Yes, it was a great relief to realize that the amp is not costing an arm and a leg to run! (as for tubes, just take a deep breath and budget an annual number....)
I had looked at the manual for the SLI-80 which says, as you suggest, a much lower rating for "standby" versus playing music. I let the unit warm up and then checked the "standby" (i.e. volume off) and it measured the same as playing music (which itself was slightly higher than the manual indicated).
I wonder whether early versions of the SLI-80 had an actual standby mode, where, for example, a small amount of current would run to keep the transformers a little warm. My Cary 308T cd player has a standby mode indicated by a tiny red light on the front.
As for class A solid state, I owned one once, and felt that it did sound more liquid than the usual A/B piece, but I felt like it needed 24 hours to fully warm up and gell, and then it ate a lot of power. But having never measured the power, I never really determined the cost. Sigh.
I had looked at the manual for the SLI-80 which says, as you suggest, a much lower rating for "standby" versus playing music. I let the unit warm up and then checked the "standby" (i.e. volume off) and it measured the same as playing music (which itself was slightly higher than the manual indicated).
I wonder whether early versions of the SLI-80 had an actual standby mode, where, for example, a small amount of current would run to keep the transformers a little warm. My Cary 308T cd player has a standby mode indicated by a tiny red light on the front.
As for class A solid state, I owned one once, and felt that it did sound more liquid than the usual A/B piece, but I felt like it needed 24 hours to fully warm up and gell, and then it ate a lot of power. But having never measured the power, I never really determined the cost. Sigh.