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Post by crusty on Nov 9, 2010 19:36:16 GMT -5
Does anyone know how much energy the XPA-1s consume when on but not playing? How much more energy is being consumed when, say, its on overnight and during the day without playing (about 18 hours)?
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Post by roflcatdown on Nov 9, 2010 19:53:16 GMT -5
Did you know that most electronic equipment fails when being turned on from cold? Do a search. It really depends on the equipment, how it's used, how well it's cooled, the quality of the components, and whether or not your device has a weak/bad/poorly manufactured item in a critical path that could induce failure. Some equipment fails as it cools. (Cracked solder joints) Some equipment fails at power-up. (Electrical surge) Some equipment fails from vibration. (Cracked solder joints/shorted components) Some equipment fails due to poorly constructed materials (Capacitor plague) Some equipment fails because of heat (Resistance buildup leading to fire or failure.) It really all depends upon what it is you're talking about. I leave my PC on 24/7 because I hate waiting for it to boot. (Only moving parts are case/cpu fans at this point.) I turn my monitor off manually every time. (Limited display life) I turn my TV off when not-in use. (Limited display life.) I turn my Blu-Ray player off when not in use (Moving parts) I turn my car off when I'm not driving it. (Moving parts, expensive fuel.) The real important answer is: Depends. No point in leaving a projector or TV on that has a limited screen lifetime. No point in paying the power bill for it out of fear that something might "die". No point in further polluting the air either. Personally I don't see the up-side of leaving the gear on and killing the caps in it unless you consider it an easily replaceable commodity. The best practice I can think of is to not drive the amp hard until it has warmed up a bit, and to turn the volume down and let it cool on its own for a bit before powering it off. Too bad the UMC-1 doesn't have a programmable "amp sleep" timer that it can trigger if you turn volume higher than X level. My wife's Twilight Zone pinball machine is a good example of a piece of hardware that was built to be left running 16+ hours per day if not 24 hours per day. There's just one catch... When not being played Pinball machines go into what is called "Attract Mode" they flash lights brightly, play audio clips, and get your attention. The connector for the lighting on the controller board (one of several) isn't of sufficient gauge to handle the current demands. If you leave this thing on for days or weeks the conductors on the connector begin to heat up. As they heat up their resistance goes up, as their resistance goes up the heat level goes up. Eventually the entire wire harness will melt, short, and burst into flames. I know, because this happened to her machine. Now I have to go through and do board level soldering to repair the damage and get it working again. But, the real answer is it depends and if it were truly that important to the quality of your sound, the manufacturers would tell you so.
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Post by roflcatdown on Nov 9, 2010 19:57:38 GMT -5
Does anyone know how much energy the XPA-1s consume when on but not playing? How much more energy is being consumed when, say, its on overnight and during the day without playing (about 18 hours)? Probably about the same as leaving a 110 watt light bulb on I'd imagine.
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Post by monkumonku on Nov 9, 2010 20:22:59 GMT -5
Well, it might have escaped you all, but the quintessential answer is so obvious to me. I leave my Emo amp on all day and turn it off at night. When we go to bed at night we say Oyasuminasai (good night in Japanese ..... OK, I know the Emo amps are made in China, but neither my wife nor I know how to say good night in Chinese and we figure although the Japanese and Chinese don't like each other very much, that Oyasuminasai is about as close as we are going to get, so I hope you find that OK) and then cover the XPA-5 with a blankie to keep it warm. We find that this seems to work very well. It keeps our electric bill down (although I have been tempted to leave it off during the day also to save more ..... If I do that I'll post again and I'll let you know) and it sounds very good after a long warm and comfy rest all night. The sound is so defined and clear, it's sort of like a blankie has been lifted. My wife also puts the amp blankie in the microwave for a short time to pre-warm it before we tuck the XPA-5 in for the night. The specific blankie we use is one we bought at Costco. It is a beautiful soft blue on one side that matches the Emo blue and is a microfiber sheep cloth on the other side. It is called the Cuddly Microsherpa Throw. Sorry, but I don't have the Costco item number on this blankie. Hope this helps. Chuckie, with all due respect, you are probably getting short changed on the audio performance from your ridiculous indulgence of your equipment that is now spoiled rotten. What motivation is there for your amp to perform if you treat it like that?? Every night I put my amps in the freezer. Yes, freezer. Then when I am ready to play something, I take it out, hook the cords back up and turn it on. Haven't you ever heard of "no pain no gain?" You have to constantly stress your equipment to keep it in shape - it is no different from people. You give them the easy life and they will get fat and lazy. You give your amp the easy life, same thing. Why, I bet the frequency response graph of your amp is pretty much non existent except for the easy to reproduce midrange - it probably looks like a bell curve (which for the amp means a pot belly). Let it be known that you do not want a spare tire around your amp. You'd better start cracking that whip!
