Why you should not turn off equipment
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- Опубліковано 14 січ 2020
- Many would feel better shutting off the power to their equipment, yet Paul is telling us no, no, no! And check out our newest UA-cam channel / @octaverecordsanddsdst... Octave Records.
- Наука та технологія
I worked in IT for 20 years. Nothing to do with audio, but the computers lasted longer if you left them switched on all the time. When you've got rooms full of racks of computers, you don't want them to die on you, because it's a pain to change them out in a hurry. So we left them on, for years and years and years. Of course, I wasn't paying the electric bill...
Of course in the business case you have the servers on 24/7 because they're in use 24 hrs a day in many cases (like a bank with customers in all time zones).
You can put them in 'sleep' mode at home, you aren't really turning them off and you're still saving almost all the power of turning it off. You eventually have to reboot to pull in new patches for security updates though ignoring stuff like ksplice
Has to do with constant temperature as well. Working in ict as well.
But ye, electricity bill.....
Some audiophiles say that always powering off amplifiers causes micro-cracks on top or inside of capacitors. However, this is not true. The ultimate enemy of Class A amps is heat. A well designed amp will not overheat and damage itself (has vents and heatsinking). Just to be sure, I run a desk fan overtop the vents of my units after a listening session.
After a relay was failing, cold air on the relay (cleaning) and some more inside solved the problem. A good amp can probably outlive the average person.
I only power off my pc for upgrades. They run continuously until they are obsolete and can't keep up with new tech. I never have any breakdowns. 3 pc running 5-3-1 year without powering off.
I never turn off my PC's either. But just out of laziness 😂. When i sit down at it i just want to use it without having to start up stuff. For the last decade any PC in my possession didn't know what 'off' means.
When I spoke to a factory rep from Yamaha about this, he told me that it's better to leave most components turned on, with the exception of receivers and other units with displays, since the displays dim over time if they are left on. Accordingly, I leave my power amps on (they only draw a trickle of power at idle, and they're Class D, so it's an even smaller trickle), but my receiver is only turned on when it's time to listen to it.
As for the plasma TV, it gets turned on when it's being used, and turned off after.
I’m not listening to you anymore, I left my truck running and it ran out of gas .
xDD hehehe good one! made my day! :D
@@lovemusic324 xDD
🤣
I left my washer on, now my clothes are clean.
😂
Here in the UK we were told years ago not to turn off our hi fi at the mains but to leave equipment in standby mode for the exact reasons you give. The amount this adds to your electricity bill is miniscule. Less than the cost incurred in the items reduced life expectancy.
Another reason is that transistors and other solid state devices are most prone to failure during thermal transients. Back in the 80's I left my computers on all the time because they were so expensive, the power consumption seemed trivial compared to the threat of an IC failure ruining it.
It’s called a soft start circuit. Modern electrical engineers know how to do that.
As an aerospace electronics engineer, I fully agree with you. Inrush is damaging for capacitor, and a soft start is so simple to design than I can't trust a company not able to design one.
I'm not sure that PS Audio consists of actual engineers. It's 99.999% marketing and foofery, it seems to me. Leaving your equipment on 24/7 is a great way to waste money and further fuck up the world.
@@UPR91 We used a HP signal generator with a cavity oscillator that performed better when left on. That's the only piece of equipment I've ever seen that performs measurably different after a very long warmup.
All audio gear is millions of times less sensitive than the kind of testing we used that equipment for. If you can't measure it, you can't hear it either.
But of course, if you *can* hear an unmeasurable difference in any piece of audio gear, then by all means do what makes it sound good to you.
Whilst true, the cheaper electronics won’t have this feature most likely. And since they’re cheap, Class D probably, better to leave them on and in standby when not in use. Leaving things in standby will avoid the in rush current and not waste considerable amount of energy either
For DACs not to be bothered turning them off unless they have a screen that can’t be turned off separately. As the leds dim over time
I use a class A amp and a tube preamp. I turn them off when not in use.
Edit: I always give a 10 min warmup.
Same here with my class A amps.
Class A poweramp here as well. Usually keep it on during the day when i am home. Otherwise it's off. I am not a millionaire....
Love that sound though;)
Here in Australia wit the power prices you do anything to save electricity mine is always off at the wall because of the electricity prices
Sensible people turn off their equipment at the wall
I’m in Australia too, Another thing that was drummed into me when I was a kid was to not only turn it off at the wall, but pull the plug out too because not only is the cost of electricity ridiculously high, here in Queensland, and most parts of Australia for that matter, there is always the chance of a severe storm hitting while you’re at work or away from home. Both my Neighbour and older sister had their tv’s fried because they didn’t disconnect them before a storm and the result was that lightning struck the transformer boxes on the power poles in the area.
Fat Rat yeah see Sydney is alot more with the times when it comes to electrical safety, and i don’t doubt whatsoever what you’re saying. With Sydney being such a big and densely populated area, regular maintenance and safety precautions would be constantly updated and implemented, which would probably be why you’ve never experienced any dramas. I’m in Mackay in North Queensland and lets be honest, there’s alot to be desired in terms of safety and reliability of electricity and the maintenance by the local council up here. We get blackouts at least once a month and the lines are forever coming down due to overhanging tree branches or impact by tropical storms. Just about everybody I know up here has a generator on standby because the power supply simply isn’t reliable. In summer, when every man and their dog has their aircons going, it’s not uncommon for half the town to black out.
