How is your power bill?


Recently I moved my equipment to our vacation home south of the border. On average the power bill ran about $12 per month. After setting up the three Krell Amps (fpb 350s and a KSA 150) to drive the Maggie 20.1s, etc. and, in addition to listening to music, starting watching nightly action movies through the system as well. The new power bill was almost $70.00!!

Thoughts? Your experience with this?
puerto

Showing 13 responses by puerto

Wavetrader: What is a foam SPF cool roof? A portion of our home in Mexico is flat. It may be pertinent to this thread since it is a way to offset higher power bills due to our equipment.
Lloydc: HA! Yes, I am grateful that it is only $70 but nonetheless that is a sharp increase and I wanted to know if the real reason was my gorging on music and movies and whether or not I was alone in this increased cost of living! I sorta new the answer already! The current political climate in the U.S. is one of the big reasons that we are making the move!! I understand your sentiment.
GHS - Thanks for that tip, it may well be worth trying! I will also, as some of you have mentioned, turn the amps totally off vs.a standby mode and avoid the action movies. I think the movies may be the main culprit in driving up the power bill. It's comforting to know, in a perverse sort of way, that I am not the only one that has done this to myself!

Not in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that a simple request for feedback on audio equipment power consumption would generate such well thought out, insightful, running commentary on our country's current political climate and my choices in life. Wow, I'm really counting my blessings!

For those that thought that purchasing my Krell fpb 350's was inappropriate - You were right! I should have bought the 750's!
Many thanks Wavetrader - I will check it out.

Ausjoe: Thankyou also for the response. We do not have attics in Mexico. It would probably become home to many geckos, scorpions and other such creatures!
Elizabeth: Pretty amazing wasn't it - imagine my surprise. Thanks for the input.
The cap and trade program is projected to cost the American family an additional $3100 per year on top of what they already pay for utilities. Even some Democrats are backing away from that. We should not be penalized for using the only sources of energy made available to us. Perhaps my Krells will soon be a luxury that I cannot afford to enjoy. They will become a monument to tax and spend policies.

My equipment is in Mexico where the electrical utilities are a graduated cost. That is to say, use very little power and your rate is very low (likewise the bill), use more electricity and the excess is billed at a higher rate and so on. There are three levels of rates. We had always fallen in the lowest category (about $10 per month) until I brought in the three Krells and Maggie 20.1s. Yikes, overnight we landed in the highest category of rate charges and the bill was $70. I have taken the following steps:

1. Use the center channel and sub amp very infrequently

2. Quit using the system altogether for movies

3. Turn the amps off - no more standby

These are measures that we will all be considering if the cap and trade policies are put in place!
I wonder if any of the rest of us has gone on to purchase a different audio product because of power consumption concerns like guidocorona. My hat is off to him/her. It's a smart choice, all things considered - I think that for most of us, it is like giving up that big luxury car! I struggle with that! Nice going guidocorona.
I don't recall asking for input on Obama OR Bush in my original thread but I do have to agree with Albert - not sure about the "running for office" thing just yet though. I'll wait for Rush and Keith to weigh in first!!
I think that the balanced interconnect between liberals and conservatives needs some repair - a certain level of distortion is now readily discernable as the clarity and resonance of the presentation is fading. . Maybe I'm sitting too far to the right of center to get the best appreciation for the system but IMHO some improvements or upgrades are needed. (I don't recommend any Chinese products) There has to be a campaign slogan in there somewhere for Albert!