System On or System Off

If you only use the system once a week for an hour then turn it off in-between.

Mine is on 24-7 as I play music every day, sometimes for a few hours and it does sound better when it has been warmed-up for a few days.

If you have a problem with energy bills or ethics on this then turn-off in-between if you don't discern the difference.

DB.

If the manual says keep it on, keep it on. If the manual says switch it off. switch it off. If you don't read manuals or the manual doesn't specify the best course of action, or it doesn't cover your specific circumstances, then please yourself. We haven't listened to our system for around 10 days but we only switch it off for storms and periods away from home, because this is what the manual recommends and it can take the best part of a week to come back on song. But that's our system. Yours will be different. Everybody's will.

Consensus indicates you should leave everything powered on 24x7.  I agree with the consensus.

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...switch-it-off-or-not

One of many.

G

How about we go 50:50? Switch half of it off and leave the other half on?

If you only use it for one hour a week, sell it. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

If you only use it for one hour a week, sell it. 

What he said. 

Ah, that explains why you never invested on a proper RCM. 

If you only listen to your system  for an hour each week, why don't you listen to it for four hours at the end of the month and switch off for the rest of the month. Saves money and electricity. Better still, sell it.

Seriously, you're not really a music lover, are you? Sell everything , as Nigel says. Your system is being wasted on you. Let someone else enjoy it!!!

Ask this on the Naim Forum whilst owning Naim, you would think that most would agree. Ask this on a Devialet forum whilst owning a Devialet ( for example ) - then there might be a different consensus - especially if in the manual it specifies that turning of and on does not result in loss of quality and longevity. 

Naims Statement set has a Standby switch off - you would hope - running that on full power idle 24/7 would be a big drain regardless of the fact of being able to afford buying them. If Naim know how to utilise this feature without compromising quality on its Statements you can all hope that it'll trickle down as a feature in all its pieces.

As with everything, its a balance, and in part will depend on the frequency of use of the system.

As far as damage is concerned, turning off and on frequently subjects the power supplies in particular to significant inrush current, and thermal cycling, which as well as electrical effects also causes mechanical expansion and contraction. In effect these all cause stresses, which potentially can reduce life of some components. Against that, leaving on means a higher temperature than ambient inside most boxes, with some components permanently at a temperature significantly above ambient, which can reduce life of some components. Power amps and power supplies are likely to be places where temperatures can rise enough to be significant.

Separate to that, leaving things on consumes electricity, potentially wasteful of natural resources, and potentially costly (unless solely powered by wind/tidal/solar energy) - and can amount to quite a few £hundred per year, depending on power amps in particular. As someone pointed out in another forum, as the standby energy is in fact converted to heat, it is not necessarily wasted as, if your house requires energy consumption for necessary space heating it contributes to that, though only wholly conserved if you have a Passive House. Power amps are the biggest energy 'wasters', least if you have a D amp I think, and worst if you triamp with big class A amps... I seem to recall that the old Musical Fidelity SA470 used to consume something like 1kw all the time when on, and like a permanently on radiator in the room! (And where I live, with electricity 16.5p/unit, would cost over £1400 per year to leave on)

So the balance in terms of damage may depend on frequency of use, and when factoring in 'green' credentials and energy cost may depend in part on proportion of time in use.

Meanwhile, I don't believe the assertions that it takes several days for sound to settle after turning on, as it is unlikely to take much more than about half an hour or so for most components to reach normal idling temperature from turn on in rooms at normal room temperature, and certainly not days. However, some computerised components in particular - i.e some digital products - can be a nuisance at turn on because they reset to settings different from those wanted, requiring hassle of setting each time turned on, which may or may not affect a desire to not bother turning off.

A common compromise seems to be to turn power amps off between use and turn on half an hour or so before serious listening., and that indeed is what I do, unless expecting to use more than once the same day.

I always leave my system on, however last week started to have second thoughts... I bought one of those adapters where you can measure the power draw of anything plugged into it out of curiosity - the results where opposite to how I imagined:

CDS2 and XPS idles @50W ! Shocking!

