Ableton Forum

I have the Dynaudio MKIIs. I pretty much never turn them off. I turn my hardware synths off when not using them, but my laptop, mixers, and monitors stay on 24/7 (except for the laptop when it's in bag in transit).

I wonder if i'm shortening the life of the monitors in some way by doing this. It's been argued by some that turning on and off electronics "wears it out" more than just leaving it on constantly. Anyone have an opinion or data to support the thought either way? Do you turn your speakers off when you're not using them?

I need facts if I'm going to stop being lazy and reach around there to those power switches. heh.

Turn them OFF!!!

Seriously though. You will shorten the lifespan like anything that runs but especially audio gear. When the capacitors drie up they will stop and heat makes them dry out (takes years) but once they are gone you will need to fix them.

Plus keeping them on is wasting power.

Get one of those powerboards with a master switch (you can get somw with a foot switch) and connect your monitors through that so all comes on at once.

Yeah. Thing about a power strip thing is that you can't control the order things get powered off. So if the mixer gets turned off before power you get the pop through them which doesn't sound good.

Always power mine off when I'm done for the day.

turn them off you lazy good for nothing bum. unless you live in a cold climate, in which case leave them on as heaters.

as for the order of switching, use a powerboard that has individual switches for each socket...

I leave my KRK Rokit 5's on all the time. They've lasted 3 years so far.

Electronic devices receive wear both from being turned on and from being constantly on. Which causes more depends on a huge number of factors.

In studio monitors you basically have a power supply and a transistor audio amplifier. I'd say what's most likely electronic part to fail is the capacitors in the power supply. These receive the most wear from heat (being constantly on). They wear more if they're producing heat from being rapidly charged and discharged (what will happen when you play at high volumes).

As you won't be pushing your studio monitors hard, even constantly on, they will most likely have a lifespan of more than a decade. The failure rate for most electronics is almost flat after the first 6 months (meaning that it's just as likely to fail after 5 years of use as it was after 1 year). I'd say the foam surround will probably be the first thing to give out.

That being said, leaving them on could cost you every year in power drawn. Studio monitors have class A amps, and though accurate, they aren't efficient. You're probably drawing 10-20W each while they're on, even if they aren't making sound.

40*24*365*.001*$.20/KW/h = $70.08 a year in power. This depends on your power bill, but it's enough for me to keep mine off.

Vios wrote:Electronic devices receive wear both from being turned on and from being constantly on. Which causes more depends on a huge number of factors.

In studio monitors you basically have a power supply and a transistor audio amplifier. I'd say what's most likely electronic part to fail is the capacitors in the power supply. These receive the most wear from heat (being constantly on). They wear more if they're producing heat from being rapidly charged and discharged (what will happen when you play at high volumes).

As you won't be pushing your studio monitors hard, even constantly on, they will most likely have a lifespan of more than a decade. The failure rate for most electronics is almost flat after the first 6 months (meaning that it's just as likely to fail after 5 years of use as it was after 1 year). I'd say the foam surround will probably be the first thing to give out.

That being said, leaving them on could cost you every year in power drawn. Studio monitors have class A amps, and though accurate, they aren't efficient. You're probably drawing 10-20W each while they're on, even if they aren't making sound.

40*24*365*.001*$.20/KW/h = $70.08 a year in power. This depends on your power bill, but it's enough for me to keep mine off.

Thanks! Great insights.

We're not obsessive compulsive in here, at all, are we

after about 11pm I switch over to headphones to keep the peace. If i still see a monitor power LED, it's my clue that I am still accidentally blasting my neighbours with nasty sounds.

Is it ok to leave your monitors on for days at a time?

Studio Monitors - Leave on? Use exclusively?

8O wrote:Is it ok to leave your monitors on for days at a time?

Studio Monitors - Leave on? Use exclusively?

Nice. I will do it for the bears.

Get Mackies,
switch is on the front...

good luck getting up to do that though

I had mackies before these. Don't worry I am even too lazy to lean forward.

But I will do it for the bears.

i switch everything off every time i leave the studio, plus i disconnect the main plug (the plug of the furman power filter), in order to save power (a big part of the electricity in switzerland is produced by nuclear power plants (40%, which is 40% too much for me) and in order to protect the equipment.
I noticed that my monitors (could be placebo) sound better after half an hour (transients are more defined, overall sound is a bit fuller to my ears) so i usually start the studio session listening to some music and waiting for the warm up of the monitors.

Do please swicht off everything when not in use, we only have one planet which is pretty fucked up already and we are not producing a lot of energy in a sustainable way, it takes just a minute to switch off a couple of pieces of gear.