The great Idle Power Consumption thread

[Svend P]

With energy prices rising, and having my gear on for many hours a day, idle power consumption is also factor for me.

But manufacturers seldom reveal how much power their products draw. They state how much it uses at standby (which is always around 0.5 W), but that is not how I use my hifi most of the time.

My measurements are at 230 V/50 Hz, but don't be shy even if you have 110 V AC measurements. From the Crown datasheet, is seems idle consumption is 20% higher at 110 V AC, so we can always extrapolate.

So please post your measurements

I'll start with the ones I have measured myself

Denon AVP-A1HD = 120 W
Denon POA-A1HD = 230 W

NAD M15HD = 40 W
NAD M25 = 145 W
NAD M22 = 32 W
NAD 316BEE = 46 W

Onkyo TX-SR805 = 100 W

Lyngdorf TDAI2200 RP = 39 W

Crown XLS1502 = 23 W
Crown XLS2500 = 36 W
Crown K2 = 80 W

Img stageline sta 1000d (Pascal modules) = 12 W

Sony PS3 = 120 W

 

[sergeauckland]

My entire system draws 500mA from the 240v mains, so draws 120 watts. This is regardless of whether playing music or idle.
I don't have a standby facility, everything is either on or fully off.

I can add another 25 watts per turntable when playing LPs, so a total of 170 watts for the full system.

System consists of:
Squeezebox Touch
Meridian 501 preamp
Meridian 206 CD player
DIY headphone driver and tone controls
DIY PPM
Behringer DEQ2496
Behringer DCX2496
Behringer A500 power amps x3
DIY power monitor
AEG TRS9000 turntable
EMT 948 turntable

Surprisingly, the three power amps together only draw 16 watts each at idle, or indeed when playing music as the average level is around 1 watt at the loudness I normally play at.

S.

 

[Svend P]

If you have measurements of each separate component that would be great.

 

[RayDunzl]

Krell FPB 350 mcx 100W (x2)
Krell KCT 75W
So 275W idle
Plus other little stuff, a few watts each.

Not especially efficient.

So I bought electric company stock, dividend pays most/all of the electric bill, capital gain when TECO sold themselves to Emera paid my lifetime audio hardware costs and might have bought me an antique sailplane, too.

Bought JBL LSR 305 actives (5W) for daily listening, so the 200W for the amps drops to 60W (standby) or 0W (off).

Measurements with a Kill-A-Watt monitor.

 

[Svend P]

Bought JBL LSR 305 actives (5W) for daily listening, so the 200W for the amps drops to 60W (standby) or 0W (off).

Shouldn't the consumption drop to 2x5W=10 W or where does the 60 W come from?

 

[Digby]

My entire system draws 500mA from the 240v mains, so draws 120 watts. This is regardless of whether playing music or idle.
I don't have a standby facility, everything is either on or fully off.

That is a fair whack on money to keep it on all year, about £350.

 

[RayDunzl]

Shouldn't the consumption drop to 2x5W=10 W or where does the 60 W come from?

The monoblocks idle at 100W each which includes low level listening, reduced to 30W each at silent standby, or 0W if their breaker/switch is turned off.

They are claimed to be Class A, with "Plateau Bias", which means their consumption bumps up in steps, so the rails can accommodate greater output voltage, something like 100W idle, 150W a little louder, then 250, then 400, and so on, up to their maximum consumption which is specified (but never seen) as 1700W each. Once a higher level of bias is triggered, it holds that for 30 seconds or so, and if there are no more musical peaks requiring that increased bias, they step down again.

If I push them too hard, the circuit breaker in the garage will pop. All the audio/visual and PC stuff and at least the kitchen overhead flourescents (34W x 8) are on the same breaker - 1800W = 15A breaker x 120V mains voltage.

The JBLs remain on, idle at 5W, and I didn't notice any (averaged) increase when they play, which is "all the time" except when I feel like "criticallly listening" for whatever reason.

Energy is the most abundant thing in the Universe, by my calculations. The mass of my coffee cup (and maybe just the coffee inside it) would power my entire life, could it be released.

Maybe one of those UFOs de gubnint has stashed away under Nevadrah will provide some clues about how to put it to use for our own nefarious adventures.

Looks a lot like those spinners in the Navy photos...

 

[Digby]

They are claimed to be Class A, with "Plateau Bias", which means their consumption bumps up in steps, so the rails can accommodate greater output voltage, something like 100W idle, 150W a little louder, then 250, then 400, and so on, up to their maximum consumption which is specified (but never seen) as 1700W each. Once a higher level of bias is triggered, it holds that for 30 seconds or so, and if there are no more musical peaks requiring that increased bias, they step down again.