135s only 15w each!

all others items also around 15w (dacmagic, hicap etc). Comes to 125w total with all boxes.

kind regards

Matt

Maybe the power supply's are ok to switch off and that's why Naim have put power switches on the front of them, otherwise you'd just leave it round the back 

In a well set up system, performing at its best or thereabouts, leaving it on 24/7 is the best option. As a previous poster said, it can take upto a week to fully come back on song, although after 24 hours it does sound a hell of a lot better than from cold.

Years ago I used to only listen about once a week but I wouldnt have sold the system as it was such a treat to listen to. At this time I used to switch off after use but I found (before the internet existed to learn from) from personal experience that if I was going to listen later that day then I would switch everything on before going to work. I was amazed at how much better this sounded. 

After doing this for months I decided to try leaving it on for a few days to see if it really got any better. To my amazement it did, it almost sounded like a different system. Since then it has been on 24/7 and I now have the time and inclination to listen to music every day.

Can I ask a question to the 24/7 supporters. Do you never clean your contacts, assuming you don't do that with the mains supply on?

i do accept that long term turning off (more than a few minutes) will result in the sound when turned back on being of lower quality than normal, but I find that about 30-40 minutes restores the position. I also find that keeping it on continuously also, eventually, degrades the SQ, as the system becomes bloated and, in my mind, less analogue. Having said that, I do now keep the system on a lot longer than I used to, especially since I moved to the 272/250. Perhaps the better the amp, the more annoying that first 30 minutes can be.

Take a look at this thread:

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...40#52252470707779340

nap90 posted:

I always leave my system on, however last week started to have second thoughts... I bought one of those adapters where you can measure the power draw of anything plugged into it out of curiosity - the results where opposite to how I imagined:

CDS2 and XPS idles @50W ! Shocking!

135s only 15w each!

all others items also around 15w (dacmagic, hicap etc). Comes to 125w total with all boxes.

Interesting - I wonder what the CDS2 draws without XPS?

My power amp idles at about 80W, and my previous one (Musical Fidelity P270) 180W .

Meanwhile, with reference to some of the unhelpful comments earlier in this thread, how long someone spends using a given system not a measure of their love of music, and it is disingenous to suggest so. Apart from anything else, they could have other sources of music, or be so busy they are unfortunate enogh to not have the luxury of time, while that system may give pleasure that justifies the cost invested.

Belfast Taxman posted:

Can I ask a question to the 24/7 supporters. Do you never clean your contacts, assuming you don't do that with the mains supply on?

i do accept that long term turning off (more than a few minutes) will result in the sound when turned back on being of lower quality than normal, but I find that about 30-40 minutes restores the position. I also find that keeping it on continuously also, eventually, degrades the SQ, as the system becomes bloated and, in my mind, less analogue. Having said that, I do now keep the system on a lot longer than I used to, especially since I moved to the 272/250. Perhaps the better the amp, the more annoying that first 30 minutes can be.

I tend to switch mine off every 2-3 month for some tweaks and dusting.

Some mention here and elsewhere about turning off - and better still unplugging - during electrical storms. Sound advice - but I wonder how many people actually do so?

When I was a kid, my parents would turn the TV off and unplug it when there was a thunderstorm (n.b we only had an indoor aerial so that didn't need unplugging), and they always turned off and unplugged everything at night, which I took to be their learning about the reliability of switches and cable insulation  based on their learning and experience in 1930s-50s, which I dutifully ignored when I first had my own home, with relatively modern switches 

My experience is that whilst sometimes weather forecasts are clear and predict thunderstorms, just as frequently one has come along without my having any prior warning. Do others religiously seek out the weather forecast every day when not in a spell of fine weather to check there's no chance of a storm before out for the day or to bed? if you're woken in the middle of the night by an unexpected thunderstorm, do you leap out of bed and go and unplug everything?

