Better to Just leave Power On When not in Use?

[Feanor]

Forgive me if this has been beaten to death. I used the search feature and came up with nothing.

Is it better to leave my equipment on all the time or is it easier on everything to cycle them on and off every day/every couple of days.

Even more specifically; Is there any reason that it might depend on the equipment....whether it is an amp, pre amp, cd player etc.?

Unless my s/s component has a stand-by circuit, I turn it off. My power amps, for example, don't have stand-by, also they are a high-bias design that draws enough current at idle to be noticably warm.

My tube preamp has stand-by which I used unless I'm away for at least a couple of days. The stand-by puts a much reduced voltage across the tubes to keep them slightly warm. It's obvious some electricity is being wasted, however (1) it takes much less time to get to good sound when the unit is fully power, (still take about 15 minutes) and (2) it avoids the "shock" to the tubes of a cold power-on which on balance might actually extend the life of the tubes.

[bfalls]

Unless my s/s component has a stand-by circuit, I turn it off. My power amps, for example, don't have stand-by, also they are a high-bias design that draws enough current at idle to be noticably warm.

My tube preamp has stand-by which I used unless I'm away for at least a couple of days. The stand-by puts a much reduced voltage across the tubes to keep them slightly warm. It's obvious some electricity is being wasted, however (1) it takes much less time to get to good sound when the unit is fully power, (still take about 15 minutes) and (2) it avoids the "shock" to the tubes of a cold power-on which on balance might actually extend the life of the tubes.

With your list of hardware your amps could serve a dual purpose in winter, audio and heating. I don't think the surge would hurt internal components since the first few cycles would charge the capacitors in the power supply. There usually a lot of capacitors in high-end gear. There may be some concern the power switch could go bad, which can be costly to repair. With so much emphasis on being "green", it almost be a crime to leave amps on, especially Class A. I never keep any of my hardware on and I have gear which is over 20 years old. I see no advantage except instant gratification when you're ready to listen.