If I push them too hard, the circuit breaker in the garage will pop. All the PC stuff and at least the kitchen overhead flourescents (34W x 8) are on the same breaker - 1800W = 15A breaker x 120V mains voltage.

The JBLs remain on, idle at 5W, and I didn't notice any (averaged) increase when they play, which is "all the time" except when I feel like "criticallly listening" for whatever reason.

Energy is the most abundant thing in the Universe, by my calculations. The mass of my coffee cup would power my entire life, could it be released.

Post your kw/h price. If you didn't say in your profile, I could tell from this post that you are on American kw/h prices (lucky for some).

 

[RayDunzl]

Post your kw/h price. If you didn't say in your profile, I could tell from this post that you are on American kw/h prices (lucky for some).

Haven't calculated it, can't find (well, can't decode) the Rate Schedules online, but about $0.15/kWh (it has gone up recently, partly due to hurricane damage surcharge, good for three years, I think).

The Air Conditioning is the big energy sink.

 

[sergeauckland]

That is a fair whack on money to keep it on all year, about £350.

It would be, but I only have it switched on when listening, around 3 hours each evening. As there's no standby function, when it's off it's properly off.

My current kWh rate is £ 0.32 so it costs around 12p for an evening's entertainment, around £44.0 for a whole year. Good value!

S.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Some of them I wrote on a post it when I adjusted idle current. I have more but I didn't write them all down..

Yamaha P7000S = 38 W
Yamaha P3200 = 35 W
Yamaha MX70 = 68 W
Yamaha MX-630 = 65 W
Yamaha A-S1000 = 72 W
Onkyo M-502 = 75 W

 

[Digby]

It would be, but I only have it switched on when listening, around 3 hours each evening. As there's no standby function, when it's off it's properly off.

Ah, I misread you. How many buttons are you pressing to turn the system on/off there?

 

[sergeauckland]

Ah, I misread you. How many buttons are you pressing to turn the system on/off there?

Just one, as the mains to each individual device goes through a mains sequencer that turns everything on and off in the right order. The turntables have their own individual mains switches as these aren't used as often.

S

 

[Digby]

Just one, as the mains to each individual device goes through a mains sequencer that turns everything on and off in the right order. The turntables have their own individual mains switches as these aren't used as often.

S

Very nice, where does one purchase those?

 

[sergeauckland]

Very nice, where does one purchase those?

Got mine on-line. Mine's called Muslady DB-00, but I think that's just a label on a generic Chinese-made item. I did check it was electrically safe before using, it's nicely made except that the LEDs were too bright, so I put a filter over them.

S

 

[Descartes]

AC is largest electric energy drain followed by electric clothes dryer. Running 7.2 Home theatre with Denon 4700, Adcom GFA-7000 and Monolith X7 costs 22 cents per hour during non-peak hours. Double the cost for peak power hour times. I turn the audio gear off when not in use.

Idle energy use:
Denon 4700 (internal amps on mode) - 132W idle
Denon 4700 (preamp only mode) - 46W idle or when fully operating
Denon DCD-800NE CD Player - 12W

Adcom GFA-7000 - 330W surge on turn on then drops to 56W while idle
Monolith X7 - 150W idle (92 pounds of fun) - 185W with Denon 47 volume at "65".
Buckeye Stereo NC502MP - 23W idle
Buckeye Stereo Purifi - 14W idle
March Audio P452 Purifi - 16W idle
Raspberry PI (RPI-4) - 5W idle
RME ADI-2 DAC FS - 6W idle
Hegel H90 - 60W idle

Measurements completed with Kill-a-watt

What about when they are running

 

[pseudoid]

More reason to keep music piping in the house 24/7!
I am willing to pay that price for music and feel no guilt because I use no ClassA!

 

[Sal1950]

My list of components is in my sig.
As for it's energy use, I really don't want to know.
Whatever it costs, it's worth it to me.

 

[IAtaman]

Well, according to internet, someone my age, gender and height needs around 2100Kcal every day to just stay alive. Keep the heart beating, liver running, brain functioning - that kind of stuff. (You can check yours here) 2100 Kcal is roughly 2400 Wh every day or ca 100W per hour. That is before even I turn on the amp.

 

[pablolie]

My entire audio-video chain consumes around ~60W when playing music at around 85dB. If I turn on the TV, that value goes up quite significantly - I think the 52-inch Samsung LED gobbles up around 150W in operation.