All that being said, you are definitely right in saying each to their own, but I’d have to add in that where you live and the quality of infrastructure in place where you live would undoubtedly have an impact on your decisions to either leave electrical appliances either on standby, switched off or disconnected entirely.
here is one about "surge protectors": they are not completely useless but not the be all / end all either.
circuit breakers (at least the ones i have seen installed in houses) are protecting against over current - not over voltage.
that is where a "surge protector" comes in.
it may protect from voltage spikes as they might occur during a thunderstorm but would most likely not protect anything from a direct lightning strike.
in the village where i live, there is a good amount of houses recieving power from wires dangling through the air, the newly built areas have their power lines under ground but our house is an older one and we get power from dangling wires attached to a mounting pole on the rooftop.
the power lines going into the village are also over ground on poles.
if there was a thunderstorm going and lightning would hit such a pole a good distance away from the village, it would probably result in a hefty voltage spike wich would trigger the surge protector to cause an artificial "short" that pops the breaker by over current - all good.
but if the mounting pole and cables on the roof of our house would recieve a direct hit from a big old lightning strike, the surge protector and the breaker would not be much help.
the more likely scenario would be that the whole breaker box will be flying across the room and the wires in the walls get vaporized along with the fancy "surge protected" power bar and anything connected to it.
pretty much like this: www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.3373003.1492512235!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg
I bet you live in SA? I moved to S.E Queensland because of the crazy electricity prices down south.
Fine Paul will you pay my electricity bill!
Rock 'n' roll all night and party every day.
@@philipcooper8297 Life is just a fantasy - can you live this fantasy life?
The folks purchasing his products don’t care about electricity bills.
Philip Cooper The power consumption is less than a TV set, your gear sound better if left on, High end manufacturers do not have a power switch, I wrote this comment before listening to the explanation. I unplug my gear in the event of a lightning storm or I go away on holiday
@@rking6247
Aldo Nova
This guy sounds as if he is a spokesman for the local electric utility.
This channel & comments are "to die for" there's an AES paper on grounding&shielding where this company features as an example of how not to do stuff ( electrically & electronically ) - they had the "brilliant" idea of makinga power plug where you could unscrew the safety ground - go figure...
@@BogdanWeiss link?
there's a longer version of this but it's been moved somewhere - page 4- www.scribd.com/document/345180522/hum-buzz-and-ground-loops-new-insights-into-and-old-problem-aes
I would imagine his products are energy star compliant to meet modern standards in which case they use less than 1W per hour in standby, a tiny amount of power. Really if a person is concerned by what amounts to less than 2 bucks per year in actual electricity costs for a single ES compliant product to remain in standby they certainly cannot afford to be purchasing high end audio. If the waste of energy concerns somebody, solar solves that and significantly reducing someones CO2 footprint as well as running costs too. Older non compliant equipment is an entirely different matter.
@Jolyon Welsh, Lol 😆
Back in the 90s I figured out that the thermal cycling, due to ON & Off switching, was what shortened the lifespan of equipment. So in my new found brilliance I left my NAD 7240PE receiver on and after 3 days the tuner had gone out! So much for that theory!
the station you left it tuned to is THE determining factor!
(just kidding)
That's because NAD is trash.
I have had my class A transistor preamp on for the last several years. Only turned off for periodical checks, and a clean. Still going strong.
Had just the opposite experience with Crown iTech 4000 amps. We had a rack full of amps that were all on standby power when not being used except for our main FOH amp that was on a relay switch. In caparison to the main FOH amps the others were hardly used at all but one by one they all started failing on the power input section, same exact problem. Our FOH amp is still working fine because we shut it off completely every night. We don't make that mistake any more.
Don't leave your Class A amp on. The heat alone will degrade the parts inside over time much faster. Not all components have stand by switches, only on or off. What then?
A good number of "on off" switches" on the front panels may in fact be standby mode. Its the power switch hidden in the back that kills all AC.
@@genez429 I own 5 traditional integrated amplifiers and not one have a switch in the back. The other one is a Naim Atom that also has no switch in the back but i believe goes into a standby mode when turned off.
@@yippie6862 If its a vintage unit? The front switch will kill all AC. Apparently, some newer manufacturers will not offer the full kill option, and it appears say nothing as to avoid the type of worry some show here.
@@genez429 These are not vintage. They are mainly recent British integrated amps like the LFD and Sugden. I'm pretty sure when the front power button is set to off the entire unit powers off. I'd be surprised if they are left in any sort of stand by mode.
@@yippie6862 Many power buttons on hi-end equipment are actually turning off only the outputs of the amps. My Nuprime ST10 has that feature, but only says "Power." Your equipment is exotic in the states. I looked online.
Is your Sugden class A? As far as I know? You will need to email the manufacturer to see if there is a standby mode without you knowing it.
The LFD, I found one review for a preamp of theirs. It has a switch on front as a standby mode. Note the following quote from Stereophile Mag.
