Why you should not turn off equipment

Hardly anyone below has mentioned human-induced climate change, which the available science suggests is a very real thing. While audio devices don't relatively use a ton of energy, they're part of our civilization's overall carbon footprint from home energy use. As a compromise to audiophiles (of which I'm one) I advocate using standby mode as often as possible when not playing music, and to look for and advocate for devices with very low standby energy use, e.g., my Luxman cd player only uses 1W of energy in that mode.

You could improve your design so they don't sound bad if they have not warmed up. There is a little bit of energy crisis in the world at the moment, and every saved Watt will keep humanity going a little bit further. And there is electromigration, which will deteriorate electronic components while the power is on. In good components the effect is not very significant, just as surges are not very significant. And in a good design, surges are suppressed.

'm not sure about this. Heat destroys. My current devices lasted longer than my previous ones whether PC or audio devices now that I unplugged them from the wall when I don't use them.

Been fighting this for years, ever since they started leaving a trickle charge in CRT TV's so that they would be instant on. I turn off my cooling fans ever so often, that's it. My stuff never breaks, BTW

At 22 cents a kWh (todays rate + delivery), it costs about $135.00 a year to leave a 100 watt load (Tube amp at idle) on 24 yours a day. Unfortunately, POH (power on hours) and thermal cycling gets really complicated. Some components are very thermal cycle sensitive, some have a greatly decreased lifetime at high temperatures, some degrade simply sitting unused or powered off, and still others are very insensitive to temperature, POH, and thermal cycling. For example, many capacitors do very poorly in warm/hot environments but are generally insensitive the thermal cycling. Some large ICs with sophisticated power management my develop thermal hot spots leading to failures under certain computing work loads. And tubes running at high temperatures may have thermal cycling issues.
It's sort of hard to say that all electronic and electronic components should be left on all the time. Take smartphones for example. They have many 'mini thermal cycling' events spread all over the components in an attempt to save power and increase battery life. Engineering these days should consider these failure mechanisms and NOT require them to be powered on all the time for the sake of reduced failure rates. Such designs are simply BAD ENGINEERING. But hey, this is "audiophile territory" and not engineering.

very very useful information. Thanks !

I can fry eggs on my Krell amp after a few hours, so it always gets turned off, sadly

For several years I toured a chain of retail stores working on computers and network equipment which ran 24/7. In a high percentage of cases the equipment would not come back to life after a power down. Well, I had a heart problem that threw me out of rhythm and the doctor told me of a procedure called a Cardioversion. With this procedure, the doctors stop your heart and then restart it and many times this brings things back to normal. In my case it did and the fix lasted for a few years. Of course, I had to tell the doctor my experience with electronics and how a power down after many years of running seemed to cause death of the devices. I asked if he had seen the same thing with people and what percentage of hearts don't restart after stopping. The doctor told me that he only lost one patient in his career from the procedure.

If you live where the relative humidity is high, leaving any kind equipment on when not in use will keep the interior warm and lower the relative humidity inside, making everything less likely to corrode, especially switch contacts and pot wipers.

Thanks Paul. How about if I use a non-inrush electronic equipment (kits & already assembled one are available on eBay, etc)? The current raises gradually. Stand-by position (consuming a little bit electricity) keeps the PSU on, eventhough the main equipment off, meaning the electrolytic caps kept filled up & warm. Over the years they dry earlier.

Pay my Power Bill? 👉🏻 Standby
Lol

Hi Paul! You must always turn the equipment off! At least I have a very good reason to turn them off, even if it is a once-in-a-life-time thing. And here is why:

Back in 1985, I was working at a great record company as a Cutting and Mastering engineer. I had been trusted to exclusively work on a state of the art Neumann VMS-80 lathe, with all the audio equipment also from Neumann and an MCI player with delay hubs. Every single day I will turn the machines on in the morning and off late in the afternoon. When it was lunch time from 12 m to 2 pm, I went away to eat and back to continue work and during this lunch time I never turned off the equipment just because it was better to have them warm to immediately continue working.

This had been going on for almost one and half years. One day I felt very sleepy and decided to take a big nap during my lunch time. Therefore, I just sat down and leaned over a deskto sleep. At about 1:30 pm, I happened (by pure chance) to open my eyes and watch the control console beside the lathe and saw a thin plume of smoke coming out of it!

Without thinking, I threw myself directly at the mains and turned them off.

If I wouldn't have been there at that time the whole studio could potentially have caught fire, and been surrounded by flammable materials (plastic, wood and vinyl) the whole studio would have been lost, to say the least.

The plume of smoke and a little flame, was due to a tiny faulty tantalum capacitor.What would you know that this possibly could happen to a state of the art machine with the finest electronics money could buy and that it was only 2 years old!!!

My boss then and I learned a good lesson that day: no electronic equipment should be left on unattended! And if you are going to leave it on unattended then you must have extraordinary fire prevention measures in place. You could say that this happening is just one in a million but it did happen, so unless you are prepared to fend off any possible occurrence of fire, no matter how small, you should not leave your electronic equipment on.

That goes for computers too!

Cheers

Regarding Paul's advice, in the manual of my First Watt F4 amp, Nelson Pass likewise advises letting the amp warm up for a full hour for critical listening. But as to maximizing lifespan: "I do not personally see a reason to run the amplifier all the time, but you can do that if you want to. The power supply capacitors are likely to last about 15 years or so, and while they will slowly dry out just sitting there, they will have a shorter life span with the amplifier running constantly." No doubt, the same will be true of electrolytic caps used elsewhere in the power amp, preamp, DAC, et al.

