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Leaving Solid State Equipment on all the Time

Someone told me that: 
  • Leaving your gear on all the time allows all the components to "come up to temperature."  
  • Transistors, resistors and other devices all have specific operating temps that they work best at. Below these temps, they're not performing at peak capability. 
  • Transformers will generally take 2-3 days to settle down and come up to their operating temps. 
  • Capacitors will take anywhere between 3-4 days to settle down. 
  • If you're continuously turning off the gear, you're basically hearing the system as it's first waking up in the morning. After it's been on for a few days, you'll hear that the tonal balance smooths out, that the top end becomes sweeter and purer and that bass has more control, articulation, and becomes more natural. 
Any truth to any of that? 
oldschool1948
xti16
1,495 posts
 
I leave my Aavik U300 on all the time.. I don't even bother with standby. I was told this by the designer and never questioned it. BTW it is class D
terry9
931 posts
 
In summer I leave my Class A amps on standby (30% power), but they still take many hours to warm up to full performance. In the winter I leave them on a lot - costs nothing, just replaces the heater.

My phono/pre reaches full performance after a few hours.
68pete
586 posts
 
24/7 excepted when i am a way for more than a couple of days.
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I also leave most on 24/7. A new to me tube preamp I am turning off as it runs very HOT, and I just cannot see the electrical bill for both a high powered preamp and the air conditioning need just to cool off the heat it generates. Plus that Conrad Johnson sounds pretty good soon enough. My Bryston amp, from stone cold does take a full day to sound it's best. So I leave on the amp, the SS preamp, and the DAC and CD player 24/7
waterzlife
119 posts
 
My Plinius P8 amp was left on the entire 4+ years without any problem.
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