Step forward to the present day. The Masterclass LA-4 is not
full-featured but minimalist. It's line only-no phono. It has inputs for
up to five sources, all but one with unbalanced connectors (RCA). The
Bypass input sidesteps the volume control, and an output with the
antiquated label Tape bypasses the volume control for whichever input is
selected. *There's a Standby button on the front panel and a main Power
switch in back, because transistor-based amplifiers-including
preamps-sound best when they're always powered up.
www.stereophile.com/content/j-e-sugden-masterclass-la-4-line-preamplifier
I always turn my equipment off after use, never had any problems.
Best to turn off equipment by plugs to keep electricity bill down and don't want a fire in homes
You're equipment will last longer and sound better just as Paul stated. This isn't debatable. If you listen to your system everyday, it makes sense to leave it on. If you own Bose or equivalent flea market gear then by all means turn your gear off.
@Fat Rat How exactly do you know it's an extra $40 per year?
That "warm up time" is most definitley true with power amps. Most modern devices leave the low-voltage/low current circuits on (and the main caps fully or partially charged)
Yes this especially applies to transistor equipment, making the sound more warm/smooth/big/evolved. But on tube gear, many times it can sound better if you just turn it on when you use it, and wait like 30 minutes to fully evolve, to give it more edge. Leaving tube sound on for many days, will not only cost a lot of money in regards to your electrical bill, but will often create a more flat and not so correct type of sound being too warm some times. It's all relative to the gear and the conditions so one has to just find out what is best for ones own self.
But yes especially tube sound that is on for a couple of days, will normally go through a couple of sound development stages within the first 48 hours, and then it's a question what you prefer.
So if I had for example a mcintosh mc275 tube amp that I personally think is boring and too conservative, I would then personally turn it on, and may listen in 15 minutes time, and turn it off after an hour or 2, because I would personally not want that sound to get even more warm in sound. Unless I maybe was using a cd player that naturally has a thin ish type of sound.
But yeah something to think about.
I agree that my stereo sounds better when left on for long periods of time but have always turned my gear off for fear of “wearing out” my caps. Now that I know that is not going to happen, I plan to become my power company’s new best friend. Thanks Paul, love your passion, love the vids and hope to visit one day soon.
Capacitors are rated in hours of lifespan. Leaving them on will stave off one kind of a failure (that wouldn't impact you in normal use anyways) but not another. Several things are responsible within capacitors for them to do what they do.
Paul uses his imagination sometimes in these videos. It depends on what Class A, Class A/B or what your amp is. Using caps a little all the time is worse than the little startup current, that just gets dissipated in the aluminum case anyway.
@@EnigmaVideos I'm glad I read your comment. I live in Germany and due to possible energy shortages my univesity heats its rooms to 19 degrees C only. Public swimming pools are heated to three degrees less than usual too. Public buildings don't switch on lights during the day if there are windows etc. So I would feel a bit bad for leaving on my amp 24/7 because it could apparently improve the sound or longevity. I can imagine a sound difference between a cold amp and one that's warmed up a bit though.
@@tobiasthiel5291 I'd worry more about hard drives sleeping after 3 minutes. That is what ruined mine. And external drives usually don't have a mode switch. However, it was a Toshiba drive. So take what you will
He was right when he said it sounded different the next day and thought maybe It's just my ears are fresh. He should have left it at that.
It's well known that the longer one listens the more the ears adjust to the sound.
It's also well known that audio memory is very short seconds or minutes at the most. So, overnight is too long to remember what something sounded like the night before.
Put those two things together and that explains it; not whether the power was turned off.
As an engineering technician in R&D, Failure Analysis, etc, many components age and have age related failures, so power on or power off have the same defect rate. We have some equipment with failing parts and new old stock parts have the same defects showing as in use parts. The parts are end of life due to age. Power supplies and linear devices have heat baking failures. The plastics outgas and the capacitors fail, regulator IC's go out of value, and become electrically noisy. Thermal cycling breaks solder connections on power devices installed in thru hole board designs. In newer components, multilayer ceramic capacitors crack and short resulting in failures.
In very humid locations the heat reduces corrosion.
Power switches and relays subject to high inrush currents have a limited number of operations before the contact resistance becomes high and fails.
Summary, Keep the equipment cool, dry, and avoid age, thermal cycles, and power cycles.
If you are not going to use it overnight, or longer, turn it off. If going out to the mailbox, leave it on.
My backup scope is a Tektronics TDS-220. My main scope had a voltage regulator fail, so I had to troubleshoot and repair it. Completed a calibration test on the scope which had intermittent use over the years and had about a decade in storage. No issues. It passed a calibration test and has zero problems. I can't say the same for most always on electronics of the same age. This was bought in 1999 brand new. On the bench it was used for storage functions as the analog scope was brighter, and had higher resolution. The storage scope was used for single shot capture mostly. If you are not using something for an extended period of time, shut it off. I power down my workstation, computer and all at the end of the day.
Thanks for the solid state/tube powered explanation. Seems like you found a great solution with your standby switch. What should be left on is ON, and what should be turned off is OFF.
On a surge-related related note, I always unplug my phone from its car charger before starting the engine.
Accessory power is interrupted during cranking. So it's off while it's off if you do that.
and my fan/ac/heater and radio too!
Im still unplugging when electrical storms threaten ... lost 2 amps plugged in to circuit protection a few years back from that.
The best piece of advice ever. I just leave my system on for the last few days and yes it did sound much better. I normally listen to the system just 30 to 45 minutes before I go to bed. by the time my system started to sound good I habe to shut it off to have some sleep.