Same here including thunderstorms. Chris West at A/V Options insinuated that everything should be powered on for optimum longevity .

Belfast Taxman posted:

Can I ask a question to the 24/7 supporters. Do you never clean your contacts, assuming you don't do that with the mains supply on?

Of course. Well, I unplug and replug everything, which is good enough, taking care not to pull the dressing apart. Opportunities to do this come up every so often when the system needs to be powered down. 

30-40 minutes is how long my valve amp used to take to start singing after switch on. And it was always switched off after use. I wish our current system would sound its best after such a short warm up. Not that it ever actually sounds bad, but when you've heard it singing in its sweet zone the ears know the difference

Adam Zielinski posted:

Belfast Taxman posted:

Can I ask a question to the 24/7 supporters. Do you never clean your contacts, assuming you don't do that with the mains supply on?

i do accept that long term turning off (more than a few minutes) will result in the sound when turned back on being of lower quality than normal, but I find that about 30-40 minutes restores the position. I also find that keeping it on continuously also, eventually, degrades the SQ, as the system becomes bloated and, in my mind, less analogue. Having said that, I do now keep the system on a lot longer than I used to, especially since I moved to the 272/250. Perhaps the better the amp, the more annoying that first 30 minutes can be.

I tend to switch mine off every 2-3 month for some tweaks and dusting.

Interesting Adam - for over 20 years I have switched off once a week and "cleaned" the interconnects/cables by disconnecting and reconnecting. I do actually physically clean the plugs using de-ionised water and an isopropyl solution and then thoroughly dry them before firing the system up again. As this takes no more than a few minutes, I do not find that the system needs warming up again, indeed every Saturday morning it seems very perky.

I actually found that the system sounds better after a 'restart' like that.

Both of my systems are of course on 24/7 and both get to play at least once a day for several hours. SuperUniti in the dining room / kitchen is also used everyday.

The convinence of having everything just a 'mute' button away is enormous. 

Hi, I switch my power amp on and off (250.2) and the leave the pre (102/HiCap DR) on.  I also have a Uniti system which I switch on and off.  I switch everything off if we're away for a few days.

I really enjoy the changes in presentation I get from my 250.2 as it warms up over the first CD or LP.  It always sounds brilliant, but from cold it's a bit sharper, and the different presentation of all music during this warming up period does bring to the fore sounds that can slightly change the timing and rhythm in a way that deepens my musical enjoyment even further.

For me, from cold the preamp just sounds too harsh, it needs at least 30 mins warm up.  The changing musical presentation that I find enjoyable with the 250.2 during this warm up period is not there for me with the 102, which is why I leave it on.  The Uniti however, sounds fine from cold, maybe because having a heat generating power amp/power supply in the same case means the preamp section warms up really quickly, I don't know.  Again I find the 'warm up' musical journey with the Uniti enjoyable.

So maybe we have a 'meat and two veg' approach to listening, when the system must always sound the same, which means people leave the system on at all times, never mind the energy use, or a listening approach that quite likes a bit of spicey surprise that comes with a system on its warming up sound journey.  I prefer the latter and saving energy is a very positive bonus as well.

Best wishes Amer

Tony2011 posted:

Ah, that explains why you never invested on a proper RCM. 

If you only listen to your system  for an hour each week, why don't you listen to it for four hours at the end of the month and switch off for the rest of the month. Saves money and electricity. Better still, sell it.

Seriously, you're not really a music lover, are you? Sell everything , as Nigel says. Your system is being wasted on you. Let someone else enjoy it!!!

Tony, I only mentioned 1 hour a week as an example.  I tend to use my system around 4-5 hours a week.  At the moment I am listening to Lalo Schifrins Dirty Harry anthology on vinyl.  This does not mean I am some right wing gun nut though.  LOL.

PS have now cleaned my entire vinyl collection.  Probably the for the last time as well, as the sound from a CD5XS and Chord Qute2  DAC is outstanding.

Thanks everyone for the replies............................................................I will leave mine on 24/7 except on holidays.