I have noticed that in pro recording studios for the last 50 years. They never turn the equipment off unless they need to work on it or if there is a lightning storm outside. Lightning has caused many thousands of dollars of damage in studios trying to record with a storm going on. Lightning arrestors help some but computers still get hit with it traveling the coaxial cable or Cat 5 cables.

I find I have more energy if I'm turned-on all the time.

Thanks for the video. In a bad wether - storm ... why not turn completely OFF to prevent multi times wether Mains ON/OFF unexpectedly. ?

Dont turn it off so you electricity bill goes up. Wise.

I put my subwoofer in a place where I can't reach the switch easily. I don't turn it off anymore. Only the tube amp goes off

Does this apply to DACs as well?

The tiny OLED monocrome displays degrade or get dimmer with age whether being used or not. I wonder if a minute smd cap does this.... As a diyer I hate smds. You got this great big box and put such tiny microelectronics inside. Not cool.

Turn that sht off! Some manufactures subwoofers have been known to malfunction from being on in standby constantly. When people say things like this they cost you so much more than just falling for bs! Save your equipment and electricity!!

Why is it called BHK please?

Yes leave my stuff on several dazes at a time. They get HOT yes,and this makes ‘‘em STRONG! Fire and Death happen,yet none of my stuff has TURNED on me. I’m talking about 1960 thru 1979 vintage receivers and amps…….Thanks n ENJOY!

What if my tube amp doesn't have a standby switch???

My concern would be voltage spike/lightning issues.

It's been 3 years, perhaps time to roll back your opinion given the clearer picture we humans now have of this planet and it's limits....

yes... i agree, but what if you have a power hungry Krell? who pays the bills Paul??? 😅
😂😊

rip anyone that used wii standby mode that destoyed it faster than full off or full on lol.

and what about monitor speakers? i heard those should be turned off when not gonna be using them rest the day?

Hmm here's a question. So I used to leave things on, but for the sake of longevity and not wasting power, I have everything on a timer so it stays off at night from 3am-3pm. I figured why leave it on when I'm absolutely not going to use it, and if its warmed up for hours before I do, isn't that as good? Should I just be leaving my stuff always on? (this stuff has no standby) And capacitors are rated in hours, isnt running amps 12hrs a day rather than 24 going to double their lifespan?

A short circuit inside the device can lead to overheating and potentially a fire, correct?

From a technical point of view, I have heard before and tend to agree.
But from the point of view of an insurance company employee ( ex)
With the knowledge of their way of thinking I say shut it off

What about turning the power off during lighting ? I use a Audioquest PQ2 and turn the unit off during thunderstorms .

I have a Yamaha Z9, after 15 min at idle it's running around 125 to 147 degrees I have a cooler fan on top which is like a little space heater that runs all day....Nope I shut mine down

is this the same rule for headphone amps ?

so over 10 to 20 years you fatigue the caps. isnt it cheaper to recap it then pay the electric bill for leaving it on? MY solid state amplifier on playing no audio draws over 60 watts of power and still draws 5 watts turned off. so at a cost of 25 cents per kwh over several years it adds up. take this cost over all the equipment you have and it really adds up over the years.

now i mean if you use it daily thats one thing but if you use it maybe once a week or less then I would say turn it completely off.

Lightbulbs last longer when left on.

Fender musical instrument amps have had standby switches since the 1950s, or maybe earlier, as you'd probably know. Big amps full of 6L6 valves get pretty hot, as you'd also know, and are often left running where there's plenty of electrical interference to be picked up.

I would not leave any equipment on when it is not in use as an private user. Industrial machines working 24/7 is another thing.
Any equipment not in use has to be turned off and disconnected from all electricity. There sure must be wear as well if electricity is flowing through capacitors, transistors, etc. I unplugg everything from the wall and p,ugg it in when I want to use it. Capacitors are chemical components and that reacts when current is flowing through. But like batteries most likely will experiment wear as well with no current applied. Electrical items seem to have an expiring date.

As a Technician for the last 50 years, I will tell you that leaving it on is better because of what is known as SURGE. If you leave in standby then all is up and running. When you power up from off, there is large surges into the filter caps. This surge damages your power supply. lol just listening to you say this... but the major strain is on the semi-conductor such as your rectifiers. There is a second problem with leaving on and that is dust. In standby all fans should shut down or your equipment becomes a very expensive air filter.

someone had a computer on for ten years and someone suggested he should turn it off and he did and it never turned on again.

I have a pair of Audiolab 8000M 125 watt mono-block power amps, they have been on for almost 40 years, still sound amazing.

My Sonographe PreAmp I bought in 1988 doesn't have a power switch.

What about older tube amps with no standby switch?

Paul , I have to ask is this just theoretical or has this method of practice been tested . My thought was always any surges coming through at anytime can be negated by having the power completely disconnected from the source via power strip with surge suppression . I run several complete systems in my home (4) always switching from to another . i just love the gear and shutter to think I'd be damaging anything by leaving them on 24hr.everyday ?

BS

Not really. If you kept your room temp and humid right then you dont have to turn it on. I warm up my gears for an hour before starting listen music. Every year I calibrate/measure the error to gears and measurement equipment to make sure all run well. Also Recapping, upgrading resistors to higher tolerance for my audio preamp and poweramp.

i have a number of hi-fi components in a single-room DAW. Would leaving them on all the time create a forest of electronic noise?