The great Idle Power Consumption thread

[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.

 

[egellings]

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.

That's when you program a '1' to your auto-boogie register and crank up the calorie consumption.

 

[DVDdoug]

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.

Thanks for sharing that!!! It's something I never thought about calculating. (I don't think I actually eat that much...)

I also require some (artificial) energy to keep warm... Even in California in the summer my heater comes-on in the morning. On average over a year I'm surely using more than 2400 Watt Hours per day to stay comfortable... Maybe even in the summer since I'm warming the whole house, and I live alone. I probably could "stay alive" with no artificial heat but I wouldn't be happy.

 

[kiwifi]

Sony SA-WX900 dual 12 inch 1000W subwoofer - 0.25W on standby.

 

[Dobbyisfree]

The ZKelectonics site reports idle power for Denon and Marantz AVRs quite accurately; I have found by measurement. And it shows with ECO mode on and off.
(Worth noting that full pre-amp assign mode, that has forced ECO ON is a few Watts lower).
Also,
XTZ A2-300 is 6.7W.
Rotel RB-1510 is 9.8W.
Rotel RB-985MKII is 67.1W.

 

[notsodeadlizard]

To be honest with yourself, then all these attempts to "save the planet" with class D amplifiers do not even seem like nonsense, they are complete absolute nonsense.
A working family man does not listen to music often, not every day, and certainly not every weekend.
Almost no one listens to music at the maximum power of the amplifier (individual psychopaths do not count), no one unscrews the volume control of a 100 watt amplifier for more than 10-11 hours.
The number of audiophiles is negligible.
Because all this battle for energy efficiency against the backdrop of continuously aging and poorly maintained utility networks, against the backdrop of dirty and inefficient mass production in China, etc. looks like some kind of funny oddity, looking for solutions to problems where there are none, but no more.
Just turn off the equipment when you are not using it.

 

[Dobbyisfree]

To be honest with yourself, then all these attempts to "save the planet" with class D amplifiers do not even seem like nonsense, they are complete absolute nonsense.
A working family man does not listen to music often, not every day, and certainly not every weekend.
Almost no one listens to music at the maximum power of the amplifier (individual psychopaths do not count), no one unscrews the volume control of a 100 watt amplifier for more than 10-11 hours.
The number of audiophiles is negligible.
Because all this battle for energy efficiency against the backdrop of continuously aging and poorly maintained utility networks, against the backdrop of dirty and inefficient mass production in China, etc. looks like some kind of funny oddity, looking for solutions to problems where there are none, but no more.
Just turn off the equipment when you are not using it.

Agree. I use class D that specifically has low idle consumption. The majority of the power used is for idle and not when making a sound (we watch at around a maximum of 20dB off reference).

I do that to save money (UK hurrendous unit costs) and not for any other reason. Although the by product is not having to worry about temperature management!

 

[Jason Coker]

Hello All,

I tested my Buckeye Purifi 7040 monoblocks:
in standby mode, they pull 8 and 10W
in idle mode, they pull 14 and 15W
Interestingly, they will not go into standby with the XLRs connected, so there must be some constant low level output from my Parasound PLD 2000 Line Drive preamp. It does not happen when the XLRs are not connected to the preamp.

It looks like I will have to turn them on and off with the back switches if I do not want energy vampires.

Cheers,
j

 

[Digby]

It looks like I will have to turn them on and off with the back switches if I do not want energy vampires.

Perhaps use a smart or non-smart timer plug?

 

[AnalogSteph]

Interestingly, they will not go into standby with the XLRs connected, so there must be some constant low level output from my Parasound PLD 2000 Line Drive preamp.

https://parasound.com/vintage/pld2000.php

Signal-to-Noise Ratio
>110 dB, A weighted, full output
>90 dB, unweighted, full output

Methinks it's got a slight hum issue, possibly exacerbated by age (the schematic I found is dated 1995, so it's not old old but not exactly a spring chicken either... you're in a better position to tell how many hours it's got on the clock now). I can't imagine the input JFETs would have that much 1/f noise. Or you've got a ground loop if unbalanced inputs are involved.

Hmm... they were using a 220µ/25V bipolar to connect power ground to chassis ground. Isn't that a bit much?

Then there's also this:

I don't really get the ground routing, to be honest, a look at the actual boards may be required. Granted, the main circuit is balanced and ought not to be affected by potential loops, but there are at least some unbalanced sections.

Also, in a surprise to no-one, it appears that XLR pin 1 wiring does not follow AES48-2005 guidelines.

They've also got balance / volume pot arrangements that are just duplicated for the balanced input... I can't imagine that's doing input CMRR much good (pot mistracking and stuff).

 

[Redwine]

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

That was quite a bit for an amp in idle mode (your Yamaha A-S1000) since no internet activity at all.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

That was quite a bit for an amp in idle mode (your Yamaha A-S1000) since no internet activity at all.

I don't think so. Quite average for this kind of A/B design. All measurements done with idle current adjusted per service manual.

 

[thegeton]

That is before even I turn on the amp.

What's it like after you turn on the amp?

 

[Jason Coker]

Perhaps use a smart or non-smart timer plug?

Thx, Digby, yeah I could but I would need two (each amp is behind a speaker and plugged into separate outlets. It prob is not worth the bother and I use the system with no clear schedule, but that is a good idea that I had not thought of.

 

[Jason Coker]

https://parasound.com/vintage/pld2000.php

Methinks it's got a slight hum issue, possibly exacerbated by age (the schematic I found is dated 1995, so it's not old old but not exactly a spring chicken either... you're in a better position to tell how many hours it's got on the clock now). I can't imagine the input JFETs would have that much 1/f noise. Or you've got a ground loop if unbalanced inputs are involved.

Hmm... they were using a 220µ/25V bipolar to connect power ground to chassis ground. Isn't that a bit much?
View attachment 310073
Then there's also this:
View attachment 310075
I don't really get the ground routing, to be honest, a look at the actual boards may be required. Granted, the main circuit is balanced and ought not to be affected by potential loops, but there are at least some unbalanced sections.

Also, in a surprise to no-one, it appears that XLR pin 1 wiring does not follow AES48-2005 guidelines.

They've also got balance / volume pot arrangements that are just duplicated for the balanced input... I can't imagine that's doing input CMRR much good (pot mistracking and stuff).

Thx for looking into this and posting the diagrams, Steph!
Yeah, it is possible that there is some ground loop.
There is no audible hum and I am no electrical engineer so I certainly do not know enough about circuits to speculate, haha.
I would imaging John Curl had some reason to design it this way, but who knows?

Cheers,
j

 

[Djano]

Fosi BT30D Pro, idle: 7W
(including power supply brick)