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I found many opinions on the web about this and thought I'd ask it here...
Does powering on/off a stereo amplifier cause more wear and tear than leaving it on 24/7? It is used daily for a few hours. How about computers?
Thanks,
R
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Power always on/always off, on of the great debates. One of the IT people I know once told me that turning your computer on and off daily wears the electronics out faster due to the fluctuation between warm/hot and cold. The only time I turn my computer off is when there's a thunderstorm in the area, or, when I do a thorough cleaning of the innerts. But, that's just me  Cheers, Mike
Cheers, Mike My Music * Asus ROG Strix G15CF 32 GB DDR4 4TB HDD + 1 TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB Win 11 AKAI EIE PRO Sound Interface. BIAB/RB 2024 UltraPak Build - Latest
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I've read the reasoning behind the IT guys saying "always on", but I'm not buying it.
I think it's good to turn the PC off at bedtime and give the components a chance to cool down.
I'm not sure about the amp, but if it was mine I'd follow the same guidelines as for the PC.
Just my 2 cents and that's all it's worth.
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A light-bulb blows at turn-on due to phenomenon known as "inrush current" which can be many times the ambient idle current. Logically, computer components, especially on the power supply board, can be damaged by "inrush currents" so I leave mine on 24/7. The idling current is roughly equal to a 40 Watt bulb, even less in power-miser modes. Quote:
In over 25 years, I have never lost a PSU (aka Power Supply Unit)
Last edited by Don Gaynor; 03/28/13 12:33 PM.
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Would be interesting to get Eddie's view on this.
Just sayin'.....
Cheers, Mike My Music * Asus ROG Strix G15CF 32 GB DDR4 4TB HDD + 1 TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB Win 11 AKAI EIE PRO Sound Interface. BIAB/RB 2024 UltraPak Build - Latest
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And Mac's.
I leave my PC on all the time, because I use it (off and on) all the time. I don't like boot time to get in the way of creativity. But all other appliances, audio or not, get switched off when done.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Well, the PC and the Audio Power Amplifier are two distinctly different machines.
And if it is a Windows PC, you might find that the Operating System actually needs a full reboot now and again anyway.
But in the case of this Audio Amp, my advice would be to turn it off when not using it, as the probability of it enduring powerline transients and spikes is likely higher than the amount of meantime before failure assurance from leaving it on all the time in hopes of preventing problems incurred by the heating/cooling cycle. This is especially true of the modern power amp that contains a switching type power supply.
Turn it off when not in use.
--Mac
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I am an IT guy and I don't buy the always on arguement. Bear in mind always on means you are burning out your hard drive quicker and you burn waistful amounts of energy which costs money, although I'm no "green" ambassador.
Get yourself a really good surge protector and then turn it off when left for long periods of no use.
That's my take on it anyway.
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Quote:
Power always on/always off, on of the great debates.
yep! might as well talk politics or religion! for the computer I leave it on always even during thunderstorms! I bought a nice UPS with surge protection and my PC stays on even when the power goes off. I reboot from time to time manually due to Windows!
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 03/28/13 02:31 PM.
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I USED to leave mine on for the "why spin the drive up every day" argument. However, due to my needing to be extremely frugal now, I started turning them off. And in fact, I am only using one. A side effect was that my electric bill went down $40 the first month of not running 5 computers 24/7.
But I used to leave them on mainly because of not wanting to spin that drive and move that drive head over the boot sector every day.
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I turn the PC off sometimes...but other times I prefer the slideshows...on screensaver.
I've seldom remembered to turn off the power into my Behringer 3000 Keyboard/PA Amp.
Had it 7 yrs and haven't had any problems with performance...great amp for the price.
I pay a flat 75 bucks a month for 80 Amp Service plugged into my 5th Wheel RV, so I don't worry about blowing circuit breakers if I forget to turn "appliances" off.
Yamaha...Motif ES-8, Motif Rack, CS6X
Korg...Karma,Triton Classic, PA-80, M-1+
AkaiSampler-S5000, Roland.. X5080 Rack/G-1000 Arranger
Various Guitars/Basses Amps Pedals Rec.Equip.
Plus, BIAB 2015 and Sonar Platinum 2015 Upgrade from Cakewalk's Sonar X-3
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I turn it off when I go to bed.
I turn it off when I leave the house.
I turn it off when I'm sure I'm not using it for a longer period of time (this applies to other reasons like reading a book, listening to music, conversation with my wife, ...)
I turn it on when I intend to use it.
Those hours when turned off count in currency units not spent.
Desktop; i7-2600k, 8 GB mem., Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
Laptop: i5-2410M, 4 GB mem, Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
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I always use line conditioners or uninterruptible power supplies for my computers, synth modules and amplifiers.
Home/office computers:
I turn mine off at night, and when I leave the house. Unplugged from the AC supply when off.
Stage computers:
On when performing (I do one-nighters for a living) and off/unplugged when not performing. Note: I have a 2003 IBM ThinkPad R40 that is still working perfectly. So turning it off obviously doesn't hurt.
Amplifiers and synthesizers home or on stage:
On when using them, off when not. Unplugged from the AC supply when off.
Side note: I went out to lunch one day and forgot to unplug one item, an Akai S900 digital sampler (this was back when hardware sampling was new). It was plugged into a zip strip with a surge protector AND a line conditioner (the kind with a big ferro-resonant transformer). A sudden thunderstorm came up and the net result was a $300 repair job. Nothing can keep lightning away if it hits close enough.
I've read a lot about the always on or turn off debate, and I guess I go the middle ground. If I'm at the home/office/studio all day, they stay on all day, but never overnight. I do an incremental disk image before turning off and a complete image at least twice a month. A good fresh re-boot of Windows daily is a good thing.
Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Problems abound when people insist on looking at these situations as one-input problem.
Realistically we must try to observe all the possible inputs to the problem at hand, though.
--Mac
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