Do you always keep the Amplifier powered on

Overpopulation is sad and it's likely too late to turn the ruination of the planet around, so I've changed my stand on this issue and say LEAVE IT ALL ON as it no longer matters. Sort of sets you free doesn't it?

No. I kept my Boulder 1060 powered on when I was home on the weekend & found the amp was 95+% warmed up after 2hrs (ie: good enough), otherwise I left the amp on standby. With my current Vitus SIA-025. I find myself in agreeance with Chris Thomas's comments in his Hifi+ review -

"From stand-by, straight into class A I would say that you are looking at a half hour before it really begins to sing and then it just seems to keep getting better. Even after a solid afternoon and evening's listening I would swear that the amplifier was growing more fluid, textural and resolute with better dynamic contrasts, tonal shading and the delicacy of its musical message just seems to become more profound."

To summarize, there are no hard and fast rules. The benefits of keeping a (solid state) amp switched on all or most of the time vary from amp to amp. But rule of thumb, large amps with oversize power supplies and filter banks will generally benefit more from being left on as it takes the psu's longer to warm up and reach optimal thermal conditions.

I have 4 2 from each wife-). I have a similar to Kijanki situation with only 20...30w of idle power for preamp/preamp/PC. No biggie to keep it on while home, but would completely unplug from the wall together with power conditioner the whole rig. Sometimes I have to shut down dac/preamp in order to reset and than turn it back on after one minute and it sounds much better.

BEl Canto ref1000m Class D amps (very efficient) - yes

TAD Hibachi monoblocks (less efficient) sometimes but not always

This is and has been a contentious topic of discussion for year hear on Audiogon. The issues have been:

1. sound quality of equipment when left on all the time vs turning the equipment on for an hour or so before serious listening.
2. Energy usage and wasting energy.
3. Summer use and the amps (typically) are space heaters (again wasting energy).

For me, I know that anything left on continuously will degrade the life of components. Equipment with standby modes, reduce this dramatically. This allows for devices to have the capacitors charged, but the bias isn't at maximum.

From a safety point of view, equipment left full on (not in standby mode) is not really a good idea ever. Refrigerators, notwithstanding, because you really don't have a choice. But anything else, it not a good idea.

From a sound perspective, on my equipment, could not distinguish any difference in sound from my equipment being left on or turning it on an hour before listening.

For tubed equipment, there is no way on Earth I would leave it on continuously. Most manufacturers tell you the life of the tubes, If you leave it on, well, that life is dramatically reduced. No way to get around that, unless there is a standby mode that has those tubes turned off.

If you have the money to replace tubes often, then that is your choice.

But, I often see opinions here based on Sound quality and safety, and Safety should always come first.

This is the "it can't happen to me" logic. It always happens to someone else, but not me. Until you come home to a burned house, or you listened to some well intentioned but totally ignorant person and eliminated your ground by lifting the ground to eliminate some noise, and then a fault happens and someone is hurt.

Safety first.

I turn my equipment on about an hour before listening. I unplug all my audio equipment when I leave for a few days or more.

enjoy, but be aware, use common sense and be safe.