Thanks, Paul so much, for this explanation on why you NEED to leave the equipment in Standby mode!
This message has been brought to you by the friendly staff at your electricity company. When you leave things on, we love you more for it!
Great advice. I leave my digital stuff on 7/24. My streamer/clock/DAC has been powered up for seven years. It has a triode output stage which has it's own switch. I turn that on as well as my tube power amps about an hour before I want to listen.
I just knew about this channel tonight. Watched 2-3 videos and i've learned a lot. Thank you
Hello Paul.. i turn my equipment off at the wall because i have an EXPOSURE X pre-amp which i love .. & if i turn it on from the front it will blow the small fuse in my main connection block.. so by leaving my pre-amp on at the front & turning the whole system on from the wall stops it blowing the small fuse .. any ideas from you would be helpful sir.. Paul
The Mr. Rogers of audio. In the professional mastering studio we left gear on. At home not so much.
That would be a hefty electricity bill for all the class A guys. Even my 3 wpc tube receiver with single ended class A drains about 60 watts just sitting there doing nothing.
@Fat Rat Ever heard of solid state class A or what?? Yamaha even had that 40 years ago on a couple of amps, it's not a new thing
@Fat Rat So why do you mention tubes then? Class A uses a lot electricity, no what if it's tube or solid state
I can’t say how much I appreciate my Musical Fidelity M6SI going right into stanby when plugged in. Never goes to off unless I unplug it. It’s always warmed up enough to play almost as soon as I turn it on.
I purchased a Stellar Gain Dac/preamp from you guys back in november. I have not shut the power down yet, I mean not even standby. I love that the LCD window goes dark, so I just leave it on all the time. Its a great preamp/dac, really enjoying it!
Leave it on if used once per day. Switch off if used once per week for the reason of preserving the components
I would think that the thermal expansion and contraction that occurs when going from hot to cold (or the reverse) would also be an important consideration for longevity. Limiting the thermal expansion and contraction should also limit connection issues that can arise...like bad solder joints.
I came looking for this! I also think thermal stress would be a huge factor in longevity.
This is why I look for clean power surge protectors. It may not ever be perfect but when your using expensive gear I prefer something more than a budget protector. I've heard of amps frying during lightning storms because they went straight into the outlets in some places.
The front end of my system - CD player, preamp, phono preamp - are ALWAYS on, both because of the transient strain Paul mentioned, but also because the equipment does not sound anywhere near as good cold as it does when it's fully warmed up and at a stable temperature.
Now ... I DON'T leave my power amps up all the time. They are Mark Levinson ML-2s and they draw fully *FOUR AMPS* each, whether they're playing something or sitting there idle, and no, I'd just as soon NOT have that show up on my electric bill. As for transient problems, I've had to replace two output transistors in the past not quite 40 years. I can live with that!
I use remotes to turn off my equipment into standby mode. I avoid leaving them operating in the "on" state. The subdivision I'm in for some reason is horrible for Brown outs and surges especially during thunderstorms, but sometimes for no obvious reasons. I use a 1990s vintage Rack mount MONSTER brand line conditioner and surge suppressor that trips several times a year requiring resets. If it wasn't for that, I suspect my gear would be fried many time over. So, if you do leave your gear ON, for goodness sake make sure you have a quality piece of equipment to protect it all. And NO, a $10-$20 Wal-Mart surge protector is definitely NOT adequate!
I'm going to leave everything in my house on all the time. And I'm going to leave my speakers playing all the time.
Yes because this is the alternate reality of the twilight zone, where Tesla was revered for giving the world free energy & wifi, and Edison died destitute & forgotten in a crummy old hotel.
Thanks Paul.
I’ve been leaving my solid state gear on for years - it’s always ready to make music 😁
Is this true for studio monitors, too? How about guitar pedals and USB Interfaces? I'm not an audiophile by a long shot but I stumbled upon this channel and I love learning new things from you. Thanks so much! However, I do have some audio gear that I use for making music -- I'm wondering if this paradigm applies to the items I've listed?
After watching this, I looked down and magically my shoes turned brown.
...don't turn off your shoes...
I disconnect things when lightning threatens. I lost things quicker to lightning than anything else
. Surge protectors don't always stop a direct hit
How about an UPS?
@@yuiksea4133 not absolute protection. But it may help unless there's a direct hit.
I disconnect my electronics just in case.
So, my Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18 with its pretty blue lighting, is going to serve me better if I just leave it on? Left in Standby mode?
Would you advise to turn off A or B comparison switch? That's what I do.
It likely has to do with heat generation and as you said, burn in. Circuitry, wood, and things like speakers, these things expand and cool every time you turn it on and off. Also, the switch itself is a point of failure. It's the same reason servers are left on as much as possible, it's the same reason live audio people at live venues come in and set up, test real quick, then put in standby as opposed to turning off - the wear and tear on the caps with adequately cooled solid state power amps and digitally remote controlled sound reinforcement fixtures from that initial surge of power. Stage hands, local crew, and career concert runners understand this kind of stuff, too, as do electrical engineers. People's concerns with leaving things on is likely from the electric bill, or risk of fire if damaged by a pet knocking things over while they are not home. Some units are prone to overheating, if left on indefinitely. There are other things to ponder or put into consideration with consumers living in reality, as opposed to controlled environments, small businesses, or people having to meet the standards for being on the road with the live entertainment industry. There is no "one size fits all" solution.
