Is it bad to leave your amp on and pre off?

[926am]

I noticed most of what I read suggest turning your preamp on then your amp when powering up. When powering down it is recommended to turn the amp off THEN the preamp. Wondering what the reason for this is? I am wondering beacause I have a tubed preamp and ss amp. I want to leave the amp on 24/7 but I want to power down the preamp after my listening session to extend tube life.

[Black Elk]

The reason for powering up from the source and powering down from the power amp. is to prevent any switching glitches from appearing through your loudspeakers.

[soundQman]

It's so you don't get a turn-on or turn-off thump (signal spike) blasting your speakers and potentially damaging them. I have to do that with my rig. It depends on your equipment, though. Some preamps have a time-delayed mute function for a couple seconds built into the output circuit, so it's not a problem for everyone.

[mtodde]

I just leave them both on

[Blencathra]

I just leave them both on

Ditto - the only time they ever get turned off, other than the occasional washing of the rack, is when I go away on holiday.

[Metralla]

I have a tubed preamp and ss amp. I want to leave the amp on 24/7 but I want to power down the preamp after my listening session to extend tube life.
In many preamps (but not all of course - like some Audio Research models), tubes will easily last 10,000 hours. Don't worry about it.

[Hegeman's Ghost]

Ditto - the only time they ever get turned off, other than the occasional washing of the rack, is when I go away on holiday.

Just curious.....why do you leave them on all the time?

HG :confused:

[fmuakkassa]

I keep my amps on at all times (Nagra PMA). My pre-amp (ARC LS26) powers up in mute mode on and sound level at zero so no signal goes to the speakers. My dealer told me to keep the amps on so as to get the best possible sound without waiting for warm up (and they are SS). The Nagra also have an auto on feature where they can detect a signal and power on automatically and shut off after a while when no signal is detected.

[Blencathra]

I have always been led to believe that one way to kill transistors is to have them heat up and cool down on a regular basis. I'm sure we've all noticed that most things blow at the point of being turned on. This is in direct contrast to valves whose life will be shortened by constant use. (Please correct me if I've been mis-led on this matter)
This is the main reason I leave them on although the sound is compromised during the "warming up" phase.

[TONEPUB]

I just leave them both on

You leave your ModWright and your power amp on all the time?

That's bad for a couple of reasons.

1. You will dramatically shorten tube life.
2. Leaving a power amp on all the time is bad news, because if anything in the signal chain ever takes a dump, it could blow one or both of your speakers.
3. Leaving a power amp on all the time will really gobble up a lot of electricity.

Most gear, tube or solid state once broken in should sound its best anywhere from 15-45 min....

Leaving it on all the time really invites disaster. If you have a CD player, DAC or solid state pre, leaving that on all the time doesn't pose a risk to your system and doesn't eat up much current.

But I would highly suggest NOT leaving a power amp of any kind on all the time....

Same with a tube pre, unless you are made of money! Remember most of those tubes (especially if you haven't shelled out for megabucks NOS) are only good for about 3-5000 hours. 24 hrs a day equates to about 125-200 days!

Most tube gear is not meant to be left on 24-7 and you are encouraging failure somewhere else due to failure....

[Hegeman's Ghost]

Been collecting, restoring and listening to vintage tube amps and preamps for over 40 years and have never left them on. IMHO, not only does this practice shorten tube life, and waste electricity, but, it is very dangerous. Back during the days when everyone used tube amps, a frequent cause of house fires was amps left on and unattended.

I've never seen any tube amp take longer than 1 minute to reach it's optimum operating voltages. Once this occurs, the amp will perform to it's design specifications. There is no need for additional warm up time.

HG

[thinker10]

Please turn that power amplifier or integrated/receiver off when not in use.

If that amp goes DC you could very well have a speaker fire and worse.

Vintage equipment that not been properly service is even worse.

Something like 80 Volts on voice coil will fire up the cone.

Thank You

[thinker10]

Please turn that power amplifier or integrated/receiver off when not in use.

If that amp goes DC you could very well have a speaker fire and worse.

Vintage equipment that not been properly service is even worse.

Something like 80 Volts on voice coil will fire up the cone.

Thank You

[Mike from NYC]

I think in today's world it's almost criminal to leave power sucking equipment on all the time. You can always turn on your equipment a half hour before you put your butt into a chair and everything will almost be perfect and save some oil or gas in the process.