- Thread Starter
- #17
Depends on the design. Mine keeps the power supply on which generates heat so I shut it completely off. But otherwise, yes, I would use the stand-by function if it is just the microprocessor sipping power. Usually these come with remote control so you definitely want that convenience.
I heard that plugging an amp into a power strip is a bad idea.
Similar threads
