Should an audio system be left on at all times?

Electronics fails, most of the time, when you turn it on. Always leave your SS stuff on if you are concerned about longevity.

The manufacturer of my equipment, which is all SS, recommends that it be left on all the time unless you are going to be away from it for extended periods. Then it should probably be unplugged as well.

Bigbucks5: electronic fail when you turn it on when it's not designed properly. You can turn on and off electronics thousand times a second for years and nothing will happen.

Blindjim: Odyssey and others recommend keeping it on because it takes a while to get optimum sound and not for the longevity. If it takes often days to warm-up, as Odyssey says, then keep it on but if it takes only half an hour keep it off since speakers require about the same playing time to warm up. Odyssey even stated that if you don't mind waiting for optimum sound then you can turn it off when not used.

PC is different story - whole idea of kepping it on initially came from mechanical stress on hard disc during start. Now they keep them on because maintanance is often done thru the network.

My SS amp takes a day to settle in and warm up. I always keep it on and it sounds much better that way. 30 minutes does nothing at all it seems based on my past experience with SS amps.

My builder also said to leave it on for best sound and extended life. My amp always stays cool however.

Kijanki

Given the question at hand was not about longevity, and rather, the need to remain on only, I thought to throw that Odyssey tid bit in too.

The Stratos SE amp only takes a couple hours or so of being re-energized for there to be no discernable diffs. I use it now, strickly as an HT amp anyways, so it sits at rest 90% of the time... though it is powered up and supplied by a RSA Haley power filter.

Tubes I use as needed. Another owner of the same preamp as mine said to get better sound, "Leave it on"... I tried that a couple times and found either little or no difference after a few days of being powered up, so it's on only when needed now... about an hour prior to playing some music. A half hour of music and then I'll take a seat and listen.

I do the same thing with the HT rig too... though for about half the time spans, 20 on & 20 more with signal.

The FPJ does not like to be left on at all, so as it's switched at the wall, I'll hit that too just prior to use.

I'll still agree however, if the conditions I posted above can be met, keeping things on will help extend life expectancy and reduce failures. Albeit, the costs of ownership are increased.