Hi Paul. I fear the risk of fire. I turn my A/V gear off at the power. There have been plenty of warnings from the fire authorities about this sort of thing. Even though my house and wiring are modern, I fear fire. Especially at night. Can I ask a question?
I'm using a remote control power thing I bought form Aldi which plugs into the power outlet and power board plugs into this device. Are these safe?
I know your thoughts about purity of power and I am very far from that but what ere your thoughts about safety.
Thanks...
Bruce from down under😊
You need to calculate the total system draw and then check the rating of the device, I doubt it's rated very high ??
I'd be more worried about a remote control socket catching fire than an amp! They are generally powered by a capacitive dropper or switch mode supply. You are at the mercy of the 'build it down to a cost' quality of the caps and if they have MOV's, they are generally very small and they will degrade over time with every voltage spike and turn into nice little heaters. And they are ON all the time! (although I do turn off all my gear at night)
So what in the sound gets better when you leave your equipment on? Does the frequency response change over time or does the SNR get better? Does someone have an A/B comparison where i can hear or measure the difference?
Hey Paul how do we match speakers and amplifier? is there any danger to connect 3 8 ohms speakers into 4 ohm amp? And would it perform the same quallity wise thank you Paul! Grettings from Croatia!
After following this for the life of its introduction, it has help me make a decision. I LOVE MY NEW Parasound P6.
Generally, I disagree that you can benefit from leaving audio equipment turned on when not used. I cannot argue on sound quality compared to "power cycled" devices because it's subjective to Paul. This can be proven by measurements of course...
But I see two downsides. One is increased power consumption. Secondly, is aging of solid-state parts and caps. Typically, manufacturer specifies cap's lifespan when rated voltage is applied, time can vary from 2000 h to 10 thousands hours. Then the cap will most probably off-spec by one or more parameters. So, this is exactly what happens in switched on equipment. Your capacitors ages faster when voltage is applied (device is switched on) vs switched off device where your lifespan is equivalent to shelf life.
There are 50,000 hour caps and beyond. But you're not going to find them in a whole lot of gear. Might find them in some high end audio gear though. Like Black Gate Rubycons. Although if they're legit is another question entirely. You'd be surprised what some folks will do for money.
This was of high interest to me since i also own a stellar M700 stack with a gain cell. Paul, you talk about the main power switch ON and leaving it in standby mode. I actually do not turn the power off nor do I put it in standby I leave it full on all the time for the sound to come out when I remotely control my streamer. Am I wearing out my gear prematurely?
I don't use my old class A amp anymore, but I always thought leaving it on as being the equivalent of leaving the microwave oven running, with regard to current draw. I just couldn't do it.
If I had tube gear, I'd use a Variac to "soft start" and greatly reduce the surge shock to the components, just as you would do with a vintage radio from the 40's.
Soft starting old gear has to do with not blowing out capacitors that have become unformed over time. Google capacitor forming for more info about what that's all about.
Soft-starting solid state equipment has the same or greater value.
It isn't tubes that are harmed by inrush current, but rather capacitors and silicon rectifiers.
A soft start is a simple precharge circuit that lets the caps charge through a resistor. A relay removes the resistor when the caps are charged.
@@michaelx7341 Got it, thanks.
I had an amp at all times as you describe, and it made my caps dry out faster than if I just had turned it off after use. After the first capacitor was destroyed, I started to turn off my amp completely after it was repaired. If you have a very high class A power on the amp the capacitors will begin to have trouble. It does not make it last longer by having it on all the time. So my experience is the opposite that you have Paul. ( I'm not talking about sound quality, because it can well be a better sound quality by having the equipment on at all times, but I'm thinking about component wear and tear by having the equipment on at all times versus power it completely down after use. )
Fat Rat If the amp has very high class A current you can get into trouble by leaving it permanently on.
@Fat Rat there's lots of different caps and environments they're used in. So there's no way you can say definitively what's going to happen. This happened to me or that happened to them is purely anecdotal.
@Fat Rat doesn't matter. What happens to you has no bearing on anyone else. It probably doesn't even have any future bearing on you for that matter. It was a unique event. You may have just been running plague caps for all anyone knows.
Just do what the operating manual says. you'll be hard-pressed to find any manufacturer suggesting that you never turn off your amp. it's almost comical then Paul would make this suggestion. and a big thing that he kind of lost over and a lot of commenters seem to be misunderstanding is that standby mode is not the same as powered on mode. some devices well switch to standby mode automatically after a certain amount of time of inactivity. but this is not universal. some devices, like computers, depend on the user settings for standby mode. a lot of people seem to be under the belief that their computer is always on standby mode when not in use, but if you go to your computer and move the mouse and almost instantly you're right where you left off, then your computer was not in standby mode. maybe you're monitor was but your computer was just 'ON'...
I do sound/lights at a nightclub, and we shut off our amps after every show. but we leave the DSPs 'on.' they are programmed to enter standby mode automatically. shutting them off risks wiping their memory of our club settings.
Very well put. Made total sense. Thank you.
