I also have a pair of XA160.5s. I agree they take some warm up time to sound
their best. I turn mine on about 2 hours before I plan to listen. Usually
before I start cooking dinner. When I am finished with the dishes, I go and
listen to music. During the winter and on weekends when I plan to do a lot of
listening, I turn them on Friday afternoon and turn them off late Sunday
night.
I think you should be able to find an acceptable balance somewhere between
leaving them on 24/7 and listening right after turning them on ie. with no
warm up. I turn off the radiators in my listening room during the winter, so
the extra I spend on electricity, I save on natural gas. Or so I tell myself. My
electric bill went up about $40 a month with the XA160.5. Heating the
listening room costs slightly more. I consider the increased electric bill well
worth it for the sound they provide.
There is a lot of discussion about these amps and the heat they give off
during the summer. And how environmentally unfriendly they are. So is an
SUV. We make our choices.
There should be other great amps out there, and some SS amps that aren't
class A. It could be fun trying to find some that you enjoy as much as the
XA.5s. Let us know what you find. I'm sorry I can't make any
recommendations.
Scratch that. Have you heard the Pass X.5 series? Less class A, less heat.
their best. I turn mine on about 2 hours before I plan to listen. Usually
before I start cooking dinner. When I am finished with the dishes, I go and
listen to music. During the winter and on weekends when I plan to do a lot of
listening, I turn them on Friday afternoon and turn them off late Sunday
night.
I think you should be able to find an acceptable balance somewhere between
leaving them on 24/7 and listening right after turning them on ie. with no
warm up. I turn off the radiators in my listening room during the winter, so
the extra I spend on electricity, I save on natural gas. Or so I tell myself. My
electric bill went up about $40 a month with the XA160.5. Heating the
listening room costs slightly more. I consider the increased electric bill well
worth it for the sound they provide.
There is a lot of discussion about these amps and the heat they give off
during the summer. And how environmentally unfriendly they are. So is an
SUV. We make our choices.
There should be other great amps out there, and some SS amps that aren't
class A. It could be fun trying to find some that you enjoy as much as the
XA.5s. Let us know what you find. I'm sorry I can't make any
recommendations.
Scratch that. Have you heard the Pass X.5 series? Less class A, less heat.