OK to leave power on?


Is it alright to leave my Musical Fidelity A5 integrated amp powered on(ON...not standby)when not in use? It has no remote on/off capability and I may not be able to get into the habit of manually turning it off with power button on the unit. I've also heard different opinions on whether it's actually better to leave an amplifier on all the time.
jasonlopez
This is a well done topic if you check out the archives... you'll see for yourself.

In short, Yeah. it's fine.... but....

There are a couple caveats... temperature, and power anomolies like spikes, interuptions, and low voltage instances. It doesn’t take a storm, lightening, or other bad weather conditions to evoke such circumstances either, the power co. devices fail too. Ever hear one of them big transformer or caps you see up on the telephone poles blow out? They sound like a shotgun at close range. Bye bye lights!

Keeping the space in which the amp resides, quite cool, cooler than usual household conditions, you'll overcome that obstacle. Temperature and power spikes are main issues for most all devices.

Power concerns can be addressed by using power line filtration/conditioning which have circuit protection designs built into them wich prevent spikes, as well as under and over voltage occurrences from causing harm to the connected device.

If the connected amp has a soft start design, you are still better off when used with the aforementioned power line 'helper/protector', as the energy will eventually return and the unit will then re-energize.... And quite abruptly without a soft start, and more safely with one.

Lastly, although some makers decree that their units be left on, there is always the consideration of both the energy loss you suffer & pay for that often amounts to very little, though it does add up, and an outright component failure/disaster. it's uncommon for components to smoke test themselves ordinarily when under no load circumstances, but the possibility is always there if left energized 100% of the time.

True too… with some items, and little people or animals, just them being left on CAN introduce a severe health threatening situation…. If these individuals can easily get in close proximity to the energized gizmo.

I live alone, and the dog died years ago, So here's my way of it.... If I can afford to replace it easily enough, or it's loss doesn't overtly affect me, and it has that soft start (restart) design feature, I'll leave it on... as my equipment room is kept pretty cool normally, usually not exceeding 75F.

Otherwise, I'll do things manually. turn it on in advance of it's use, and off, when I'm done.

My exceptions to this program are those items which are very seldom used… my 5 ch tube HT amp, my tube preamp, and Tube mono blocks.

BTW Low voltage items are more affected by these inturruptions of power than are amps, generally speaking... PC'S, SCANNERS, TELEPHONES, routers, modems, CCTV, etc. I connect these thru PSA passive conditioners and have had no device losses since.

I did have losses prior to adding the power line devices which attend to the above mentioned conditions. A lot.

Since? I’ve had to call upon PS Audio for replacement ckt breakers twice now, but the equipment has suffered no damages I can perceive so I’m a big proponent of the more than cost effective application of the Duet & older though as effective UPC 200, or any other likewise item which monitors for spikes, low & high volt issues and prevents them from harming the thousands of bucks of junk attached to them from time to time or routinely.
Do you have surge protection? What if you leave it on and there is a major storm headed to your home? People that leave their equipment on all the time are only making electric companies richer. Most amps are good to go after about 10 - 20 minutes warmup. Even if it's an hour, so what, it will warm up while your listening.
yup. as long as its not class A. standby for tubed equip. keeps a small current continuously going so when full ON is engaged it ready to go much faster than full warmup.