better sound after 30 minutes

Posted by: jmschnur

better sound after 30 minutes - 08/14/06 08:03 AM

Several of us have noticed the 7500 sounds a bit better after 15-30 minutes. A better staging is the observation.

Have any of you noticed this?


What are the negatives for leaving the amp on all the time in idels but with the "blue led" going?

how muhc power does it draw with no sound applied?

joel
Posted by: Ritz

Re: better sound after 30 minutes - 08/14/06 09:35 AM

I think this is true with many amplifiers. The components need to warm up a bit to reach their designed operating temps. That's why a lot of uber-expensive amps have a "standby mode" that effectively keeps it powered up all the time so that it's ready for action on a moment's notice. The manual doesn't list the quiescent power draw. I suspect that draw is on the order of 100-200W, but perhaps someone from Outlaw can comment on the actual number.

Cheers,
Posted by: bestbang4thebuck

Re: better sound after 30 minutes - 08/15/06 08:57 AM

Assuming no electrical output, whatever energy enters the amplifier would be given off as heat. Is your amplifier, while on but idle, giving off as much heat as one or two 100-watt light bulbs? I would suspect that the idle power consumption would be closer to 5 or 10 watts per channel.

As to the perceived sound changing in the first 30 minutes of use, likely yes. Whether one can accurately and definitively assign the cause to amplifier warm-up, not likely without controlled testing. The variability in other components, some in the electromotive physical devices that are your loudspeakers, and the continually variable and adjusting perceptions of one's own psycho-acoustic listening system (ears, brain, expectations, thoughts, emotions, ever-changing placement and orientation of the receptors, etc.) not allowing for consistent 'measurement' of results means that, unless your amplifier is malfunctioning, one is better leaving it to the test lab to tell whether the amplifier is constant/consistent or non-constant/inconsistent in its behavior.
Posted by: gonk

Re: better sound after 30 minutes - 08/15/06 10:23 AM

I'd agree with bestbang4thebuck that an idle multichannel power amp with no incoming signal would probably consume on the order of 25W to 40W total (probably closer to 25W). Over the course of a month, a constant 25W draw is going to add up to about 18KWh. Assuming an average utility cost of $0.10/KWh (it's lower than that here, but we get our power from TVA), that's about $1.80 a month (or $0.06 a day). Even if we assume it's closer to 40W, that's still just 29KWh or $2.90/month.