Leave Class A amps on / off

Swisstrips

Swisstrips

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I would typically leave my class AB stereo amp on a good portion of the week, say Wed-Sun (I leave DAC and Pre on all the time).

I just recently purchased a pair of XA100.5 mono's (yeah!) and am wondering what my regimen with these types of amps should be. I'm guessing others with similar amps don't leave them on all the time due to class A current being full "on" all the time/electric bill? Thoughts, suggestions?

I have only had these a week and have been powering them on 1hr before I listen and then powering off at night. Is the constant on/off not recommended or should they be ran similar to AB, dunno?
 
I would agree with your turning the amps on an hour before listening and then turn them off when you're done. I don't see the need to have them on any more than that unless you're using them to heat your house or you own stock in the local power company.
 
I had XA100.5 amps (as well as other class A Pass amps) and my listening habits were/are a little different. They get turned on when I come home from work and off the next mid-morning if I was done listening. I work second shift so I'd listen into the wee hours of the morning and part of the next day, then certainly off before I leave the house. Weekends were different. Typically on from Friday night and off by Monday morning barring any time away from the house. Never on when not home and always in a well ventilated room/system.
 
I own a Pass class AB amp which runs at 126 degrees. It heats up my small sound room nicely. I used to turn it on when I got up in the morning and off at bedtime. While the amp was heating up the room, the air conditioner was working to cool it down. My electric bill was costing me an additional $30 per month. Since there were some days I never got in the stereo room, and the amp needs no more than 2 hours of warm-up to sound good, I decided to save $ and turn the amp on two hours before any serious listening. I just wish my tubed preamp performed at it’s best after only two hours of warm-up.

Other concerns are lightening storms, power brown outs and spikes. There were times I was out of the house when a storm would occur. I would rush home to turn my system off.
 
dlb2 said:
I would agree with your turning the amps on an hour before listening and then turn them off when you're done. I don't see the need to have them on any more than that unless you're using them to heat your house or you own stock in the local power company.
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Yea, the warm up portion I'm sure varies from amp to amp and have personally always found leaving my rig on pretty much all the time sounds better than not. Being new to using class A I'm curious to hear thoughts/experience on this and if prolonged heat is "bad" or maybe the thermal element is part of the design and are meant to stay "on" as well as the wear and tear due to the in-rush of current when turning on etc.. Again just curious :)

These don't give off anymore noticeable heat in so far as the room heating up, at least I cannot tell. I have a large space and yes the heatsinks are warm but not at all to some stories I have read on some class A amps
 
joeinid said:
I had XA100.5 amps (as well as other class A Pass amps) and my listening habits were/are a little different. They get turned on when I come home from work and off the next mid-morning if I was done listening. I work second shift so I'd listen into the wee hours of the morning and part of the next day, then certainly off before I leave the house. Weekends were different. Typically on from Friday night and off by Monday morning barring any time away from the house. Never on when not home and always in a well ventilated room/system.
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That makes sense and is kind of the routine I'll probably use for now at least - turn on when I get home if I know I have some time to listen and prob do the Fri-Sun thing.

I should take a vid of the power meter as they are being turned on just for fun. Wouldn't indicate/tell much I'm sure, unless its something like Clark Grizwald Christmas lights :)
 
Ha!

If I thought there was a chance that I could not have a serious listen, I didn’t turn them on. I do admit that even now, I have music playing if the amps were/are on. I’d even have the television on with the sound off just to be able to hear my music.
 
Joseph R. said:
I own a Pass class AB amp which runs at 126 degrees. It heats up my small sound room nicely. I used to turn it on when I got up in the morning and off at bedtime. While the amp was heating up the room, the air conditioner was working to cool it down. My electric bill was costing me an additional $30 per month. Since there were some days I never got in the stereo room, and the amp needs no more than 2 hours of warm-up to sound good, I decided to save $ and turn the amp on two hours before any serious listening. I just wish my tubed preamp performed at it’s best after only two hours of warm-up.

Other concerns are lightening storms, power brown outs and spikes. There were times I was out of the house when a storm would occur. I would rush home to turn my system off.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. I, as I'm sure most do, track weather conditions and unplug everything when storms are imminent. In MN where I'm located, its really only portions of summer that are "extreme" to where I have to keep a close eye.

Since "audio-season" is wrapping up (winter, no yard work, winter hibernation = more listening time), it will be interesting to see if these amp pose any temp issues during the summer (I suspect not)
 
Standby is still off for me. Breaker in the back always on and switch/button on front for on/off.
 
joeinid said:
Ha!

If I thought there was a chance that I could not have a serious listen, I didn’t turn them on. I do admit that even now, I have music playing if the amps were/are on. I’d even have the television on with the sound off just to be able to hear my music.
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I do do that too and my wife finds it weird, esp. if I’m also reading at the same time. lol
 
Well FWIW I'm really loving these! Wowza. System + room dependent for sure as most things are, but seriously killer amps. Now being a sorta of newbie (compared to many) I have been baby stepping my rig.

New Ultima's in the fall and over a course of wknd listening to Larry's X250 in my system a couple months ago, I really liked what I was hearing. I almost pulled the trigger on a int60, but wanted the flexibility of a Pre etc... so now a pair of friggin mono's lighting up my rig, pretty cool. Budget blown, um yeah. These will stay at least for a while.

However, now I need cables as I had to move my components to side wall. So i need pair of ~15ft or so of XLR's (currently using mic cables from my recording rig). I can't/won't do $1k cables, no way. I know cables are a can 'O worms, and 15-20ft isn't long for XLR's but are there any things to consider and or recommendations?
 
Cost effective solutions for cable at that length, especially if you are comfortable making them or know someone who is, are Dueland or Belden 8402. There is a guy on Ebay making balanced IC's out of Dueland 16 or 29 ga. but so far only 1 meter lengths. You can contact him and see if he will do 5 meter pairs. I have been using two pair for several months.
 
Jack,

I have the ones from BTPA and really like them. I don't remember the connectors but they seem great. I can take a look when I get home. Take 5 Audio cables look interesting but never tried them.

Jack said:
Joe

What's the make and quality on those XLR connectors?
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Thanks guys. I'm actually using a pair of 8402 RCA's that I got from BTA. I was thinking of getting those, Neotech NEI-3004 (Takefive) or Belden 1800F for the XLR's. Ooy.

I know of the cable co lending program and that might be option, but at this length everything is crazy expensive.
 
I also have Neotech speaker cable and think it's great too. I was thinking about trying the Neotech interconnects too.

I have both XLR and RCA Belden 8402 and was using the RCA 8402 with the LTA MZ2 with wonderful sounds coming out.
 
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