I used to live near some big electric cable towers (without any issues). And when people would comment about my tube mono amps consuming so much electricity, I would open the curtains to show the towers and say There's a lot more where that came from... haha. That separate cap warmer sounds sweet!
the only time a light bulb has ever failed on me was when I flipped the switch on
If you leave it on long enough it will fail. Otherwise you would only need one lightbulb for the rest of you're life.
Paul, would you please make a video on the power consumption of gear at idle, because that's the main concern here. In the manual, it says my receiver is 750W consumption, but i don't see how much at idle or standby. I always try to turn it off when not using to save on electricity. Does it consume more W when I turn up the amp vs lower the volume down?
receivers and everything avr or surround related is known for bad spec sheets. your 750w is probably maximum power draw for a short burst.
i agree that idle power consumption is the most important. anything below 1 watt in my use is very common. some amps gets into standby by themself. standby watts is about 0.5 watts on many amps.
think idle is about 10 watts, idle is the lowest watts an amp uses when its turned on. most amp uses a lot more. class d that says 90 percent efficiency measure that at high watts because it looks better on paper.
have a class d nad d3020 amp here its very hot doing nothing and uses 20 watts i think.
playing music at 10 watts loudness whoud com on top of the 20 watts idle coming to 30 watts total, think you can then subtract the efficiency from that volume watts you are using, class d amp at 70% efficiency would waste 30% as heat.
@@sudd3660 thanks for explaining, my receiver is A/B and I keep it on 54/100(i think -28db from 0) volume on idle quite often. Does the power consumption change if I leave it on idle on max volume vs low volume or does that only change the power delivered to the speakers? The amp gets quite hot. At the end of the day, i have no idea how much power this thing consumes and wether is worth it to leave it on vs turning it off
powerdraw from amp increases by how much the speakers draw watts to play sounds.
no sounds from speakers and its the same as idle power consumption, all watts then drawn by amp is converted into heat. an a/b amp runs at class a at low watts, basically its the hottest class of amps. idle watts should be high, 40 watts perhaps.
@@sudd3660 so we have standby (let's say 10W), idle (40W) and depending on speakers connected and level my receiver should be 40W to 750W(peak). If the idle for my receiver is 40W and I leave it on 24/7 then that would be about 2.5usd a month for me. That doesn't sound bad at all and if it's true I could just leave it on like Paul is saying!
Now I just need to find out how to be sure how much it's actually drawing, i mean, it's considerably hotter on idle vs standby!
go to amp brand website, looks for and pdf you can download or view, there should be something to let you know at least some of the specs you want.
it can be a bit confusing figuring it out if its a surround receiver, those have so many parts, amps dac, processing, video conversion doing work even if audio is off.
I love my PS audio equipment. Thank you Paul
What would be a good power protection with soft start device for amps and preamps? I only find surge protectors and power conditioners sold online. Why aren’t there soft start devices being sold for home audio so that one can turn the audio components on safely each time?
DEBUNKING TIME!
I used to leave my Sansui AU-710 amplifier on 24/7.
The only noticeable effect of that was a higher energy cost.
The filter capacitors went bad anyway, so there was No Benefit.
There's a couple common capacitor failure modes. One has to do with the oxide layer on the foil itself breaking down (which takes an extremely long time to happen think years) and the other has to do with the electrolyte in the separation layer. Leaving the power on only protects you from the first mode. Leaving the power on hastens the failure of the second mode. So you lose either way.
@@1pcfred Good explanation
Absolutely right.
Electrolytics will eventually fail no matter what, so why spend the money on energy?
Save it toward replacement parts!
@@spacemissing not being able to buy in bulk like manufacturers can most consumer electronics are not worth the cost of recapping. Heck we can't even very reliably source parts in today's market. You can get bogus counterfeits even from so called reputable suppliers. It is just that bad now. I was watching a video where squeaky Dave got bum parts off Digikey. Crikey!
@@CMDR_Birb thanks. With access to the Internet a lot of information is available. More than when I got started with stuff. I used to have to buy books. Today you can download everything you could want to know. Which is amazing. There's something to building your own gear too. I never made a hi-fi stereo but I made some amps. It is pretty thrilling to listen to an amp you've made yourself. Might not be the best amp in the world but it's still something of your own hands. It made things more real to me personally.
The Florida lightning from thunderstorms would fry all that great equipment.
I live in South Florida, I know where you are coming from.
We should unplug our equipment or use surge protectors.
i imagine you have to deal with power outages on a regular basis then - that would justify purchasing a UPS that also has all the surge protection and stuff built in and - as a bonus - outputs a pure sine wave
@channel 9
Apparently, he has a sine wave one as his post suggests. You can buy a sine wave unit if you prefer as I have both types in my home.
@@KenjiUmino - lightning blows up Ups’s also. If you aren’t using it, turn it off and unplug it if really don’t want to repair it. South Fl storms are wicked.
Grounding and surge protection tho.
Good advice, I worked in the computer field over 20 years and the advice there was the same, standby unless you had to reboot the system. I've had a pair of Infinity interlude Il50, with a built in sub amp, and they recommended leaving them in standby and they would come on with a signal. I've had mine 16 years and just started having trouble with one of them. Not too shabby. Sent it in for repair, hopefully I'll get another 10-15 years . Thanks again, you have some outstanding products
Found some really great advice here! Now I know I have to keep my car up and running all the time. I’ve heard that repeated heating up and cooling down stresses and hurts the engine over time. Thanks to my newly achieved wisdom, now it’s going to last forever.
comparing electric/audio equipment to combustion engine with moving parts is quite stupid analogy
Does it sound better?