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Post by thepcguy on Nov 9, 2010 21:19:11 GMT -5
I did notice a difference in sound in my XPA-1's after leaving them powered up over night. After that first day though the sound hasn't changed...they sound wonderful. And there is no reason to leave a power amp on all the time when it's not in use. I use the 12 V triggers from my pre amp to power on my power amps when I'm going to be doing some listening. Did you know that most electronic equipment fails when being turned on from cold? Do a search. Leaving solid state equipment on all the time is actually a smart move. Constant on/off cycles over time puts stress on electrical connection points due to thermal expansion/contraction. The only time I turn off equipment is if I am going to be gone from the house for long periods of time, or there is an electrical storm on the way. i've been turning my PC on and off probably 10 times a day on average (family PC) for 7 years and still running. My first receiver (Sansui) is still alive and have been turned on and off on a daily basis.
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Post by badronald on Nov 9, 2010 21:42:23 GMT -5
Turn it off. The difference you will save on your electic bill will far outweight the posibable 10% or less life that you will gain
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Post by kellys on Nov 9, 2010 23:03:27 GMT -5
Probably about the same as leaving a 110 watt light bulb on I'd imagine. On a mostly unrelated note, I have seen a lightbulb at an electric generating station here that has been running for 80+ years straight. It has never been turned off, and hasn't yet burnt out (as off two years ago anyways).
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Post by paintedklown on Nov 10, 2010 1:11:34 GMT -5
Does anyone know how much energy the XPA-1s consume when on but not playing? How much more energy is being consumed when, say, its on overnight and during the day without playing (about 18 hours)? This is quoted from Chris Groppi in his review of the XPA-1 amps for "Secrets"
To be sure I got around any warm-up problems, I left the amps on all the time. Given they do consume 90W each at idle, I would probably use the 12V trigger from the preamp normally, and just turn them on a while before any serious listening.Hope that helps.
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Post by roflcatdown on Nov 10, 2010 10:26:47 GMT -5
Probably about the same as leaving a 110 watt light bulb on I'd imagine. On a mostly unrelated note, I have seen a lightbulb at an electric generating station here that has been running for 80+ years straight. It has never been turned off, and hasn't yet burnt out (as off two years ago anyways). If it ever does turn off it will probably need replacing. Truthfully standard incandescent light bulbs were never actually intended to be turned on and off.
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Post by aussie on Nov 10, 2010 15:05:14 GMT -5
I always turn things off if I don't need them, why waste energy? I just prefer to be greener.
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Post by jackfish on Nov 10, 2010 15:26:30 GMT -5
Aha! How much do energy Emotiva products consume in standby?
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Post by roflcatdown on Nov 10, 2010 16:27:57 GMT -5
Aha! How much do energy Emotiva products consume in standby? 11... It would be 10, but Emotiva likes to ensure that your gear can just go 1 higher if you need it.
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Post by crusty on Nov 10, 2010 22:39:48 GMT -5
Does anyone know how much energy the XPA-1s consume when on but not playing? How much more energy is being consumed when, say, its on overnight and during the day without playing (about 18 hours)? This is quoted from Chris Groppi in his review of the XPA-1 amps for "Secrets"
To be sure I got around any warm-up problems, I left the amps on all the time. Given they do consume 90W each at idle, I would probably use the 12V trigger from the preamp normally, and just turn them on a while before any serious listening.Hope that helps. Thanks! It helps. The equivalent of 180 watts (2x XPA-1s) minimum for 24 hours a day every day doesn't sound so green or economical.
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Post by roflcatdown on Nov 11, 2010 0:33:11 GMT -5
This is quoted from Chris Groppi in his review of the XPA-1 amps for "Secrets"
To be sure I got around any warm-up problems, I left the amps on all the time. Given they do consume 90W each at idle, I would probably use the 12V trigger from the preamp normally, and just turn them on a while before any serious listening.Hope that helps. Thanks! It helps. The equivalent of 180 watts (2x XPA-1s) minimum for 24 hours a day every day doesn't sound so green or economical. It would be probably close to $1000 over 5 years. Or, enough to buy 1 new XPA-1 if one failed...
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