What safety precautions do you use with you gear, if any?

[DaveyF]

In the current issue of Stereophile, there is an interesting article by Art Dudley regarding a small fire that he had experienced with a ss amp that he had in for review. He had apparently left the amp powered up and unattended in his basement .Luckily, he was at home when the incident occurred, smelt the amp burning and was able to put out the flames before too much damage...

Looking at this scenario, one could say that he was derelict in leaving a piece of gear unattended while doing other things. Personally , that would be my feeling, except it was a ss amp, and these are usually left on for longer periods of time.
I take certain precautions when I listen to my gear, particularly since I own mostly tube gear, and that tube gear runs on higher voltage. Therefore, I never leave the system unattended for more than a few minutes at most, and I always turn off all my gear once the listening session is completed. My question, what do other members think of the situation that occurred to Art...and what do they do to insure safety with their gear...if anything?

 

[Steve Williams]

I think it was a faulty amp and he was lucky to be home. When I had all SS gear my amp and preamp were always on (standby mode). Not so with tubes however there are good threads here why sone members leave their preamp and phono on and often the amp as well because most tube failures occur with power on and power off. It then it becomes a matter of tube replacement cost and availability because equipment is always on.

Personally when I go away everything is turned off.

 

[SuperDave]

I leave my SS amps on most of the time unless a storm is approaching and I turn off the tubed pre after each use. All of the HT amps and electronics are turned on and off as used. My home owners insurance policy covers the contents of our home and stereo room including a deductible. The other option was to schedule the equipment but in the end, I decided to pay the deductible if needed. My HT processor started crackling and then I watched black smoke come out of the top a couple years ago. No flames but still irritating and made me think a bit more about insurance. I keep a fire extinguisher in the room but it would be tough to pull the trigger.

 

[Al M.]

One of the features that attracted me to my Octave amp was safety. When a tube fails, a protective circuit powers the unit off and shows the defective tube with a red light. Also, when going out for some time, you can leave it in economy mode, upon which after a few minutes it shuts off the tubes but otherwise stays warmed up.

I leave all other equipment on all the time, except when on vacation.

 

[DaveyF]

Al, I think the problem with Art’s amp was a cap blowing. If this were to happen with your amp, wouldn’t the result that Art experienced be the same for you?

 

[Al M.]

Al, I think the problem with Art’s amp was a cap blowing. If this were to happen with your amp, wouldn’t the result that Art experienced be the same for you?

Possibly, yes.

 

[DaveyF]

Possibly, yes.

With that in mind, are you still ok with leaving your gear on all the time?

 

[Al M.]

With that in mind, are you still ok with leaving your gear on all the time?

Certainly my digital. The DAC is actually recommended to be left on all the time, and that is generally the recommendation of all high end DAC manufacturers, as far as I can tell.

Thanks for bringing up the issue.

 

[microstrip]

Unfortunately Art Dudley prefers writing a long and dramatic narrative without referring the equipment, sending suspicion on all well built amplifiers/electronic equipment and impeding any technical and factual debate. Curious, because every time a reviewer of JA breaks some equipment during their listening and measurements we are told about it.

Any electronic equipment connected to the mains is a potential fire starter, however some of them have much higher probabilities than others. CE certification, for example, checks for this risk. Anyone using audiophile fuses is probably increasing this probability, not to refer those who bypass GFCI ...

Although it is an important subject that deserves proper coverage, it is a pity of seeing it reduced to audio gossip. IMHO readers would deserve at minimum to know about the manufacturer justification for this accident.

BTW, electrolytic capacitors are intrinsically fire prone if improperly used - there are tons of recommendations to read and understand before using them! See https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjmnpqbxK_fAhUFQRoKHaBlAjU4ChAWMAN6BAgHEAI&url=http://www.nichicon.co.jp/english/products/pdfs/e-p_gui.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1SUUB-3FD6scnKQkoz22Gc

 

[DaveyF]

Micro, Art gave some very valid reasons as why he didn’t want to sully the manufacturers reputation, or potentially put them out of business, by disclosing who they were. I think that is honorable. However, the question does beg whether this company would in fact be damaged in such a way if they were in fact disclosed. Presumably Art believes they would, and that is enough for me.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Certainly my digital. The DAC is actually recommended to be left on all the time, and that is generally the recommendation of all high end DAC manufacturers, as far as I can tell.

Thanks for bringing up the issue.

Neither my Chord dac or my new Chord M Scaler have on/off switches. I used to leave everything SS in and leave my Shindo pre off. Now with a 805 valve amp I do turn the beast off but was only saying to a mate this morning how good it is to have an amp hit awesome within a couple of hours from cold.

With likely increasing weather volatility and possibly even more power disruptions potentially in the future given increasing resource and infrastructure challenges going forward I’m happy to switch over to predominantly valve based setup and just turning the gear off and unplugging from the wall between sessions knowing that it can sound great within hours again Al.

 

[Empirical Audio]

I always check across the speaker terminals with an ohmmeter whenever I move the speakers, connect the speakers or mess with the cables. Should read 4-8 ohms DC resistance. If it's lower, DO NOT POWER ON.

Saved my bacon more than once at shows.

Also, always start with the volume low and a quiet track when anything has changed.

I generally only leave my reclockers powered-on. Everything else is turned off. Digital equipment is powered from a Plasmatron, which uses tubes, so that is best left off until needed.

Steve N .
Empirical Audio

 

[Bruce B]

Saved my bacon more than once at shows.

Steve N .
Empirical Audio

No frying bacon nekkid!!

Wait... you meant stereo equipment!
I actually leave everything on... especially the old Studers. Turning them off/on everyday is not good!

 

[DaveyF]

Anybody know if leaving the gear on all the time will dry out the caps quicker? I would think it would, but not sure.

 

[DonH50]

Heat is a huge player in equipment lifetimes and that includes the capacitors (electrolytics; ceramics and films are less sensitive). How much is generated depends upon the biasing; tube stuff tends to be hot no matter what (thermionic devices, after all), but IME SS equipment varies widely (or wildly). In standby most equipment draw little power and doesn't get all that hot but some amplifiers (class A and A/B) are biased "hot". I had an AVR that ran pretty warm when on even when it wasn't doing anything; the PA section was actually not too hot, it was the DSP section running hot. So "it depends" but in general any component is going to run a little warmer on than off so there will always be a little hit in component lifetime.

My power is a bit flaky so I do not leave things on (and have a bunch of UPS units around the house, plus a whole-house generator for when we lose power for longer periods).

 

[DaveyF]

Thanks, Don. That makes very good sense and was what I was suspecting.