My own experience is that there are definitely gains for the first two or three hours, then you're into diminishing returns. That said, when my Quad 57s are used in my speaker rotation, I have to keep those on as they need to stay charged to reach decent gain levels, optimum sonics etc. The argument about caps is moot, because over decades they would need changing anyway.
MrCatalysis101 “moot”
moot means something is worthy of discussion or debate. not sure how that squares with your statement.
Any measurements to support this?
Fat Rat What yes?
But yes is not a measurement.... he’s saying he wants to see numbers
@@demonreturns4336 He's not going to see any numbers because they would show there's no measurable difference.
Believers don't believe in numbers. Ironically.
I have a Yamaha class AB integrated circa 1990. It has no standby power. When it's on and idling it's warm/hot. Should I leave this amp on?
You could use it for cooking on maybe.
Do you just cut the low voltage ac lines to the tubes in standby?
Thanks for answering a question that has bugged me for many years!
I feel like a 5yr old watching Mr Rodgers adult version listening to this guy
@Smattless lol the dumb one is you thinking I literally feel like a 5 yr old , if you don't get the joke you just proved the dumb one is you
"Let me tell you a little story" haha xD Great guy.
What about power outages. Leaving a piece of equipment in stand by during an outage affect it when the power comes back on instead of off completely? Thanks
hi ! is it true for the sound card too i got an apollo twin and it tend to get quite warm but if i turn it off and on while my speaker are on isn't going to blow them ?
I wont leave my gear on when i am sleeping or not at home...unplug when not in use..general rule for EVERY electric gear.
Except the fridge / freezer - we trust those.
My amp consumes 184W on stand by. This one I switch it off on week days after a session, but leave it on on weekends when I do most of the listening. However everything else is on all the time. Is a pity all this power consumption for the waiting...
That's some Dracula level vampire power there.
@Pho Tato More like a big amp... The SA Reference from Plinius
What you said totally blows my mind. I'm just using Sennheiser HDV820 headphone amp, is it okay to leave it on all time?
How infrequently would you be using it before it isn't smart anymore to keep it on?
once in a ??
What about a "soft start" by limiting the surge when switching on the power?
He is always answering questions when people mention , that they are using PS Audio equipment , or read his boring book .
Good luck to have your questions answered to people who have Technics , Yamaha , Macintosh , Parasound etc .
Finally, a human being!! Who believes in the real world!!! This Paul fool!! Believes in this "Snake-oil" BULLSHIT!! By the way, I've got a Yamaha a-s2100 Amplifier!! And I NEVER leave it on standby!! I've recently watched one of his video's, he was chatting about "Expensive" Cables!! He was saying, they matter!!! But, he wouldn't give a "Proper" reason!! 🤦♂️ Shocking, I know. 🤷♂️
Does this also stand for my turntable ? Ovs it doesn't have a stand by switch it's a take on the Technics sl1200 just a lot cheaper lol cheers Steven
For T-Tables I would say not; certain tape machines take ten-fifteen minutes to fully stabilize (my Akai GX-77, for one). Save your belts and direct drive motors. Keep the tables off. :)
Question- how to properly condition a HIGH CURRENT rack where each amplifier uses 15 amps or more of current? My rack has a dedicated circuit for the majority of its amplifiers. This is a high end Theater. All screen channels are also 240V so even further complicates conditioning. I’m guessing the answer will be a dedicated power panel system of some sort that can branch the 240V circuits off?
Large power amplifiers, in fact any power amplifier does not need power conditioning. They have brute force unregulated power supplies that will absorb most glitches and line noise. Power conditioners on power amps can actually degrade their performance. They can current limit which lessens you dynamic peak capability.
well you've ignored the most important aspect of the degrading of a capacitor (electrolytic), which is heat. makes caps dry out.
for example, the big 90ies neve vr recording consoles run so hot, all few years you have channels and sections go out all the time, they were maintenance monster.
the even more famous neve 80series consoles from the 70ies,even class a tough, run only a bit warm, after a recapping you have peace for 10-20years.
so yeah, depending on the ciruitry, the location and heat sourrounding the cap, the lifespan of a cap varies greatly
hey man, since you seem to be working with audio equipment, may I bother you with a question?
should I not turn off my Audio interface and monitoring speakers too?
@@aryanz66 you can easily turn them off anytime you want, they're built for that.
@@pongmaster123 and they won't break if I permanently leave them on?
@@aryanz66 they should not break. but a manufacturer can not do longterm testing when putting out a line of products, they have to rely on proven circuit designs.
@@pongmaster123 hmmmm. Thank you. I guess you're absolutely right. I've never had any of my pro equipment die as their lifespan ends. Consumer stuff tho, have had a few of that
Don't turn off your equipment, how else can they monitor you then?
would you recommend leaving an analog solid state mixing console on at all times? big consoles generate big power bills.
Pro studios don't power down consoles
Capacitors are specced with the amount of hours they will run correctly at a given temperature. Leaving equipment on is ideal, so long as it's not roasting hot and the components are selected correctly.
