Ditching Class A Amps due to Heat - Sort of a Poll

I’ve only had two class A amp, and one was just "strongly biased into class A"

One was a Musical Fidelity A100X integrated. That one I kept only two weeks: it was getting so damn hot after about 30 minutes of use that I was being paranoid all the time. Even the volume control was too hot to touch. You could have grilled a ribeye on top of it. Ridiculous. I had flatmates at the time, and the stupid girl once put her syllabi on top of it, while it was on. I saw that and started to have nightmares about the house burning down.

A couple years later I bought a Sony TA-N86B. That one was amazing and never got too hot to touch even when run in full class A mode. But it did put itself in protection mode every time the room temperature would get to a certain level in summer (and I don’t live in a tropical area!) until the amp’s PSU finally died of probably unrelated causes.

Then I discovered flea power, class D chip amps (that TA2024 from Tripath!) that sounded really lovely (with a little care) on my horns and I definitely gave up on everything else.

Now I have a multi-amped system and exclusively use tiny class D amps. The system sounds great, it stays on 24/7, doesn’t produce any heat, barely uses any electricity, and never sends nasty unwanted continuous current spikes in the fragile and unprotected drivers. They also only use as much floor print as two cigarette packs each.

In Belgium where I live, the energy crisis is an abomination. I have friends earning 2000euro per months, with a 900 euro rent, who now have to pay 500 euro in monthly energy bills. It’s a nightmare. I’m so happy I’ve got my class D amps!

I own a Pass Aleph 5 and, yes, it runs hot, but I don’t care. It sounds beautiful and that’s why I have it.

+1 @jakleiss 

Your paying the electric bill, so run a Class A amp as long as you want. Leave it on 24/7, it's perfectly fine. If they are so worried about climate change why were we forced to use old technology like the combustion engine for over a 100 years.

I don’t own a class A tube amp but would love adopt one if anyone wants drop one off at my doorstep like an abandoned dog or something.  I wouldn’t buy an amp because it ran cool or was ultra efficient.   My decision would be strictly based on sound and how well it behaves in my set up.  I can offset the Carbon Foot Print with my electric lawnmower, weed wacker and leaf blower.  All of which I purchased based on performance not how green they were.