Paul, I’m a guitarist and bassist going on almost 40 years now. It used to be that the tube amplifiers we prefer for amplifying our guitars all had a standby mode that kept the heater filament elements (usually 6.3 VAC) powered up but kept the cathode, grid(s) and plate powered down in each of the output tubes, class A and AB. Because the cathode was already preheated, throwing the switch into the full On position resulted in the amp taking right off with no waiting. In recent years, the standby switch has been disappearing from lower wattage amplifiers that are newer model offerings. The explanation given is that on a 10, 15 or 20 watt amplifier, the standby switch is not necessary. I smell BS. I think it’s just a cost cutting measure.
The result is that these smaller amps, which are favored in small sized venues and for studio session work, are left on during set breaks or while the engineer is setting up a different mic and another take because the producer wasn’t down with the tone from the last take. This time left in the full on status adds up quickly for the tubes in a working guitarist’s amplifiers.
My question is: Is there a sound (as in logical and tenable) engineering rationale for eliminating the standby switch on low wattage vacuum tube guitar amplifiers?
I’m asking you as you’re about the smartest engineer I’ve encountered and being in a different industry, you’re not likely to have a horse in this particular tube amplification race, so bias is not a concern (no pun intended).
That's a very good question I have been pondering too.
Yes valves are another matter - look at Tommy Flowers opinion !!
@behexen250 don't know of many amps using preamp tubes as power tubes. Can you name a couple?
I did know of 20 watters using el34...
@behexen250 My 20w marshall uses 2 el34 power tubes.
If you are talking about tiny 1watt toy amps, they are essentially preamps with a speaker output. Like the pedals with a tube. Calling one tube in a two preamp gain stage a preamp and a power amp is misleading. If you only have one tube, is it a pre or power tube??
Calling an amp that creates almost no power, a power amp.... Hmmm
@behexen250 used as Amps. Not power amps. Power amps come after a preamp..
I can plug my headphones into the left side of a boss ds1. It will drive speakers. It's not a power amp.
Taking an amp and removing the power section, and then calling the last preamp tube a power tube, doesn't make it a power tube. That's all I'm saying
Leaving electrical devices on = FIRE HAZARD !
As long as the fire is inside the steel amp box and there is nothing flamable in reach of the amp, then i’m willing to take that risk. But it’s a waste of energy.
Please explain the fire hazard logic. Electrical appliances can catch on fire when plugged in, on or off.
@@matthewgaines10 Combustion requires oxygen so any fire in a sealed metal case would self-extinquish.
@@davidirvine4294 even the steel cabinets have plenty of vent holes. So no way it's self extinguishing. Yes it will mitigate it, but not extinguish due to lack of oxygen.
Thank for the explanation
my less than 1year 34" ultrawide monitor caps a dead.
there was an issue with my company laptop that made the monitor never going to sleep mode. keep restarting looking for a signal.. forgot to turn it off few times for maybe a total time of 3 or 4 hours.
now power led flashing blue. caps dead.
just to say that capacitors failure is a real thing.
this video enlighted me. I was turning off my NAD receiver. Im thinking keeping it in sleeping mode.
thx a lot Paul.
Ive watched several of you videos already over the months. helped me a lot to understand audio device subtilities. Im pretty sure your videos will still be watched in few hundred years.
I design electronics equipement that need to work more than 25 years. There is 2 ennemies for the cap: T° that decrease life of capacitors exponentially and inrush current at start. Your TV died because they use crappy cap and place them close from source of heat, intentionally (as samsung did) or not (lake of space). Try to check out if your NAD is equipped with soft start (inrush current limiter). If it is, there is absolutely no need to let it in sleep mode.
I left my car running while I was away on holidays, and it got stolen.
Did your stolen car have a permanent place in the living room?
What about Electric consumption ?
@Fat Rat my amp get quite hot (A/B), this heat must consume energy.
very very useful information. Thanks !
I have a couple of Monarchy mono blocks that are pure class A. I always turn them off, they draw 100 watts each. I have Schiit freay+ has its power switch in the rear, I hate the power switch being there, even if it is supposed to be left on.
Computers are different even when not in use they are doing housekeeping on hard drive etc, hope you have a firewall and VPN.
With computers you have a bootup process, long in screen, etc.. which makes shutting them down impractical. That's computers though. NOT audio equipment. To apply that to audio equipment would be a false equivalence.
It's alright, in a couple of years these smart meters will do it for you!
Paul, what about heat and hot amps like Class A
Once had a 16 channel Mackie mixer that we NEEDED to leave on because audio passed through it to a closed circuit tv channel that had been running for literally years. There came warning of an unusually serious storm, and we decided it’d be safe if everything was off and unplugged. Came back in after the weekend. Went to turn the Mackie back on. It never came back on again.
A thought: how about taking one day per week and do a more in depth study complete with props.
@Fat Rat WTF? Asking Paul to consider a change in the routine has what? to do with electricity.
When you start paying my electric bill i'll leave my stuff on. They put cooling fans in them for a reason...heat kills components .shit is designed obsolescence anyway ....usually obsolete and in need of upgrade by the time it e.o.l. i have this same argument with people all the time ....I think that was a rant because i feel better .😖 still an informative video.thank you
What about stuff that doesn't have a 'standby mode'? My DAC has no power switch at all, let alone a standby mode. Should I just leave it on at all times?
DACs pull very little power so they can be left on with no worries about your electric bill.
great personality and advice